The Elephant's Graveyard (review)

There's much to like about 'The Elephant's Graveyard,' written and directed by Jade McCutcheon, which continues through Sunday at the UC Davis Mondavi Center's Larry and Rosalie Vanderhoef Studio Theatre.

The play boasts a simple yet elegantly sweeping set by renowned designer John Iacovelli; lighting by internationally recognized designer Thomas Munn; an on-stage orchestra, under the baton of Garrett Ian Shatzer, to perform the music composed by Laurie San Martin; costumes by Maggie Morgan; and choreography by Kerry Mehling.

McCutcheon's sensitive script concerns an aging woman and her scientist daughter, who is trying to find a cure for death, yet can't take time to visit her dying mother.

Each of the seven professional and nonprofessional actors is wonderful; they're joined by six older women from the Davis community, with no acting experience whatsoever, whose powerful contribution just about steals the show.

And delivered more than a few in tears during the opening night performance.

Eve (Bella Merlin) is a career-driven scientist working for the Never Die Institute on synthetic alternatives to aging and death. She deals with inter-staff rivalry with her partner Steve (Matt Sullivan), who is involved with stem cell research. Eve is so immersed in her work - and excited about her discoveries - that she neglects her aging mother, Esme (Claudia Marie Maupin), whom she has placed in 'one of the more prestigious nursing homes.'

Eve visits every few weeks, when her busy schedule allows.

Esme is lonely and confused: more concerned about whether she's getting the right medication, and whether the staff has stolen one of her old sweaters, than about lengthening her life.

Emma (Anne Reeder) is the granddaughter Esme raised after the death of the girl's parents. She visits Esme regularly and tries to make Eve understand how precious her time is with her mother.

Merlin does a fine job as a harried, driven, stress-filled woman who tries to do too much while neglecting the one thing that should be most important to her. Reeder gives a lovely, sensitive portrayal of a young woman who successfully balances career - she's an architect - with love and concern for her grandmother.

But our attention is riveted on Esme, and Maupin gives her total heart and soul: We understand her bouts of depression, her moments of confusion and fear, and her delight over the time she spends with her daughter. Ultimately, we learn the most from Esme.

The voice of Esme's 'soul' is provided by the marvelous Australian singer Kim Deacon, who sings the words that reveal Esme's fears:

'Is it must my imagination,
Or am I finding it hard to breathe?
It seems each step I take these days
There's a wobble in my knees...'

Each of the other actors takes on several roles, from nursing home attendants and pedestrians to waiters. Each is excellent, but Jorge Morejon is head and shoulders above the rest: His principal character is a shaman who provides comfort to Eve at her most frenzied period, when he takes her pain from her and internalizes it.

Morejon gives an intensity to his performance, and his dances are breathtaking: particularly the 'spider dance,' done on a ladder that is lowered from the ceiling while Esme's soul expresses her feelings about death:

'The web might be a relief,
Just to give in and get caught.'

As for the 'elders,' for a group of women in their later years who never before appeared on stage, we couldn't ask for better.

They quite realistically portray conditions in a nursing home, and their final scene brought several audience members to tears.

This play needs to be seen by everyone with aging parents, and everyone who intends to grow old (which would be all of us). It deals sensitively but realistically with the experiences of aging in this country, and how our culture deals with it, and concludes with an uplifting message for everyone.

The production is everything that McCutcheon intended: 'a journey where it's a bit of magic, a bit of music, a bit of art, a bit of dance and the issues and a story that ties it together.'

Don't miss this one. You won't be disappointed.

Taming of the Shrew

There may be gender disagreements about whether William Shakespeare’s most controversial play, “The Taming of the Shrew” is a comedy or a tragedy. Speaking for the feminine side, I tend to favor the latter option!

In this mysogenistic look at the battle of the sexes, one woman is sold off by her father to the highest bidder while her sister is forced into a troubled marriage where her husband deprives her of food and drink in order to break her spirit. There are plenty of lines on women knowing their place. Kate’s long, final speech protesting obedience to her husband is a notorious example.

Productions of this play often set the action in times other than Elizabethan and may twist plot elements so that in the end Katherine has the upper hand and we see that all of her subservience is her own way of manipulating her husband.

In the Woodland Opera House production, director Rodger McDonald has taken a more traditional approach, setting the play back in Elizabethan times (though a brief sequence at the beginning shows a company of actors preparing for the start of the play, which lets us know that the time is really today and the actors are actually doing a play, which may soften the ultimate conclusion)

It’s a sumptuous looking show, with cleverly designed sets, which turned and rotated to represent several different locations, designed by the multi-talented Jeff Kean (who also happens to play role of Petrucchio).

Laurie Everly-Klassen, the “Designing Haberdasher,” has created a beautiful assortment of period costumes.

Bevin Bell-Hall, in her Opera House debut gives a wonderful performance as Katherine. She has a fiery temper and a lot of physical stuff to, which she does beautifully.

Kean’s Petrucchio stands up to Kate with a steel resolve and detached emotions. He sets out to woo her, marry her and then tame her. He cares nothing for the warnings about her disposition. All he wants is the large dowery that accompanies the marriage. There were probably a lot of women in the audience who wanted to kick him in the shins, which only proves the effectiveness of his characterization.

Jeff Nauer is Kate’s domineering father, Baptista, who refuses to allow his youngest daughter, the blonde, flirtatious Bianca (Analise Langford-Clark) to marry until a groom is found for her bad-tempered older sister. Langford-Clark plays the sweet little lady role to the hilt, flirting with her many suitors and giving a hint to a spark within her too, though much more deeply hidden than it is in Kate.

The young rich Lucentio (Brent Randolph) finds himself smitten with Bianca. He trades places with his servant, Tranio (Dan Sattel), and disguises himself as a poor teacher to gain an excuse to be in Bianca’s company, while Tranio, posing as Lucentio attempts to convince Baptista to let him marry his younger daughter. Randolph is a tall, gentle Lucentio, who swoons in the company of Bianca and easily wins her love.

Sattel is outstanding as Tranio, full of energy and a focal point whenever he was on stage.

As Bianca’s older would-be suitors, Steve Mackay as Hortensio and David Buse as Gremio are wonderfully silly, though Buse seems a bit over the top at times.

Bobby Grainger as Petruchio’s manservant Grumio is an outstanding physical comedian, very funny and, with Sattel, give some of the best second banana performances in this production.

Others in the cast include Shanna Lyn Dickerson as the widow who ultimately marries Gremio, Genevieve Whitman as “Biondella” (a female version of the traditional Biondello, manservant to Lucentio), Michael Smuda as Vincentio, Andy Hyun as Curtis, Philip Pittman as Tailor, and Dan Beard as Pendant.

If you can set aside the obvious problems with Shakespeare’s thinking about the relationships between men and women, this is a fun production, though husbands will be well advised that it’s best not to try Petrucchio’s game plan at home!

The Elephant's Graveyard (feature article)

Elephants are amazing animals.

They're highly intelligent and live in wonderfully structured societies. They understand that it takes a village to raise a child. They support each other throughout their lives. They go into deep depressions, if isolated in zoos without companions.

And there's a reverence about them, when it comes to the end of life.

Elephants know when they're dying. They leave the herd and walk ceremoniously to the graveyard that contains all their ancestors, and they lie down in the bones of those who have gone before them.

When an elephant dies, the other members of the herd gather around it: They cover the elephant up, and they hang around it for days, just to be close.

This majestic creature's respect for age and dying was the inspiration for a play called 'The Elephant's Graveyard,' written and directed by Jade McCutcheon, which opens Friday and continues through Nov. 1 at the Mondavi Center's Larry and Rosalie Vanderhoef Studio Theatre.

The U.S. population age 65 and over is expected to double in size within the next 25 years. By 2030, almost one out of five Americans - some 72 million people - will be 65 years or older. The age group 85 and older is the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population.

It's time to give some serious thought about the quality of life for older Americans.

McCutcheon actually has been working on this piece for a very long time. When I met with her in April, she had begun shaping the script and had started casting the show.

The story concerns Eve, a scientist working for the 'Never Die Institute,' who is developing technology designed to prolong life and ultimately allow us all to live forever. Eve's mother, Esme, a woman in her 80s, is integral to this narrative: Eve has placed Esme in a nursing home and never finds the time to visit.

McCutcheon sought her Esme among the older women of the Davis community. She was looking for 'someone who is able to move across the stage without feeling terrified.' She also needed 'someone the audience could care about.'

When we parted company that day back in April, McCutcheon was about to meet with Donna Sachs, who leads a discussion group for senior citizens. McCutcheon hoped to find her Esme among the women in Sachs' group.

Sachs, a career psychologist interested in personal development in the later years, started her group in 2003.

'I wanted to share some ideas and literature in a seminar,' she said, 'so I invited people to come for a few times and just talk together in a group.'

After the first few sessions, several people were eager to continue, and the group now has continued for more than five years. It has 11 participants; when they heard the plans for McCutcheon's play, eight women expressed interest.

