The Elegant Entrance of Chad Deity

“Both theater and wrestling employ lights, sound, costumes, props, choreography or blocking,” writes Janey Pintar in the program for the “The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity,” now running at Capital Stage in Sacramento.  “Much like blocking on stage, wrestling moves compose the choreography–necessitating teamwork and trust...If an actor flubs a line...if a wrestler botches up a move, either or both could be seriously injured.”

The truth of this statement came in the note inserted in the program announcing the substitution of James Long for actor Rob August, injured during a preview performance and, though recovering, unable to return to the play.  Long has both acting and wrestling experience and had just finished run in a production of “Chad Deity” in Washington, D.C.

It doesn’t take long into the play before the audience understands the danger and the risk for the actors, and the very real link between professional wrestling and theatrical performances.

“The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity,” a 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist, is a satire about professional wrestling, written by Kristoffer Diaz and directed by Jonathan Williams.  It is a show the likes of which you may not have seen before.  None in our group knew what to expect and we were all pleasantly surprised.

Entering the Capital Stage theater itself gives you a hint of what is to come.  A very real looking wrestling ring designed by Ian Wallace occupies almost the entire stage area.  With the addition of sound by Greg Coffin, lighting by Steve Decker and those razzle-dazzle costumes by Lalena Hutton (in addition to a guy in a scary wrestling mask sitting in the audience on opening night), it is quickly easy to imagine yourself at a real pro-wrestling event.

Macedonio Guerra (Andrew J. Perez), known as Mace, is  the play’s narrator. He’s a guy you would never pick out of a crowd as a wrestler, yet he is the true hero of most of the wrestling events.  He has perfected the art of the fall guy, making the big guys, who are often not that skilled, look good.  They get the fame and the big bucks, while Mace gets the satisfaction of having created a wonderful experience for the audience in a sport that he has loved since his childhood.

His love for wrestling grew since he was a young Puerto Rican kid glued to the TV in his Bronx home on Saturday mornings. He loves professional wrestling for its artistry and he really doesn’t care that nobody knows who he is...or what he does to give them a fulfilling experience.

Mace is the heart of this play, his love of wrestling pouring out of his body while he delivers lengthy monologues and leaps about the stage and up onto the ropes and shows how he lets the big guys give him body slams, without really getting hurt. Perez gives him the heart and the enthusiasm that the part requires.  His performance is riveting.

It is Mace’s job to make THE Wrestling’s Star, Chad Deity  look good. The golden-clad Deity (Donald Paul) is the ideal wrestling champion – a tall, handsome, muscle bound, arrogant African American who knows he exemplifies the name he bears.  Problem is Deity can’t really wrestle and isn’t all that bright and it is only because of Mace that he has achieved the awards and the following that he has.

The founder, CEO and chief creative mind behind THE Wrestling is Everett K. Olson (Randall King), who calls himself EKO.  As Mace describes it, THE Wrestling is “the largest wrestling organization in the world.  The best wrestling there is, the best wrestling there was, the best wrestling there will ever be.”  King could have been a wrestling promoter.  He looks the part and sounds the part and is just sleazy enough to fit the part.

Mace shakes things up when he finds a neighborhood kid, Vigneshwar Paduar (Rushi Kota) into the mix V P, as he calls himself is an Indian American boy from Brooklyn, who looks Middle Eastern and EKO exploits the ethnic diversity to turn him into “The Fundamentalist,” a bin Laden look-alike whose entourage includes a wall of dancing Muslim women in burquas projected onto the wall.

Inevitably, the plot builds to a climactic match between Deity and V P, and guided by Mace, the audience reacts appropriately to the description of the match taking place.

At the end of the play, I had seen more wrestling than I had in my life and had a strange desire to watch a “real” wrestling match on TV.  The show was great fun, tautly performed by four extraordinary actors (none of whom, amazingly, seem to have any bruises on their bodies!)

She Creatures

The old San Francisco disc jockey Don Sherwood used to end his program with the quote “Out of the mud grows the lotus.” I thought of that several times during opening night of “She Creatures” by Sarah Saltwick.

In Saltwick’s scenes of mythic women, it isn’t a lotus that grows out of the mud but the character of Pandora (Alicia Hunt), the first woman, who rises out of the earth, uncertain of who … or what … she is, but delighted in the exploration of her newfound personhood … and appendages.

Throughout the one-act play, directed by Camille Beaumont, a series of creatures, a new one arriving each time Pandora opens the large box in the center of the sand-covered stage, emerges, deals with her own identity and helps Pandora learn a little bit more about herself.

This is, then, a series of vignettes, each giving a particular actress a moment to shine, without a clear unifying feature, but we get the opportunity to see some of the best young female talent that Davis has produced.

Hunt, herself, remains on stage throughout, exploring her new selfhood and the things she learns from watching the other creatures, while she remains invisible to them. She is engaging and sparkles with the enthusiasm of a child learning about her new world.

Hope Raymond as Amelia the Mermaid is giddy with joy over discovering she has feet, but struggles to learn how to use them, finally succeeding with the help of Jason (Kane Chai), who for some reason falls in love with her instantly.

Through Bianca the Unicorn (Tatiana Ray) and her mother Juno (Sarah Cohen, perhaps the most prolific actress of the Davis area), we learn that teenage angst and mother-daughter relationship conflicts aren’t confined to the two-legged species. Now that she has a brand new horn, Bianca is desperate to get out and run with her peers, though her mother is cautious and wants her to stay home another year. It’s a scene any parent can relate to.

Betsy Raymond cuts loose as Dahlia the Dragon, all fire and brimstone as she rails about her upcoming marriage, and wonders who is to be her husband. She is assisted by the puppet artistry of Kane Chai, Allie Polubiec, Maddy Ryen and Tim Smith, unseen but manipulating Muppet-like puppets.

Cohen is back again, as Marilyn the Shape shifter, a role she shares with Polubiec, as both complain about their delicate condition, how it happened, and how they can get rid of their protuberant problem.
Ryen has one of the better scenes of the night as Cecilia the Selkie, one of those mythological characters found in Irish and Scottish folklore who are seals in the sea, but human on land. While Celia stands at a table making guacamole and discussing her life, and how much she will miss spicy foods when she returns to the sea, Betsy Raymond, is costumed as an amorphous blob, Cecilia’s coat, which she will need when she is a seal again, wriggling about Cecilia’s feet

If I got the next scene right (the dialog wasn’t always clear), Hope Raymond is a woman, rising out of the flames of her burning house to become Aixa the Phoenix, while her husband Greg (Rodney Orosco), not recognizing his reincarnated wife, assumes she is still in the house and becomes frantic about getting her out of the flames. Clothed in red, with bright red hair, Raymond is perfect in the part. As for Orosco, the pain on his face at the thought of losing his wife to the fire is very moving.

Cohen is back once again as Medusa the Gorgon, with hissing snakes in her hair, having a touching reunion with her old friend Helen (Ryen), literally as well as figuratively.

Ray closes out the evening as Emma the Sphinx, wise, serene and posing riddles to help Pandora figure out what she has just witnessed in all of these creatures.

In the end, each of these she creatures has learned how her life experience shapes the person she is becoming and Pandora learns what it is to be a woman.

Artistic direction for “She Creatures” was by Steven Schmidt, with Ian Wallace as scenic designer, who has created what looks like everybody’s attic from which the creatures emerge. (I’m sure working in a real barn was a great help in finding eclectic pieces to use!)

Costumes design is by Elizabeth Hadden, who looks like she had a lot of fun creating a lot of the costumes, particularly Medusa’s wig.

Chris Oca did lighting design, effectively making Pandora’s box spooky and creating a believable, if brief, display of fireworks set off by Dahlia the Dragon, for example.

This is an odd little play, but the performances of these talented women make it worth a trip out to Schmeiser’s Barn to celebrate Barnyard Theater’s 10th summer presenting thought-provoking and always entertaining plays to the Davis community.

Barnyard always thoughtfully provides mosquito repellant for the audience, who will sit for a couple of hours in an open barn, but based on where I was eaten alive throughout the show, I recommend a good all-over dousing before leaving home.

You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown

One of the best things about watching the Woodland Opera House’s new production of ‘You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown,” directed by Angela Baltezore, was watching the reaction of all the little children around me.  And I mean little!  One girl could not have been more than three.  Many others looked as if they were in the lower grades in grammar school.  Yet they all sat mesmerized, behaved themselves beautifully, laughed at lots of things, and thoroughly enjoyed the production, as did I.