McCutcheon ended up with more than she bargained for, when Claudia Marie became her Esme. Marie wasn't terrified to walk across the stage. She also was willing to learn lines, although she had no stage experience, beyond having watched her parents do some theater work when she was a young child.

McCutcheon then cast five other members of the group - Nancy Juingeman, Lois Grau, Ruth Hall, Doris Beresford and Sachs herself - to be Esme's friends in the nursing home. Each would have a line or two of dialogue, and all would participate in some of the dancing.

Stage manager Reed Martin was 'really concerned' about working with older women who had no stage experience, but he was pleasantly surprised.

'They're really a great group of people,' he said. 'And because of how involved they are, they're very willing to do things for the show. They're really enthusiastic about it.'

'It's great having members of the community involved,' added Bella Merlin, an acting professor who plays the part of Eve. 'It has been absolutely fantastic working with them. They're delightful. Claudia is so open and accessible, and she's so playful as an actress. They all have super energy.'

In September, I went to visit the 'elders' at work with their choreographer, Kerry Mehling. I entered a room to find a group of women, sitting in a semi-circle, looking old, tired and depressed. Mehling was giving them movements to do with their hands, and each movement seemed to be almost too much of an effort.

But when the exercise concluded, their heads came up and the years melted away. They sparkled with delight while talking about their backgrounds, and their excitement at being involved with this play.

This vibrant group of women was the visual representation of all that McCutcheon wished to convey in her play: how the quality of life can be affected by our ability to remain intellectually challenged, lively and active, rather than stuck in a nursing home, at the mercy of the staff, hoping that someone will visit.

Some day.

'I want this to be a journey where it's a bit of magic, a bit of music, a bit of art, a bit of dance and the issues, and a story that ties it together,' McCutcheon said. 'It's just a platform. This is a voyage of discovery for Eve. Actually, science might be able to create a bio-body, but what are we about life?

'We live and die; that's a given. But love can make a difference. This busy, busy life about career, career, career, when you have to cut off that aspect of self...

'It's worth asking everybody: Is that it?'

'This play throws up all sorts of issues,' Merlin said. 'We'll make people go away and think about lots of things. My character is basically a nanotechnologist, so she believes that we can live forever: that there's enough science out there, and enough investigation happening, that it's only a matter of years before we have the capacity to ensure that we never age. We'll be able to put tiny robots in our systems, which will constantly regenerate the degenerating.

'It's absolutely strange and exciting, and Eve is up against the fact that her mom is dying, and she doesn't want her mom to die. Can she come up with this discovery before her mom dies?'

But Eve misses the point: that her mother is at peace with the approaching end of her life, and is ready to die.

Merlin warmed to the subject.

'She says lines to the effect of 'What would I do for another 70 years in this body? Why would I want to?' My character can't understand that. Surely everybody wants to live forever. Then my character has an epiphany, and thinks maybe she's got it all wrong. Maybe there's a natural flow and order to things.'

Kim Deacon has flown in from Australia, to sing the role of Esme's 'soul.'

'I worked with Jade about 18 years ago, in a play that we devised called 'The Last Room,' ' the singer explained. 'It's a very beautiful piece that combined some text from Tennessee Williams and the surrealist playwright Arabella; I also sang in that play. We enjoyed the process of working together very much.

'We always had in our minds to work together again, so I've kept up with her over the years.'

When McCutcheon was in Australia at Christmas, visiting family, she talked with Deacon about flying to the States to perform in 'The Elephant's Graveyard.' Deacon, who had been discussing the possibility of such a project with McCutcheon for a long time, was happy to comply.

Garrett Ian Shatzer, who composed the songs for the production, happened to be in Australia this summer, while McCutcheon was at home again to see her own aging mother. They met with Deacon at that time, to go over the music.

'When I heard Garrett's music, I thought it was fantastic,' Deacon said. 'Every song is beautiful.'

'Different things in this play will appeal to different people,' Merlin said. 'Some will absolutely love the music, some will get involved in the science, and some will get very involved in the story about what to do when our parents get older.

'It has stirred up a lot of stuff for me, because my parents are in their 70s. They're in the UK; I'm here in the USA. They're fit at the moment. What happens when they're not?'

As I watched the relationship between Esme and her daughter during the two rehearsals I attended, and listened to Deacon give voice to Esme's soul, and watched the evolution in the lives of Esme's friends in the nursing home, I drove home certain that people seeing this play will leave the theater with a lot of things to think about.

And, if they still have living parents, a lot of them will feel like calling Mom or Dad.

Speech and Debate

Teenage angst has been fodder for authors for centuries, and geeky teenagers have been well served in films such as 'Rebel Without a Cause' and 'The Breakfast Club.'

Now comes playwright Stephen Karam and his unlikely protagonists - Diwata (Lindsay Carter), Howie (Benjamin T. Ismail) and Solomon (Matthew Rogozinski) - who meet through the Internet and are drawn together by a shameful secret.

And more than a bit of blackmail.

Karam's 'Speech and Debate' is being presented by Capital Stage, at the Old Sacramento venue on the Delta King.

The inspiration for this play was a 2004 sex scandal, in which the then-mayor of Spokane was caught trolling in an online gay chatroom with an 18-year-old male.

The play's fourth character is the multi-talented, under-utilized Katie Rubin, who appears as a teacher in the first act and a reporter in the second. This marks Rubin's first appearance with Capital Stage, and one hopes it isn't her last.

Director Stephanie Gularte has created an amazing piece, wherein the twentysomething actors adopt all the quirks of adolescents, with all of them nailing their respective performances. Diwata and Howie have more quirks than the more repressed Solomon, and each sets the proper mood during early scenes.

Ismail's Howie, an 18-year-old openly gay transfer student, chats on the telephone with Solomon, whom he has never met, but who has read an Internet chat between Howie and an older man. Ismail's body language - twisting and turning into uncomfortable positions, pacing nervously, twisting his hair, his face sporting that bored look so many teenagers get - is spot-on.

Diwata's first scene comes as she sits in front of her laptop, recording a video blog entry. She's obviously a quirky, star-struck, would-be actress who overestimates her talent; she still smarts over not having been chosen for the lead in a production of 'The Crucible.' She blogs a diatribe against her drama teacher.

Solomon is angry that his school newspaper won't let him write an article about abortion, because it's too controversial.

'Half of our class is having real-life, actual sex,' he rails, 'and they're talking to us about our 'bathing suit areas.' Why don't they talk about stuff we actually want to know about?'

The three are brought together in the speech and debate club, which Solomon and Howie join only because they're blackmailed into it by Diwata, who threatens to expose each boy's dark secret. Diwata uses the 'club' - these three are its only members - as an outlet for her longing for the spotlight.

But being involved in the speech and debate club also is a means of allowing each student to get what he or she wants.

For Solomon, who fancies himself an investigative reporter, this will grant him access to a paper that will print his story on the sex scandal involving Howie and a teacher. Howie expects to persuade the others to support his proposed gay/straight student alliance.

Diwata, for her part, gets the spotlight hitherto denied her, when she produces her own musical version of 'The Crucible' (an excerpt of which definitely is one of this play's high points).

The camaraderie all three find, during their offbeat interactions, changes their lives: They become more full.

Sadly, the question left unanswered concerns whether the trolling high school teacher ever gets exposed, or receives any sort of punishment. That would, of course, move this story out of the realm of comedy and more toward drama, but it's nonetheless a missing piece of the picture.

'Speech and Debate' is a fresh, edgy comedy, and it should appeal to audience members of all ages.

In Harmony

By her own account, Mindy Manville has taught music to 'thousands' of Davis school children.

Last year alone, combining her Davis Art Center classes, her Davis schools classes and her summer school program, she taught 1,200 children.

It's therefore fitting that she should be honored by the Davis School Arts Foundation, with this year's 'Harmony in Our Lives' award.

Manville is the 21st recipient of this award, joining familiar names such as Richard Brunelle, Rachel Kessler, Fredrick Lange, Bob Gonzales and Karen Gardias.

'It's really cool,' said Manville's daughter, Lindsay. 'I'm really proud of her.'

Lindsay is the whole reason Manville began working with children in the first place, back in 1997.

'There was a dearth of things for her to do,' Manville recalled. 'You could find 'kinder' music, but that ended when the children became 4 or so, and then there was nothing again until they could try out for Davis Musical Theatre Company, or something like that. That was the age group I was trying to fill, and that's what I still do.

'It bridges the gap between kindermusic and DMTC, although I start them at age 1.'

Lindsay was 4 when her mother set up the Davis Children's Choir.

'It just snowballed from there,' Manville said. 'People heard about me in the schools, and I started doing even more work.'

She started with perhaps 36 students, which grew to 50 and then 100.

Not content to work with only the youngest children, Manville began to expand her range. She now runs programs at the Davis Art Center for all ages, from toddlers up to 9-year-olds.

The Art Center classes grew serendipitously.

'Jackie Stevens, then director of the Art Center, happened to live at the end of my block. I said 'You know, I do this little choir at the city's alternative rec building, and it would be great if I could do it at the Art Center. I could get a piano for you!' '

Stevens enthusiastically agreed.