“Charlie Brown” is, of course, based on the beloved comic strip, Peanuts, still running in newspapers across the country despite the demise of its creator Charles Schultz in 2000.  It is likely that its popularity will outlive me and probably you as well.

The script consists of lots of brief vignettes, which the faithful will recognize as living examples of familiar comic strips interspersed with wonderful musical numbers. 

The show premiered off Broadway in 1967, written and directed by Clark Gesner.  It was revived on Broadway in 1998, with new dialog by Michael Mayer and additional songs and orchestration by Andrew Lippa (there are fun homages to “The Wizard of Oz” and Vince Guaraldi).

The show contains all the things one would want in a show about the Peanuts characters.  Charlie Brown is inept, insecure, and hopelessly in love with the little Red Haired Girl.  Lucy is bossy and domineering, Linus offers sage advice and philosophy, Schroeder is long-suffering, enduring the Lucy’s goo-goo eyes, Charlie Brown’s little sister Sally is cute and endearing, and Snoopy steals the show.

And what a strong cast.

Dalton McNeely may seem a bit too tall and strong for insecure Charlie Brown, but he has a round head  for the round-headed kid.  His lunch time soliloquy was great and his excitement over finally flying a kite (briefly) was well done.  Everyone will fall in love with his Charlie Brown.

Linus is always the heart of Peanuts and Alec Gracia brings out the best in the blanket-hugging child.  He was a particular favorite of the very young child sitting near to me, hugging her own blanket and laughing whenever Linus went through a blanket emergency.  Needless to say “My blanket and me” was very funny, especially his solution to the separation anxiety he feels.

Jessica Hoffart was the perfect Lucy.  Loud and overbearing, constantly harping and taunting Charlie Brown, yet vulnerable in her infatuation with Schroeder.  It is Lucy, surprisingly, who utters the one positive line in the play which sums up Charlie Brown beautifully.

Matt Taloff shines as the long-suffering, Beethoven-loving Schroeder, singing one of the new songs by Andrew Lippa, “Beethoven’s Day.” 

(Lippa also wrote “My New Philosophy” for Sally and Schroeder and restructured the opening number. Lippa’s tunes are quite distinct in sound from the original numbers by Gesner and those familiar with the show will find them jarring at first.)

Abby Miles is Charlie Brown’s little sister, Sally.  I found her such an endearing character, and much stronger than one finds in the comic strip itself.

Last but not least is the performance of Emily Jo Seminoff as Snoopy.  For one thing, the size difference between herself and McNeely works well for the illusion of her as Charlie Brown’s dog.  When he pats her on the head, it seems quite natural.  But her boneless body, her wonderfully natural mouth contortions, her howling at the moon, and especially the delightful “Suppertime” make this an outstanding characterization.

There is no one performer who is head and shoulders above the rest in this terrific ensemble cast.  Each contribute to making this a successful production.

Do not hesitate to take your children, no matter how young they are.  This is a show that will be enjoyed by children of all ages, and adults alike.

Show Boat

When Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s “Show Boat” first opened in 1927, it was like nothing anyone had ever seen before. Based on the book by Edna Ferber, it was no light and frothy musical, but more of a musical melodrama, as it dealt with serious problems, more in the manner of an opera.

The story focuses on race relations, miscegenation, alcoholism, failed marriages, compulsive gambling and single motherhood. It also has the necessary beautiful love story and a happy ending, with the comic characters of Captain Andy and his wife Parthy, who run the show boat, the Cotton Blossom.

“Show Boat” has become a beloved musical theater classic and is now being given a loving re-creation by Sacramento’s Music Circus, under the direction of Glenn Casale. This is a production which, unlike the 1951 movie, follows the Ferber book rather faithfully.

Opening in the late 1880s, the story centers around the Cotton Blossom, captained by Cap’n Andy Hawks (George Lee Andrews). Andrews (who owns the Guinness world record for most performances in a single show on Broadway, after appearing in “Phantom of the Opera” for nearly 25 years!) is a perfect Cap’n Andy. Though under the dominance of his shrill-voiced wife Parthy (Audry Neenan), Andy shows his independence now and then, especially when it concerns his daughter, Magnolia (Jennifer Hope Wills).

Neenan is a real harridan of a Parthy and, honestly, nothing much likeable about her. It would have been nice to see her softer side a little more than just in singing a lullaby to baby Kim.

Wills is a beautiful Magnolia, with a lovely voice. She begins as a young, innocent girl and ends as a mature woman who has weathered all the bad things that life has thrown at her and come out a winner. Wills’ transformation from innocent to girl in love to successful matron is impressive.

Ron Bohmer is Gaylord Ravenal, the riverboat gambler who wins the heart of the young Magnolia Hawks and probably most of the females in the audience. He looks every bit the part of the suave roué who sweet-talks Magnolia. Though their instant love seems a bit unbelievable, their chemistry throughout the play works well for them both. It doesn’t hurt that his powerful baritone blends beautifully with Wills’ beautiful soprano in popular numbers such as “Only Make Believe” and “You Are Love.”

If there is a show-stopper, however, it is Phillip Boykin as the stevedore Joe, whose “Old Man River” brought out every nuance in that well-known song and gave it even deeper meaning. He also hit all the low notes clearly, which is a special treat.

The character of Julie Laverne, the light-skinned black woman, passing for white, and the most popular attraction on the Cotton Blossom, is always a character I would like to see more of, but Nikki Crawford made the most of her two powerful numbers, “Can’t Help Lovin’ that Man of Mine” and “Bill.”

As her husband, Steve, Gordon Goodman is wonderfully noble as he cuts Julie’s hand and sucks a bit of her blood to prevent there from being a charge against them for a mixed-race marriage (since one drop of Negro blood means that you are considered a Negro) as they are ejected from the Cotton Blossom.

Jennifer Cody and Jamie Torcellini are wonderful as Ellie and Frank, the comedic duo. People may not recognize Torcellini, since he was covered in costume as the Cowardly Lion in “The Wizard of Oz” earlier this season. Cody is cute as a button, trying desperately to become an actress, but forever stuck in comic roles because she’s so good at it.

Sharon Wilkins is Queenie, the “mammy” character in the original, who finds her own dignity in this production with numbers like “Mis’ry’s Comin’ Aroun’.”

Eleven-year-old Noa Solorio, a student at Pioneer Elementary School and a veteran of Davis Musical Theatre Company productions, appears as young Kim, Magnolia’s daughter. She’s very cute, though her role is brief.
Dan Mojica is the choreographer for this show and has created some lively, bright numbers, though perhaps the most outstanding was a dance scene that takes the audience through some 30 years of history via dance and costume changes. Costume designer Leon Wiebers must have been in his element!

“Show Boat” is a delightful production without a weak spot in the nearly three hours (including intermission). Act 1, which runs about an hour and a half, was so engaging that my 93-year-old mother was surprised that it was so “short”!

Cats

There is a band of feral cats hanging around the Jean Henderson Performing Arts Center these days, but nobody at the Davis Musical Theater Company seems to mind because when they crawl, leap, and dance out onto the stage, the audience loves them.

With this production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cats,” DMTC proves that not only can it act and sing, but by golly, those guys can dance!  While DMTC displayed great dancing by some members in its Elly award winning “Chicago,” in this production, directed by Steve Isaacson and choreograhed by Pamela Lourentzos, a cast of 25 dances.  And does it beautifully, starting with the jaw-dropping “Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats” and continuing throughout the show.

"Cats" was inspired by T.S. Eliot's 1939 collection of children's poems entitled "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats."  The songs are used primarily as a vehicle for introducing new cats and new musical numbers.  Those looking for an actual “plot” will be confused.  If there is any plot at all, it is the very slight mystery surrounding which cat Old Deuteronomy (Nathan Lacy), the leader of the cats, will choose to go to the “Heaviside Layer” to be reborn.

While the decision is being made, some 22 songs about cats will be sung, The music is engaging, and the cats are delightful.

Essential to the success of “Cats” are the costumes and makeup, transforming actors into cats.  Jean Henderson stresses that especially for this show she is the costume coordinator, not the costume designer, and thanks El Dorado Musical Theater and River City Theater Companies for loan of costumes.  Costume painting was done by Jennifer Nachmanoff with wigs by Amanda Walker and assistant Christina Gross.  Erika Wilson and her son did make-up workshops.

When it comes together the look is beautiful, with the exception of Old Deuteronomy, whose old cat costume made him look more like a Biblical prophet than a cat (but he’s supposed to, says Director Isaacson, pointing out his name.)