Manville presents 'Teenie Musicals' and 'Mini Musicals,' actual stage performances for children at the Art Center, as well as programs through the Davis Joint Unified School District.

'During the day I'm just running around from school to school, because I teach an entire music program for five grade levels at Marguerite Montgomery School. That includes rhythm, movement and music education, and then we put on a spring show.'

She also teaches one or two grade levels at four other schools.

Her programs can be presented in either English or Spanish.

'I sort of speak Spanish, and I can write in Spanish,' she said modestly, 'so I always write three or four songs every time we do our social studies show at César Chávez School.'

Wait ... writing her own music?

Indeed. When she first began to put on mini musicals, she did Disney shows such as 'The Lion King' or 'Mary Poppins': stories and music familiar to most children. But she quickly discovered that dealing with Disney's legal department was more of a hassle than it was worth.

'They said it was OK if I was doing a choir-type setting, but not in a musical theater-type setting. You don't want to get into legal turmoil with Disney.'

When Disney stopped returning her calls, Manville decided to just write her own music. (Of course!) She had studied piano from the age of 6, and went all the way up through the national audition process. This experience gave her a solid background in composing.

'I now compose almost everything I put on.'

She not only writes the music and the lyrics for her shows, but - mindful that most of her students are too young to read - she records cassette tapes to help them learn the music.

'Since repetition is the key to everything I do, I don't send my kids home without a tape of every song. They normally haven't heard them before, since I've written them!'

Every child receives a tape and a lyric script; parents are supposed to help if their children can't read yet.

'I have dads from my preschool and toddler choir classes who say 'I know every one of those silly little songs,' because it's the only thing their kids will listen to.'

Many of Manville's students stay with her for years. In fact, her current dance instructor - Caitlin Coppinger, now a UC Davis sophomore - was in Manville's very first music class at Patwin School.

Daughter Lindsay now is in the Davis High School Madrigals. When her mother recently visited the class, she discovered that half of this year's Madrigals once were her students.

'The Davis community is blessed to have Manville nurturing our young voices,' said Colleen Connolly, president of the board of directors for the Davis School Arts Foundation. 'I had the privilege of working with her on the Davis School Arts Foundation board of directors, and my son was lucky enough to sing in two of her choirs.

'I'm thrilled she's being recognized with this award. She's a treasure.'

This year's Harmony in Our Lives benefit concerts, at which Manville will be presented with her award, will take place at 1:30 and 4 p.m. Sunday at the Davis High School Brunelle Performance Hall, 315 W. 14th St.

The West Valley Barbershop Chorus will perform at both concerts. The 1:30 p.m. concert will feature the DHS Madrigals and Concert Choir, the Willett Elementary School Chorus, the Emerson Junior High School Beginning Chorus, and the Harper/Holmes Junior High School Chorus. The 4 p.m. concert will feature the DHS Jazz Choir and Advanced Treble Choir, the Birch Lane Elementary School Chorus, the St. James School Choir and the Emerson Junior High School Advanced Chorus.

Admission to each show is $10 general, $5 students; advanced tickets are available at The Avid Reader, 617 Second St., Davis. Tickets also will be available at the box office one hour before each performance.

The Code of Whiskey King

When you visit a new community theater for the first time you never quite know what to expect, but you always hope to find something to excite you, something to write home about. The West Sacramento Community Theater was new to me, but according to its web site it was established in 2004 and has produced 9 other shows.

“The Code of Whiskey King” with book and lyrics by Leo McElroy and music by Ken Klingerman is only the group’s second musical production.

That it made it to the stage at all was a minor miracle.

Its Sacramento-area authors had waited eleven years since the initial concert performance of the show in 1998, suffering through a parade of setbacks, including cancellations of scheduled runs at three different theaters.

“Add in the time spent writing it,” said McElroy, who has had two other musicals produced, “and we’re looking at sixteen years of wondering if it ever would happen!”

The difficulties continued right up till the last minute, with one cast member suddenly quitting just ten days before opening, and one of the three vital nights of technical rehearsal cancelled because the auditorium had inadvertently been double-booked.

“Two nights before dress rehearsal, and the cast had never seen the stage or the set, and our crew had never worked with the sound or light systems,” McElroy said, wincing, “and at that point we were frankly terrified. I didn’’t want to even get out of bed, until my wife pointed out that the audience was coming to be told a story, and we knew we had one to tell.”

I caught the show in its second (of three) weekend. The setting was the the cavernous auditorium of Yolo High School, where the small audience barely made a dent in the available space.

As with many amateur theater productions, this is an uneven show, with some good performances, some not so good performances and a script that is sometimes well written and other times not. At its core, it’s an old-fashioned sounding musical, in the style of the 1930s, perhaps. You’re more likely to find the tunes in a show like “Anything Goes,” than in a more modern musical. And then suddenly you have an “anthem song” like “The Choice,” which could have been right out of Les Miserables.

It is also extremely unusual to have a show where one character is either the solo or the leading voice in twelve out of the show’s twenty-four songs. It would be unusual enough even if the singer was extraordinary, but Almis Udrys (Abel) is sometimes good, sometimes not so good. Sometimes he’s spot on, other times he can’t quite stay on pitch, so it’s odd that the show seems to be written for this one character to have so much to do.

The story takes place in the 1870s in the small California mining town of Whiskey King. The character Abel has just arrived ostensibly to set up the town’s first telegraph station. He befriends the Chinese laundryman George (Brandon Neal) and Charlie, a Native American who has been tossed out of his tribe (Fabian Jaime). Both Neal and Jaime give solid performances, with Jaime having the better of the voices, but Neal holding his own in the delightful novelty number, “Code of the West,” which is one of the show’s better songs.

Abel bonds with Nan (Erin Castleberry), who works in the local bordello. Castleberry is that “something to excite you” that I had hoped to find. She is simply wonderful, with a beautiful voice. Her duet with bordello owner Lovey (Savannah Knight) is a special moment, especially when Castleberry’s voice blends so beautifully with Knight’s deliciously rich tones.

Aly Sinitsin (Item) also adds much to the cast, though her role is much smaller.

Others in the cast include Victor Ramirez, who looks very noble in the show’s opening as the Indian Chief. David Valpreda is Jiggs, the bartender; Michael Hayner is Roger, a ladies’ man who spends a lot of time in the bar; Amanda Lee Schmidt and April Maylene are two of the other women in the bordello; Paul Johnson is Yoak, Cameron Johnson is Peter the piano player, and Bob Raymond is the sheriff, “Uncle Victor,” whose badge means absolutely nothing, since the town is really being run by the tough guy, Mike (Mark Fejta).

The sets (designed by Cindy Schmidt and Amanda Schmidt) reflect the shoestring budget that most community theatres run on, though the costumes by Cecile Freeman and Cindy Schmidt were very attractive.

While it had its enjoyable moments, the show suffered from an awkward plot, insufficient development of either the love between Nan and Abel, or their subsequent break-up two days later which apparently left both of them broken hearted and came about because of what appears to be a total personality change in Abel.

The thing that makes this all work is the obvious joy that everyone is having working on this show, whether it is on stage or back stage. And in the end, that’s what “amateur” (doing things for the love of it) theater is all about.

Noises Off

The audience at the opening night performance of the Sacramento Theatre Company production of Michael Frayn's 'Noises Off' could have been enjoying a 'Where's Waldo' book, as we all tried to spot the actual goofs among the scripted goofs.

'Noises Off' is perhaps the funniest show ever written. This very physical comedy traces the actions of a hapless British touring theater company in three acts: from final dress rehearsal for a play called 'Nothing On,' to a performance a month later, and another performance two months after that.

And a lot of sardines are involved.

Act 1 begins on the set of 'Nothing On,' hours before the opening performance, at a point when the actors still don't know their lines and cues are missed. It would appear that this show hasn't a hope of going anywhere near smoothly.

Act 2 reveals what takes place backstage, while a somewhat more stabilized performance is presented to an audience out front. There are romantic tensions, substance abuse, vindictive battles among the actors ... and a stage manager desperately trying to hold everything together, despite her own problems.

Act 3 returns to the 'foreground' set, at a point when all pretense of putting on a smooth performance has evaporated, and the task is merely to get through to the end.

Nothing goes right in this play - by design - and the hilarity builds until the audience laughs nonstop.

I've often said that 'Noises Off' probably is the only play that could suffer on-stage disasters with no consequences. This cast proved that beautifully on opening night: A plate of sardines wasn't where it should be; a box of spilled food sent an orange rolling across the stage; an actor tripped over the edge of the set's turntable, and pulled off a large piece of it; and a door fell off the hinges, necessitating spontaneous dialogue and stage business.

Those who knew the show laughed at these mistakes, but I'm sure first-timers assumed it was all part of the show. The talented cast handled all the disasters with aplomb, and incorporated them into the script: a true testament to their professionalism.

And a first-rate cast it is, starting with Jamie Jones as Dotty Otley, an aging star who has put her money into this production in order to perform. Dotty is appropriately named, as she can't remember anything - neither lines nor stage business - but she's just so happy to be on stage again, that she doesn't realize the problems she's causing for everyone else.

Dotty is only one bane of the existence of director Lloyd Dallas (Matt K. Miller), who uses sarcasm and cajolery while trying to pull performances from his cast, when all he really wants to do is leave this group and direct 'Richard III.' This role is well-suited to the talented Miller, who can do anything, from exploding at a cast member to being part of the physical comedy in Act 2.

Brett David Williams plays Garry Lejeune, an eager young actor whose role is the most physical. Williams must lose a few pounds during each performance. The inarticulate Garry - who has suggestions for everything, but never actually finishes a coherent sentence - is secretly in love with the older Dotty, which causes great problems as the run of the play continues.

Katherine C. Miller is the vacant Brooke Ashton, who appears to have come fresh from the casting couch to a role for which she is woefully unprepared. Miller, a brunette, is a break from the traditional blonde who plays this part, but she nonetheless captures this 'dumb blonde' beautifully.

Michael RJ Campbell is Frederick Fellowes, a method actor with an aversion to violence, whose squeamishness about blood is quite funny.

Michelle Hillen is Belinda Blair, perhaps the most competent of the troupe's actors. Alas, Belinda's role is primarily that of company peacemaker and caretaker for her friend, Selsdon Mowbray (Patrick Murphy), an actor well past his prime, whose problems with the bottle are apparently legendary.

The role of Tim Allgood - handyman, bookkeeper and understudy - is shared by John Ramos and Jake Murphy.

Ramos had the part on opening night, and he handled it adroitly.

The perpetually frazzled Poppy Norton-Taylor (Lynn Baker), who tries to keep things running smoothly, has her own secret that she desperately needs to tell someone.

Everything is overseen by (actual) director Michael Stevenson, who delivers a fast-paced and hilarious production that will delight even the most discerning theater-goers.

One final comment should be made about 7-year-old Jackson Margolis, who gave the welcoming speech to the audience prior to the performance, while also explaining that he had been in theater 'for one-third of his life.' His ease on stage was a great testament to the strength of STC's young people's program.

Legally Blonde: The Musical

If Gertrude Stein were alive today and had accompanied me to California Musical Theater's touring production of 'Legally Blonde,' she could have written her review quite succinctly: 'There's no there there.'

I genuinely like the 2001 film on which this musical has been based, and so was curious to see how the Reese Witherspoon vehicle would translate to the stage. Sadly, they got all the events of the movie, but none of its heart.

This play's fact sheet lists an entire paragraph of award nominations and minor awards won, and it was listed in the Top 10 for 'most requested Ticketmaster 'arts and theater events' for 2007.' But I suspect such interest came from people, like me, who liked the movie and were curious to see it on the stage.

This story concerns Elle Woods (Becky Gulsvig), a stereotypically vapid sorority girl whose signature color is pink. Her whole world revolves around her sorority sisters, clothes, hair, makeup, her Chihuahua Bruiser, and her boyfriend Warner (Jeff McLean), whom she expects to pop the question at any moment.

When Warner surprises her by confessing that it's time to move on to Harvard, get serious about becoming an attorney, and marry a woman who's also more serious, Elle sinks into a 10-day depression. This concludes when she decides that 'all' she needs to do is get into Harvard Law School and prove to Warner that she, too, has a brain.

And, as they say, hijinks and hilarity ensue. Sort of. I guess.

The show's music and lyrics are by Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin, and with very few exceptions everything sounds the same: not in an 'Andrew Lloyd Webber tuneful' sort of way, but more in a 'crank it up to 10 and wave your arms in the air' sort of way. The nearly six-minute opening number, 'Omigod You Guys' is a perfect example:

Omigod, this is happening;
Our own homecoming queen and king;
Finally she'll be trying on a huge engagement ring for size.
Omigod, you guys!
Omigod!

The two exceptions, however, are quite good. 'Blood in the Water' introduces Elle's Harvard teacher, Prof. Callahan (Ken Land), who dangles four internships in front of his hungry class. This is the first musical number that isn't sweetness and light, but instead a dark and sinister depiction of what it takes to be an attorney:

Blood in the water:
Dark and red and raw.
You're nothing until the thrill of the kill
Becomes your only law.

The second memorable number is 'Whipped into Shape,' which is set in a women's prison; it features some pretty fancy footwork with jump ropes in a dance number choreographed by director Jerry Mitchell, and featuring defendant Brooke Wyndham (Coleen Sexton).

The show also has a fabulous, stand-out chorus-line number, which I won't spoil by describing.

The cast also include D.B. Bonds as Emmett Forrest, a law student who takes Elle under his wing and helps her buckle down and actually study (and falls in love with her in the process).

Natalie Joy Johnson is a hairdresser, Paulette, whom Elle helps in many ways. Ven Daniel is outstanding as Kyle, a UPS guy who is the object of Paulette's affections.

A trial takes place as the story draws to a conclusion, during which some stereotypical gay sight gags continue far too long; I found them offensive, although the audience laughed uproariously.

On the whole, this isn't the best start for this season's Broadway Season. And there isn't nearly enough of Bruiser.

Late Night Catechism

It’s difficult to know quite how to review the improvisational comedy “Late Night Catechism: Till Death Do Us Part,” which has replaced “Forever Plaid” at California Musical Theater’s Cosmopolitan Cabaret at 1000 K Street in downtown Sacramento.

The one-woman show was written by Maripat Donovan, who will be playing the role of “Sister,” a nun teaching an adult catechism class, for the first two weeks of the 8-week run, before she is replaced by Nonie Newton-Breen, who has spent the last seven years touring the country in “Catechism” plays.

Donovan created the original "Late Night Catechism" with director Marc Silvia 17 years ago to perform in a little Chicago storefront theater. Then it was 50-minute one-act, which played at 11 p.m. Over the ensuing years, Donovan has continued to hone her material and the play is now a 2 hour 2-act play.

We were the perfect group to see this play. There were three of us. Two of us were Catholics, one (myself) had gone to 12 years of Catholic school. The third in our party was neither a Catholic, nor had much experience of Catholicism.

From the moment I entered the cabaret, I felt I was back in grammar school again, with the Palmer method alphabet posted on top of the blackboard, the pictures of presidents and holy figures on the walls, the “JMJ” (for “Jesus, Mary, Joseph”) written across the top of the blackboard itself, the statue of Mary on a little table and crucifix hanging on the wall, and all the trappings of a Catholic school classroom.

“Sister” was a familiar figure too, a generously proportioned woman with a no-nonsense swagger, her rosary swaying at her side as she walked, and the stern look in her eye as she glared over her glasses at the audience and commanded us all to be quiet. I wanted to say “Yes, Sister.” I felt as if I was back in fourth grade and Sister Mary Johnetta had just caught me whispering to another classmate.

The show itself is a mixture of prepared material and ad-lib material, based on responses she gets from the audience (this is a show which is heavy on audience participation). Of necessity, the feel of the show will change every night, depending on the response (or lack of same) that Sister receives. The opening night audience was receptive.

Asked questions directly from the old Baltimore Catechism that every Catholic school child had to memorize throughout his or her years in Catholic school, it was surprising the number of people in the audience who could pop up and recite the correct answer, word for word.

While the prepared material was funny, some of it, the ad lib material was much funnier, but could be deadly dull with an unresponsive audience.

But at intermission, our group compared notes. While we catholics had found the thing funny, the non-Catholic said that, having no experience with Catholic teaching, the humor was just not hitting him. He later spoke with a Jewish man who said the same thing.

There are lots of laughs to be had which don’t require a Catholic education, but some that fall really flat. The “class” is supposed to cover the two sacraments of Marriage and “Blessing of the Sick” (called, in my day, “Extreme Unction”). While the marriage segment was very funny, there were few laughs to be found in the segment on blessing of the sick, no audience participation and I felt the whole thing fell flat.

That part of the “class” started Act 2, which then, for some unexplainable reason, morphed into “The Compatibility Game” where two couples were brought on stage, to the theme music for “The Dating Game” and asked an overly long set of questions to determine their compatibility.

While the couples (especially the older couple, Walter and his wife Theresa) were great, the questions went on so long that even “Sister” seemed to get bored with them. My feeling was that the whole show would have been much funnier if it had remained a 50 minute show and cut out the whole game show idea entirely.

Trying to sum up my feelings about the show are difficult because I “got” all the Catholic humor and loved it, but I can see that if you have never heard of the Baltimore Catechism the humor would just not be there.

I also feel that this would be much better as a one-act show, and if the game show were to be kept in, tighten it up significantly.

Bottom line is that I enjoyed it more than I expected to, but I don’t think this is a show that is going to be everyone’s cup of tea.

(And speaking of tea, be prepared for astronomical prices for cabaret refreshment. My small bottle of water cost $4! Others at our table bought something called “waffle fries” for around $5, which was about 2 cups [if that] of fancy looking potato chips!)

Seussical the Musical

Every one of our children liked Seuss books a lot
Then I heard of a musical - This would be hot!
Horton, the Grinch, silly Mayzie, the Cat...
Davis Musical Theatre was where it was at.

(With apologies to Dr. Seuss and grammar buffs everywhere.)