When he sheds his long old cat fur and becomes Gus, the theater cat, reminiscing about his years in the theater he displays a strong, booming voice and a poise that befits that of a beloved theater mascot.  (“His grandest creation as he loves to tell / Was Firefrorefiddle, the Fiend of the Fell” has been an earworm in my head for days now!)

Andrea Eve Thorpe was an outstanding Grizzabella, the motheaten former glamour cat, who hopes to be chosen to go to the "Heaviside Layer.”  Her "Memory," the big hit from this show, was hauntingly beautiful.

Likewise Sarah Farkas as Munkustrap, Jenny Plasse as Bombalurina, and Ben Whitlatch as Bustopher Jones gave first rate performances.

Gabe Avila as Skimbleshanks, the cat on the railway train, gave a crisp performance that was a delight.

In all, the cats were so realistic I felt I had to come home and apologize to my dogs for fraternizing with the opposite species.

“Cats” may not be everybody’s saucer of milk.  Those who prefer a plot show may not enjoy it, but the musical numbers are so delightful, it’s difficult to imagine anybody not liking this production.  I found Act 2 more enjoyable than Act 1, as it gives up all pretense of any plot whatsoever and just presents several stand-alone numbers, each introducing a different cat.

Also kudos to the DMTC orchestra, which may have been the best I’ve heard–all instruments were heard and it was well balanced.

All things considered, a really good show to end DMTC’s 2012-2013 season!

The Wizard of Oz

We’ve all been there at some point, in our imagination.

Somewhere over the rainbow, where there are brilliant colors, munchkins, Winkies, good and bad witches and a yellow brick road leading to the Emerald City. A place where all the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.

Now, thanks to the first production of the Music Circus season, we can all go there, for real. Whether 7, 17 or 70 the current sparkling production will enchant everyone.

Directed by Glenn Casale, choreographed by Dana Solimando with musical direction by Jeff Rizzo, this version of the L. Frank Baum classic is a real winner.

Adapted by John Kane for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1987 from the motion picture screenplay, “The Wizard of Oz” will be familiar to anyone who has ever seen the 1939 MGM musical, as the dialog and music follow closely (with some minor adjustments) the music and lyrics by Harold Arlen and E.Y. ("Yip") Harburg.

In the 2003 version of this production, Music Circus paid homage to the original film by making the opening scenes black and white. All costumes were shades of grey or white, set pieces were grey. The only color on stage were the flesh tones of the actors Even the crullers which Auntie Em offered to the farm hands and the hot dog Dorothy’s dog Toto removed from the roasting stick of the traveling huckster, Professor Marvel, were grey. In this production, only Dorothy, her uncle and aunt are dressed in grey, while everyone else, the set, and that hot dog is are muted colors. It’s a design choice that makes no sense.

However, from the time Dorothy lands in Oz, her house flattening the Wicked Witch of the East, until she clicks her ruby slippered heels together and wishes herself back home again, all colors are vibrant and varied and all set pieces are bright and sparkling.

Making her Music Circus debit, Emily Walton is a winsome Dorothy, full of innocence and wonder. She doesn’t try to be Judy Garland, but she so comfortably inhabits the ruby slippers, she doesn’t have to.

Walton’s uncle, Jim Walton, plays the dual roles of the farmhand Hunk in Kansas and the Scarecrow in Oz. He and Emily work well together, and while he doesn’t quite have the boneless quality of Ray Bolger or even 2004′s John Bisom, still he makes a credible scarecrow and best friend to Dorothy.

Shannon Stoeke is Hickory the farmhand and also Oz’s Tin Man. He clanks his way effectively around the stage and is at his most endearing when he learns that the heart for which he has so long hoped is capable of breaking.
Farmhand Zeke and Cowardly Lion are played by Jamie Torcellini. He is perhaps the member of the cast who most does an imitation of the movie, and I must say that his Bert Lahr impression is wonderful, though Torcellini still adds enough of himself to make the role his own.

The best member of this little group of folks off to find the wizard sadly gets no program credit at all, other than a photo. Nigel the dog was perhaps the best Toto I have ever seen. Trained by Bill Berloni, this dog is so well-behaved on stage there were times I wondered if he were a stuffed animal, until he raised an ear or looked around at the audience or up at Dorothy.

When Heather Lee, as Glinda (she also plays Auntie Em) begins to sing to the Munchkins, if you had your eyes closed you might think you were hearing Billie Burke, the original Glinda.