'Seussical' is the kind of musical that showcases the Davis Musical Theatre Company at its best. It's visually a delight, with a host of brightly colored costumes designed by Denise Miles. The large cast includes many of DMTC's Young People's Theater performers, which demonstrates the strength of that program.

The tunes are lively, and Ron Cisneros' choreography is energetic and well-executed.

The show, based on 15 books by Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel), weaves familiar characters together in unusual ways while incorporating some 32 tunes written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. The songs aren't particularly memorable, with the exception of the opening 'Oh the Thinks You Can Think' and the rousing encore number, 'Green Eggs and Ham.'

Director Jenifer Price has done an outstanding job with her cast, and the show is certain to be a favorite with adults and children alike.

The cast is headed by the zany, irrepressible Kevin Caravalho, as The Cat in the Hat. Just like Seuss' favorite feline, Caravalho is a whole bag of tricks, mugging, ad-libbing - at least it sounds like ad-libbing - and drawing the audience into the fun.

The Cat is accompanied by his cartwheel-turning apprentices, Thing 1 (Linnea Lampinen) and Thing 2 (Devon Hayakawa).

The narrative centers on Horton the Elephant (Kyle Hadley), who discovers the microscopic world of the Whos living on a speck of dust, and then tries to find them a safe home.

Hadley touchingly brings the elephant's innocence and vulnerability to life, as he faces the ridicule of friends who treat him with scorn, because they cannot hear the Whos.

Kay Hight is Mayzie LaBird, who can't be bothered hatching her own egg, and tricks Horton into doing it for her; this severely hampers his attempts to find a safe place for the Whos.

Ana Chan sparkles as JoJo, the child who follows The Cat and later moves into the world of the Whos; her enthusiasm is infectious. She and Hadley have a sweet duet, 'Alone in the Universe,' as they face their respective situations.

Jeffrey Lloyd Heatherly makes a tremendous impact as Gen. Genghis Kahn Schmitz, singing the fun patter song, 'The Military,' along with the Mayor of Whoville (Jason Hammond) and his wife (Erin Renfree-Davis).

Emily Jo Seminoff is Gertrude McFuzz, the one-feathered bird in love with Horton, who longs for a spectacular tail ... and gets it. Seminoff somehow manages to create the facial features of a bird, and her performance is wonderful.

Deborah Hammond is outstanding as the Sour Kangaroo, although her character doesn't add much to the storyline, and her musical numbers are quite a departure from the rest.

Steve Isaacson does double-duty as The Grinch and Judge Yertle the Turtle, and is at his best when dressed in a green Santa suit.

The large cast is divided into various groupings: Whos, Cadets, Hunters, Sneetches and so forth. The Wickersham brothers - Kendyl Ito, Matthew Kohrt, Ryan Lee and Cole Yambrovich - are wonderfully athletic, and their antics are enhanced by their neon-bright costumes.

The show's music isn't the best, but the staging and choreography more than compensate. The sets are minimal, but not much is required with such a large cast.

High School Musical 2

It was obvious, from the cheers that greeted 'High School Musical 2' even before the show began, that the Woodland Opera House had a real hit on its hands.

The audience of mostly high school-age people - and, one assumes, parents of the actors - clapped loudly for every musical number, laughed enthusiastically at all the jokes, and gave the show a standing ovation.

The production unquestionably deserved it. The cast is composed of talented actors who sing well (most of the time), dance energetically and breathe life into a script that is perhaps one of the dumbest I've ever experienced.

But, I kept reminding myself, I had to look at this from an adolescent's viewpoint. That helped significantly.

'High School Musical 2' takes up where the first play left off, as the main characters, now facing summer vacation, realize that they need jobs.

The evil and uber-wealthy Sharpay Evans (Danielle Hansen), who seemed to undergo a bit of a redemption at the end of the previous play, has sharpened her claws again and once more set her cap for the school hunk, Troy Bolton (Eric Catalan).

She therefore arranges for him to have a job at her father's luxurious country club, where she hopes to steal his affections from his girlfriend, the wholesome Gabriella Montez (Shannon Kendall).

Not realizing that his new boss will be Sharpay's father, Troy enthusiastically accepts the job during a phone conversation, without any interview whatsoever, and even arranges for all his friends to obtain employment as well (suspension of disbelief No. 1).

And so the action shifts to the country club, and the battle is on.

Hansen, in her Woodland Opera House debut, makes a perfect Sharpay. She even looks eerily like Emily Jo Seminoff, who played the role two years ago in the local production of 'High School Musical' (and who, with her mother MJ Seminoff, directs this sequel).

Hansen prances about the stage with her minions - 'The Sharpettes': Andee King, Jo Black and Kara Sheldon - like the little princess she's supposed to be, and successfully becomes the girl we love to hate.

Catalan, who made an impression as Troy's friend Chad in the previous production, has moved into the role of Troy and does a very good job. His angst-ridden 'Bet on It' - during which he tries to decide whether turning his back on his values, in order to get a college scholarship, is worth it - is one of the show's highlights.

Kendall, a senior at Sacramento State University, gives a wholesome, freshly scrubbed look to Gabriella, the girl who tries to keep Troy grounded. Kendall has a lovely voice and has the sort of presence that holds our attention whenever she's on stage.

Back in 2007, while reviewing the local production of the first 'High School Musical,' I noted, 'Worth watching in the chorus is young Casey Camacho, who has no speaking lines and is merely one of the crowd, but is so enthusiastic about his role that he stands out.' Two years later, Camacho has come into his own as Jack Scott, the high school DJ who also becomes the emcee for all the resort events. He's a real firecracker, and it's good to see him in such a prominent role.

Alex Cesena plays Mr. Fulton, the resort's long-suffering, over-the-top general manager; Cesena is integral to the production.

Allison Ruanto and Alyssa Garcia give energetic performances as Gabriella's best friends, particularly during the dance numbers.

Choreographers Emily Jo Seminoff and Tyler Warren have done yeomen's jobs while creating several energetic musical numbers, and the cast pulls them off quite well.

While the songs are forgettable, the visuals on stage are fetching, particularly during a lively take on 'Humuhumu-nukunukuapaua'a' (which bears little resemblance to the familiar Hawaiian tune) and 'I Don't Dance.'

Did I like this show?

Well ... no.

But my dislike had everything to do with the brainless script and nothing whatsoever to do with the production, which is sparkling and will delight every adolescent in the audience.

The bad news?

The kids leave the resort at the end of the summer to return for their final year of high school, and yes, 'High School Musical 3' is waiting in the wings...

Cats

The Music Circus is closing its 2009 season with Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Cats,' the show that opened the company's then-brand-new Wells Fargo Pavilion in 2003.

'Cats' isn't my favorite Lloyd Webber show, by a long shot. And, based on comments I heard during intermission - 'I'm just not getting this one!' - and the number of people who didn't return for Act 2, I'm not alone.

But the task at hand is not to review a show that has been around for a couple of decades, but this particular Music Circus production.

'Cats' was inspired by 'Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats,' T.S. Eliot's 1939 collection of children's poems. The play's plot is thin, and used primarily as a vehicle for introducing new cats and new musical numbers. That said, the music is engaging, and the cats are delightful.

The one problem with doing 'Cats' in the round is that a big part of the show's charm - at other venues - is its massive set, which depicts the back alley location of the piece. On a proscenium stage, one can have heaps of garbage and things attached to the walls; at some theaters, audience members are allowed to walk around on stage to examine the scenery.

Music Circus scenic designer Michael Schweikardt does a good job of suggesting a back alley, with a few props lining the edge of the stage, but compromises were necessary to keep the sight lines.

When we lose the impact of the scenery, 'all' that remains is the singing and dancing. Thankfully, this cast makes any yearning for a more massive set transitory. Director/choreography Richard Stafford has assembled an exciting and impressive cast, headed by Ken Page as Old Deuteronomy.

Page created the role on Broadway and reprised it 18 years later in the 2003 production. Much like his character, Page obviously has many lives.

Jacquelyn Piro Donovan is notable as Grizabella, the moth-eaten former glamour cat, who hopes to be chosen for rebirth in the 'Heaviside Layer.' Donovan also played this role in the 2003 Music Circus production. Her delivery of 'Memory' is hauntingly beautiful, and it drew cheers and sustained applause from the audience.

Kevin Lorque (Rum Tum Tugger), Ryan Jackson (Mistoffelees) and Michael Brian Dunnas (Bustopher Jones/Asparagus/Growltiger) also give first-rate performances.

Kurt Domoney's crisp interpretation of Skimbleshanks, the cat on the railway train, is a delight.

Stafford's choreography is perfect, particularly in numbers such as 'The Jellical Ball.' (This production also gives patrons the opportunity to see a chorus of tap-dancing cockroaches!)

The vocals also afford some beautiful moments, such as the chorus for 'Old Deuteronomy.'

Costumes are a huge part of this show's success, and Marcy Froehlich's efforts are outstanding. The solution for the 'larger' cats is ingenious, and Froehlich's costumes for a band of Siamese pirates are quite colorful.

(The cats are so realistic that I felt it necessary to come home and apologize to my dogs, for fraternizing with the opposite species.)

Act 2 is more enjoyable than Act 1, as it gives up all pretense of any plot whatsoever, and simply presents several stand-alone numbers, each introducing a different cat.

All things considered, 'Cats' is a good end to a good season.

Man of La Mancha

The Music Circus production of 'Man of La Mancha,' which continues through Sunday, is proof that you can tell a musical story without glitz or glamor: with nothing more than a solid script, a fantastic cast and a terrific orchestra.

This play-within-a-play - based on the 17th century Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes, with book by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion - begins as Cervantes, imprisoned for crimes against the Catholic Church (he attempted to foreclose on a monastery, for nonpayment of taxes), awaits interrogation by the Spanish Inquisition.

The dual roles of Cervantes and Don Quixote are played brilliantly by Walter Charles, a veteran of Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional theater. Charles is that rare actor who knows that sometimes less is more; his toned-down handling of the 'story telling' parts of the narrative are balanced nicely by his 'acting' in the role of Don Quixote.

We listen more carefully to someone who quietly tells a story, than to someone who emotes all the time.

Kevin Ligon is a delight as the manservant, Sancho Panza. Ligon has a marvelously acerbic method of delivery, and is especially winsome in his song, 'A Little Gossip.'

Cervantes' fellow prisoners hold their own inquisition - a mock trial - during which they accuse the writer of being, among other things, an idealist and a bad poet. If 'convicted,' Cervantes will lose his belongings, which consist primarily of a trunk of theatrical costumes and props, and an unfinished manuscript.

By way of a defense, the author proposes to act out the story of the manuscript, using other prisoners to fill in the roles.

This, then, is the saga of Alonso Quijana, an idealistic old man who imagines himself to be an errant knight, Don Quixote de La Mancha, who travels around 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.'

The delusional Quijana, who promises not to allow wickedness to flourish, is an embarrassment to his respectable family.

Quixote sees things as he wants to see them, not as they really are. A windmill thus becomes a giant beast to be attacked; a country inn becomes a castle; the serving wench and town whore, Aldonza, becomes the lovely 'Dulcinea,' a fair lady whom Quixote insists on treating with dignity, gentleness and respect, as he becomes her protector.

Valerie Perri doesn't have the vocal richness that one would like in a Dulcinea, but she can belt a tune with the best of them. Her raw portrayal of 'Aldonza, the whore' is very affecting. In deference to the PG audience at any Music Circus production, Aldonza's rape scene is toned down to a suggestive dance, choreographed by Bob Richard, rather than a more graphic attack.

P.I. Brown also turns in a powerful performance, as the 'governor' among the prisoners, and the Innkeeper in Cervantes' play. The latter grants Quixote his knighthood, and gives him the title of 'Knight of the Woeful Countenance.' Brown is an overwhelming presence with a deep bass voice.

The play offers wonderful technical moments throughout. Quixote and Sancho set out on their quest in 'chariots,' which are pieces of furniture found in the jail, pulled by a 'horse' and 'donkey' (Alex Robert Holmes and John B. Williford). The scene brings cheers from the audience, as director Guy Stroman has found the perfect way to move his four-legged creatures around the stage.

A later scene, 'We're Only Thinking of Him,' features Quijana's family and advisers: It's an outstanding lighting effect, with each standing in a pool of light as these characters rotate around the stage. Kudos to designer Pamila Z. Gray.

At one point, a group of Moorish gypsies sets upon Quixote and steals all his belongings, including his animals. Manoly Farrell plays a seductive dancer, distracting the hapless knight while her companions rob him blind.

Quixote maintains his idealism even in the face of these many adversities, until he is forced to look in the mirror and see life as it actually is.

The message of this musical is contained within its signature song, 'The Impossible Dream': One must neither give up one's dreams, nor the hopes that nobility always triumphs, and virtue always prevails.

7 Brides for 7 Brothers

They're dancing up a storm at the Wells Fargo Pavilion this week.

A rollicking production of 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,' choreographed by Pepper Clyde and directed by Leland Ball, returns to the Music Circus after a three-year hiatus. Ball now has directed this play three times for Music Circus, and Clyde has choreographed all previous productions for the venue.

Experience shows.

Based on 'The Sobbin' Women,' a 1928 short story by Stephen Vincent Benet, the musical began its life as an MGM musical starring Jane Powell and Howard Keel, with music by Gene dePaul and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. It was hugely popular. A subsequent stage version - directed by Lawrence Kasha, with Powell and Keel reprising their roles - was less successful.

But an improved version - with additional songs (music and lyrics by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn) - had a brief run on Broadway in 1982, and has found new life in theaters such as Music Circus, where it is a big favorite.

The story actually had its origins with an eighth century legend of the founding of Rome and the realization by Romulus, its first king, that since his followers were mostly male, they needed some women to ensure the city's survival. As a result, they raided the nearby Sabine tribe and carried off some virgins.

It's a thin plot on which to build an entire musical, but a meaty plot line is irrelevant when gifted with such lively dancing.

The current incarnation of the story is set in the Oregon wilderness. The seven Pontipee brothers realize that if they had a woman around the ranch, she could cook, clean and keep the place tidy. Since they've been unsuccessful at keeping a housekeeper, the brothers decide that one of them should find a woman to marry.

Adam (Joseph Mahowald), the eldest, is elected to go to town and return with a wife, along with various other supplies that are required.

Once in town, Adam finds Milly (Jacquelyn Piro Donovan), a feisty waitress in a local eatery. What Adam lacks in romantic ability he makes up for in persuasion, and Milly agrees to marry him that day, and return to his wilderness cabin.

She is, however, unaware that marriage to Adam also comes with six unruly brothers.

Mahowald and Donovan are a likable couple, with the latter having the raw voice of, say, an Annie Oakley, as she gradually tames the mountain men and insists on their civilized behavior. But she also demonstrates a lyrical tone in songs such as 'Wonderful Day' or 'Goin' Courtin,' ' as she teaches the younger brothers how to woo a woman.

The most famous scene from the film is the 'Social Dance,' where the Pontipee brothers begin to win the women away from other townsmen at the monthly town social. This sequence also is a high point in this Music Circus production, although the incident ends in a fight between the Pontipee brothers and all the other men.

The sad result: The Pontipee brothers are banned from the community.

Lovesick and lonely, and with Adam's urging, they sneak back to town at night and kidnap their would-be brides. An avalanche closes the only road to the Pontipees' spread, preventing the townsfolk from rescuing the kidnapped women, who are forced to wait out the winter with the men.

But there's no hanky-panky going on, as Milly tosses the men out of the house and into the barn. She and the woman live in the house until the spring thaw, when love also begins to blossom among all the couples.

And in the end ... but do I really need to tell you?

Clyde has assembled a core of top-notch dancers in both the Pontipee brothers - Steve Schepis, Nathaniel Shaw, Ryan Jackson, A.J. Hughes, Richard Bulda and Shawn Perucca - and their town rivals: Kurt Domoney, Tyler Russell Warren, Kevin Loreque, Tim Hausmann, Gabriel Williams and Drew Franklin. The dance numbers are vigorously athletic, and they bring cheers from the audience every time.

The women aren't quite as athletic, but that in no way minimizes the contributions of Merrill West, Miki Berg, Elisa Nixon, Robin Masella, Tiffany Sudol and Kristen J. Smith. They're all excellent.

This lively, upbeat production of 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers' will set your toes a-tapping.

Into the Woods

“And they lived happily ever after...”

Isn’t that the way fairy tales end?

Not necessarily. “Happily ever after” comes at the end of the first act for Stephen Sondheim & James Lapine’s “Into the Woods,” at Music Circus this week..

What happens to all those folks who live happily ever after? Do they really live happily ever after? That’s the story Sondheim and Lapine set out to explore, which is given an outstanding treatment in this production directed by Glen Casale with musical direction by Craig Barna.

From the moment one enters the Wells Fargo Pavilion, one is in this magical world. Scenic Designer Evan A. Bartoletti has created what may be the most elaborate Music Circus set to date, a forest heavily laden with leafy branches, trees that stand tall, and then disappear out of sight, and a rocky forest floor which lends itself nicely to separating the “families” of this tale into their own space.

Sound Designer Robert Sereno fills the theater with the sounds of birds and other woodland creatures while the audience members are taking their seats so that by the time the lights go down, you are already in the mood and ready to jump into the story.

The story centers around the Baker (Jeffry Denman) and his wife (Vicki Lewis) and the curse put on the Baker’s father and all of his family years ago by the Witch (Yvette Cason), which has left the young couple childless. In order to break the spell, the Baker must gather four things – a cow as white as snow, a red cape, a golden shoe, and a lock of blonde hair.

How convenient, then, that their neighbors include Little Red Riding Hood (Tracy Katz Paladini), Cinderella (Kim Huber), Jack (of beanstalk fame) (Matthew Wolpe) and Rapunzel (Savannah Smith-Thomas).

One would be hard pressed to find a weak performance in this cast. They are each generally outstanding. Denman gives the character of the Baker an endearing quality and his “No More” is filled with pain.

Paladini, who played Little Red Riding Hood in the national tour, is perfect as the know-it-all moppet who is as matter of fact about swiping sweets from the Baker as she is about meeting Grandma (Karen Culliver) in the belly of the wolf (Jason Forbach).

The stage lights up whenever Cason steps on it. As the witch under a spell in the first act, she is menacing, and her on-stage transformation, hidden by pillars of smoke, into the glamorous witch is impressive.

The brother princes, Cinderella’s (Gordon Goodman) and Rapunzel’s (Jason Forbach) are deliciously over the top, self-centered, and very funny in their “Agony” duet.

There are not a lot of familiar tunes in this show, but it is filled with some beautiful moments, such as “No One is Alone,” sung by Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, the Baker and Jack when it seems that all is lost.

Likewise, the Witch’s “Stay with Me,” a plea to her daughter Rapunzel, is hauntingly lovely.

We sat next to a woman and her small child, who left the show at intermission. This surprised me, since I felt the show was so good, but on reflection I decided that this may be the perfect way to share this production with a small child. At the end of Act 1, it looks like every thing has turned out well for everyone and perhaps it’s best not to disillusion small children by staying for Act 2.

Act 2 is filled with betrayal, the death of beloved characters, sexual indiscretions, and the graphic sounds of the kinds of things that an angry giant on a rampage can do to puny human beings. The survivors do, in fact, ultimately look like they will have a happily ever after but the whole act might be a bit too disturbing for younger children.

This is the best Music Circus production thus far this season and is highly recommended.

Guys and Dolls

Fifteen years have passed since 'Guys and Dolls' appeared on the Music Circus stage.

After seeing director Marcia Milgrom Dodge's sparkling new production, it's hard to understand why the show stayed away so long.

This musical by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows - based on short stories by Damon Runyon, with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser - is set on the streets of New York in the 1950s, and the characters are so stereotypically delicious that we can't help falling in love with them.

These are the low-lifes, gamblers, showgirls and gangsters, and the Salvation Army-like missionaries who try to save their souls. And Dodge secured an all star cast to portray them.

Tony Award-winner Gary Beach ('The Producers') is two-bit shyster Nathan Detroit, who runs 'the oldest established floating crap game in New York.' Don't look for the image of a young Sinatra, who played the role in the 1955 film adaptation; Beach's Detroit has been in business a long time, and is a wise-cracking, take-charge guy.

Detroit has been engaged for 14 years (!) to the long-suffering Miss Adelaide (Heather Lee), a singer and dancer at The Hot Box; she's beginning to worry that they'll never get married. Lee, who played this role in the show's Broadway revival, is a gem: a bleached blonde with a Betty Rubble giggle, who dreams of settling down in a real home with Nathan.

Their duet, 'Sue Me,' is a true crowd-pleaser.

Matthew Ashford - known to daytime soap opera fans as Jack Devereaux, from 'Days of our Lives' - is the high-rolling Sky Masterson. He's in town to pick up a few bucks at the crap game, but he picks up more than he bargained for; He falls in love with a straight-laced missionary, Sarah Brown (Montego Glover), when Nathan bets that Sky can't get her to go on an overnight trip to Havana with him.

Sarah, joined by her grandfather and others in their small band of missionaries, attempts (unsuccessfully) to bring God to the people of lower Manhattan. She dreams of romance ('I'll Know') but realizes that Masterson isn't 'it.'

Glover, last seen at the Music Circus in the title role in 'Aida,' made her Broadway debut as Celie in 'The Color Purple.' She has both a beautiful voice and the ability to play physical comedy as well, as evidenced by her antics while 'under the influence' in Havana.

If Sarah's grandfather Arvide Abernathy looks familiar, it's because the role is played by Conrad John Schuck, best known for his long-running role as Sgt. Enright in TV's 'McMillan and Wife.' Schuck, boasting a lengthy Broadway and TV résumé, has a wonderful voice; he also shows Arvide's deep love for his granddaughter.

The cast also includes a wonderful assortment of gangsters who speak in that unique mix of courtly formality and tough-guy vernacular: guys such as Nicely-Nicely Johnson (E.E. Bell), who got his nickname by answering 'nicely, nicely' whenever asked how he was doing. Bell brings down the house with his rousing rendition of 'Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat.'

Will Mann stands out in the small role of Harry the Horse, particularly in the 'Crapshooters Ballet,' danced by the male chorus in the underground location Detroit has found for his game.

P.L. Brown is also notable as Big Jule, who has traveled in from Chicago for the game. Big Jule is appropriately named, as he's large and menacing, and has a voice that could comfortably sing 'Asleep in the Deep.'

Local favorite Rodger Hoopman - founder/producer/artistic director of the 33-year-old Chautauqua Playhouse - has appeared in more than 25 Music Circus productions. He pops up here as Lt. Brannigan, charged with shutting down the crap game.

The right apparel is essential to any production of 'Guys and Dolls,' and Leon Wiebers is particularly successful at creating the male characters by their costumes alone: an assortment of padded shoulders and pin stripes that say 'gangsta' before anybody even opens his mouth.

Add Sky's over-the-top blue number, and the black suit for Big Jule, and it couldn't be more perfect.

'Guys and Dolls' is a delightful show, full of witty dialogue and lots of familiar tunes. This production is certain to satisfy just about everyone.

Erratica: An Academic Farce

Remember the name Reina Hardy; I suspect you'll hear it again.

Hardy's play, 'Erratica: an Academic Farce,' premiered Friday at Old Sacramento's Capital Stage venue and was an unqualified hit.

'Erratica' is Capital Stage's first world premiere to emerge from the company's Playwrights' Revolution project. In 2007, Capital Stage was awarded a $40,000 grant from the James Irvine Foundation, to create and develop the Playwrights' Revolution. Its goal: to celebrate new works and encourage the creation of bold new plays for the American theater.

Each year, several new plays are selected to participate in a series of round table and staged readings. 'Erratica' is the first of these plays to have been transformed into a fully mounted professional production.

A mere one to two minutes after the play begins, with hormonally charged Professor Samantha Stafford (Stephanie Gularte) speaking to Gregory, an unseen student admirer, the audience was howling with laughter. The pace continued throughout most of the play.

Samantha is trying to write a book on Shakespeare, but distractions abound: Gregory is madly in love with her; her publicist (Jamie Jones) wants her to do something more commercial, which involves Cosmopolitan magazine; and she's persistently haunted by an entity claiming to be the ghost of Christopher Marlowe (Danny Webber).

Meanwhile, Jack Hooper (Eric Wheeler), a librarian who just might be a match for Samantha, has lost a prized manuscript to a mysterious thief.

And Gregory's roommate, Elspeth (Stephanie Altholz), is pursuing her own agenda.

It's all connected, but how?

The play, directed by Michael Stevenson, is blessed with fast-paced dialogue delivered with enough snap - particularly by Gularte - to make it sizzle. ('If someone had come along and written me Sonnet Number 53, for example, I would have jumped on him and wrapped my thighs around his neck.')

It's a huge role for Gularte, who is present in every scene. We've previously watched her in so many serious, meaty roles, that it's fun to see her in something really funny.

We're never quite sure what Marlowe is doing as Samantha's muse, but Webber is quite funny, particularly during his attempts to distract the professor as she tries to give a lecture.

Jones is perfect as the publicist, Lisa Minkman. She can't imagine what Samantha wishes to accomplish professionally, and instead sees only possibilities for how this Shakespeare tome could reach a broader audience if it's 'sexed up' a little, so it'll appeal to the Cosmo crowd.

'New material is the key,' she says breathlessly. 'New female material. Sexy new female material.'

Wheeler, last seen in 'The Complete History of America (Abridged),' is fine in a role that doesn't require so much frenetic energy. His part is smaller than the rest, but he gives a solid performance as a librarian who has discovered a rare document that might be the very thing that Lisa is seeking, to add a little oomph to Samantha's manuscript.

Altholz brings the rather odd Elspeth to life. On the surface, she's merely a love-stricken student ... but she turns out to possess a skill that becomes crucial to the plot.

Jonathan Williams constructed a good-looking and versatile set. Most of the show takes place in Samantha's office, and the strategic movement of a door changes the look of the room, and allows for a variety of meetings. The office bookshelves also are used well, to create the sense of a university library.

The 27-year-old Hardy reluctantly allowed herself to be called up on stage at the conclusion of the opening night performance; she was, unfortunately, decidedly uncomfortable. I hope she finds a way to become more at ease with well-earned accolades: Based on this play, she has many more such evenings in her future, if she maintains such a high level of work.

Altar Boyz

'Altar Boyz,' this week's Music Circus offering, won't be everyone's cup of tea.

The huge empty sections of the theater on Tuesday evening - something rarely seen at the Wells Fargo Pavilion - may indicate that this show didn't appeal to traditional opening-nighters.

But it's a sweet little show with lots of energy and charm and, at 90 minutes (with no intermission), you'll be home in time to watch 'The Daily Show' or David Letterman.

Described as 'a new musical about a struggling Christian boy band riding the wave of America's latest fascination with religion,' 'Altar Boyz' is a satirical look at both boy bands and God music. The score offers lyrics such as

Jesus called me on my cell phone;
No roaming charges were incurred.
He told me that I should go out in the world
And spread His glorious word.
He beeped me!
He faxed me!
He e-mailed my soul!

The cast of five features Matthew (Devin DeSantis), Mark (Jamison Scott), Luke (Ryan Nearhoff) and Juan (Andres Quintero), along with their lyricist, Abraham (Tim Dolan).

Although the play lacks an actual plot, each character has a back-story. Matthew, the leader, keeps the group in line, although he hides a little secret; Mark is gay and Catholic, and struggling with the turmoil that brings; Luke seems to spend a lot of time in rehab for 'exhaustion'; Juan is an orphan seeking his parents, but finding family within the group.

Abraham is the Jewish altar boy who writes the lyrics for the songs.

After years spent performing in bingo halls and youth group rallies, the Altar Boyz have moved on up to a big-city concert: in this case, in Sacramento. They've grown into pop stars with a mission to save the burdened souls in the theater.

Considerable discussion involves the group's sponsor, the 'Sony Soul-Sensor,' which continually scans the souls in the audience and determines how many still need saving. The hook is that the boys must keep singing until all souls have been saved.

(After about an hour, we begin to get impatient with the hold-outs!)

The music varies from ballads to upbeat pop, and even includes a rap about the miracles of Jesus:

His posse's in the water,
Rowin' all night.
While Jesus prayed to his father,
They were hellah far from shore.
And the sea was wicked rough,
When they saw a ghost just walkin' on the water (scary stuff!).

The play includes a bit of audience participation, and a prayer meeting for all the prayers supposedly submitted by audience members prior to the show ... chosen from a revolving drum, as one would select winning lottery tickets.

As Tuesday's performance concluded, some audience members leaped to their feet with cheers ... while others sat in their seats looking stunned, and asking each other what they'd just seen.

It's a pleasant night of theater, but perhaps not the best show to hit the Music Circus stage.

Picked

First we had the Brothers Grimm, whose fairy tales were certain to give nightmares to young children.

Now we have playwright Timm - Stephanie Timm by name - whose 'Picked' is this year's offering by Barnyard Theater, under the direction of Steven Schmidt.

Timm's story has the atmosphere of a retro fairy tale, but with updated language and situations that may push it into the PG rating. It's both old fashioned and as up to date as the popular 'Twilight' vampire series.

Three sisters - Iris (Maddy Ryen), Lily (Camille Beaumont) and Violet (Lindsay Carpenter) - live in 'a raped and pillaged land where wolves prowl the woods, and an endless war is all that anyone remembers.' Iris is 'the eldest and the prettiest.' Lily is 'the middle and the smartest'; she can figure out how to get pitchers down off high shelves, and she's really good at riddles.

Violet, 'the youngest and sweetest,' always helps spiders across streams, and puts out the flames when beggar women are on fire. She's therefore picked to marry a man who lives across the sea, and is expected to live happily ever after.

Iris and Lily continue to live on imaginary food, and long for the day when they, too, can leave the raped and pillaged land.

We watch Lily's coming of age, when she meets Wolf (Josh van Eyken), who awakens new feelings in her. Lily is intrigued, despite Iris' warning that wolves will drag her into the forest and make her belly swell with snakes. Wolf creates tension between Iris and Lily, but Lily also has a protector, Woodsboy (James Henderson), who brings her books and food.

All too soon, we learn that things are not what they appear, when Lily is told she will join Violet and marry her own man across the sea. The play turns quite dark - and grim - before the survivors ultimately live happily ever after.

This is a strange show, albeit well done by a crew of wonderful actors. I've watched Ryen's growth as an actress with pleasure, and she does not disappoint here. Beaumont brings an innocence and an underlying smoldering sexuality to her performance as Lily. Carpenter glows as Violet, particularly when she appears in apparitions, reading postcards she has sent home to her sisters.

Van Eyken is a wonderful wolf in ... well ... wolf's clothing: suave, smooth and deliciously duplicitous.

Henderson is very earnest as Woodsboy, and he displays a range of emotions despite being unable to speak, due to his wooden lips.

As always, it's an adventure to watch a production in Schmeiser's Barn. The company is ready to spray patrons with mosquito repellent, and the barn goats occasionally add their voice at unexpected moments. And who needs a fog machine, when you can create a dust cloud in the dirt of the stage floor?

(My sympathies to whoever is responsible for keeping Violet's wedding gown looking white!)

All told, though, Barnyard Theater once again provides a delightful evening's entertainment.

The company's summer season will include an evening reading of short plays on Friday, July 24, and a performance of short one-acts on Saturday, July 25. If the quality of work displayed in 'Picked' is any indication, both those single-evening events will be worth investigating.

Thoroughly Modern Millie

'Thoroughly Modern Millie' is silly.

But the play knows this, and doesn't pretend to be anything but silly.

This sprightly show, making its Music Circus debut, transports the audience back to flapper-era New York and follows the adventures of Millie Dillmount (Mara Davi). The young woman arrives in the Big Apple fresh from Kansas, eager to shorten her skirts and bob her hair ... and get a job working for a millionaire whom she then car marry.

It's what the thoroughly modern 1920s woman does, she tells herself: marry for money, not love.

This old-fashioned musical has lots of great singing and dancing, terrific costumes and a little bit of plot to support it all. The book is by Richard Morris and Dick Scanlan, with a new score by Jeanine Tesori. Musically, there's something for everyone, with a bit of Sullivan minus Gilbert, a little Victor Herbert, a touch of Offenbach and some Al Jolson in Cantonese, complete with supertitles.

What more could you ask?

Actually, you'll also spot a subtle nod to W.S. Gilbert, in a scene that could have been inspired by an incident in 'The Mikado.'

That this production reached the stage at all is somewhat of a miracle. It became the obsession of Richard Scanlan, an actor/writer/director recovering from an illness at a friend's summer house, who had only one videotape for entertainment: 1967's somewhat mediocre Julie Andrews/Mary Tyler Moore film musical of 'Thoroughly Modern Millie.'

As Scanlon watched the movie over and over, he began to think he could turn it into a much better stage show. Sticking to his guns during the next several years, he finally got a meeting with the film's screenwriter, Richard Morris. The rest, as they say, is history.

The show opened at the La Jolla Playhouse in October 2000 and went on to Broadway during the first big season after 9/11. It became 2002's most honored new show, winning six Tony Awards, including best musical, best choreography, best orchestrations and best costume design.

Mara Davi, who stars in this Music Circus production, is a talented actress with a huge smile and a voice to match. She also dances up a storm.

On her first day, Millie meets Jimmy Smith (the delightful Matt Loehr), a ne'er-do-well who wins her heart, much against her plan to marry a rich man. Smith directs her to a hotel for young women, which is run by the irrepressible Mrs. Meers (Ruth Williamson) ... who runs a white slave racket on the side, shipping orphaned young women off to Hong Kong, to be sold into prostitution.

Mrs. Meers is an Oriental Cruella de Vil, and Williamson plays her to the hilt. (Interestingly, though, the directors have this faux-Chinese character speak with a stereotypical Japanese accent.) Mrs. Meers is assisted by Ching Ho (Billy Bustamante) and Bun Foo (Reggie de Leon), two immigrants who are trying to bring their mother over from China.

At the hotel, Millie forms a fast friendship with the lovely 'Miss Dorothy' (Megan McGinnis), an innocent sweet young thing who hides a secret.

Millie gets a job working for the very wealthy Mr. Trevor Graydon (Robert Townsend). One of the show's highlights is her job interview ('The Speed Test'), which borrows a patter song from Gilbert & Sullivan's 'Ruddygore,' with new lyrics by Scanlan.

Along the way, Millie falls in love with Jimmy; it's also love at first sight for Miss Dorothy and Trevor Graydon, who instantly break into Victor Herbert's 'Falling in Love with Someone' - from 'Naughty Marietta' - as they meet each other.

But all is not about to end happily ever after, because Mrs. Meers decides to kidnap Miss Dorothy. It's up to Millie, Jimmy and Mr. Graydon - with assistance from Muzzy Van Hossmere (the incomparable Karole Foreman), Manhattan's most celebrated chanteuse - to get her back.

The show includes enough narrative twists and identity mix-ups to satisfy a Gilbert & Sullivan audience, but the plot is irrelevant; the show really is about Jeanine Tesori and Dick Scanlan's music, John MacInnis' choreography and the talented cast's energetic performances.

Tuesday's opening night audience received a special treat: an appearance by stage and screen star Carol Channing, present to promote her upcoming 'Carol Channing and Friends' benefit at the Music Circus, which will raise money for the Foundation for the Arts and California Musical Theater.

Channing gave a heartfelt plea to restore funds for arts in the schools, and she sang a sweet little song that charmed the audience. (She then stayed to watch the show as well!)

Channing will be joined by Jo Anne Worley, Carol Cook and Joyce Aimee; the show will be presented one night only, on Aug. 31. Information and tickets are available at the Music Circus box office, (916) 557-1999.