Jacquelyn Piro Donovan scores high marks for her bicycle riding down the Music Circus ramp and onto the stage, and for frightening lots of children in the audience as the Wicked Witch of the West. I did miss the green skin-tone, so identified with the witch, though.

Bill Nolte is a bumbling old curmudgeon as Professor Marvel and later the Wizard of Oz himself.

Others in lesser roles were no less outstanding, such as Doug Carfrae as Uncle Henry and the Winkie General, Zonya Love as the Munchin coroner, tiny John B. Williford as the Mayor of Munchkin city, and Andrew Wilson as Nikko, the Commander of the Monkeys.

The principals are rounded out by a delicious assortment of Munchkins (members of the CMT junior company) trees, poppies, Ozians, optimistic voices and Winkies. There is also a troupe of eight Jitterbugs listed in the program for a number, cut from the original movie and cut, at the last minute, from this production as well.

Kudos to the technical crew who make bicycles, monkeys and broomsticks that fly, balloons that float into the stratosphere, a witch that melts into the floor, an overpowering wizard, a first-rate tornado, eye-blindingly speedy costume changes and a myriad scenery changes, all of which came off without noticeable hitch, the members of the crew were the unsung heroes of the night.

From start to finish this is a wonderful production, which, fortunately is having an extended run at the Wells Fargo Pavilion. Act quickly to get tickets now. Your children or grandchildren will love it — and so will you.

As You Like It

Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,” now presented by the Davis Shakespeare Ensemble at the charming UC Davis Arboretum Gazebo on Garrod Drive, is a strange play. Many times you want to hit the rewind button to try to figure out why things are happening, but you never do.

For example, why is Rosalind (Hayley Palmer) suddenly expelled from the palace of Duke Frederick (John Haine)? For that matter, why does Frederick suddenly decide to abdicate and return the throne to Duke Senior, his older brother? (Must be some powerful unseen holy man who convinces him to give it all up.)

However, unanswered questions aside, this is another enjoyable production by the Davis Shakespeare Ensemble, which always seems to prove that you can put on first-rate productions on a shoestring budget. This, the company’s fourth annual summer production, takes inspiration from Appalachian culture and music, with a band (Gia Battista, Richard Chowenhill, Adam Smith and Tony Dumas, who also jump into bit parts in the play) sounding for all the world like tracks off of “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

(Those who would like to understand the lyrics would do well to check out the DSE’s YouTube site, because they are tuneful, but all but unintelligible in the Gazebo.)

Performances range from very good to outstanding. Casey Worthington cuts a dashing figure as Orlando, youngest son of the deceased Sir Roland de Bois, especially in his many classic poses designed to represent wrestling competitions in which he is competing. There is just something about this actor that strikes you as he walks on stage. He has an assurance and self-confidence that is compelling.

Orlando’s older brother Oliver is the menacing Jason Oler, whom I last saw as the playful Puck in Sacramento Theatre Company’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Whether playful or menacing, Oler always delivers, and does so in this production, as he plots the murder of his brother in a wrestling match.

New to DSE, Palmer tackles the meaty role of Rosalind, daughter of Duke Senior, living in the palace of Duke Frederick until her unexplained exile. She handles the role beautifully, flitting back and forth between the female Rosalind and the male persona Ganymede, which she adopts as she travels through the Forest of Arden.

Melanie Marshall, also last seen in “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” is outstanding as Rosalind’s cousin Celia, who ultimately finds herself in love with a reformed Oliver.

Playing both Duke Frederick and Duke Senior, Haine cuts a dashing, princely figure, though he had difficulty projecting enough to make himself consistently heard in the small Gazebo.

Sarah Cohen has made Shakespeare comic figures her forte and she does not disappoint as Touchstone in this production. She is always a commanding figure and is sure to draw the most humor from her roles.

Davis native son Matthew Edwards returns from a lengthy professional career to make his DSE debut as Jacques, Orlando’s older and Oliver’s younger brother in this production. If the program did not already identify him as the only member of Actors Equity in the cast, it would be impossible not to suspect. He is a figure that you cannot ignore and his performance is impeccable, though rather than overshadowing his fellow actors, he blends in beautifully.

In the role of Phoebe, Samia La Virgne makes an impression and is very funny in the love Gordian knot that develops among all the characters.

In his notes to a 2005 production of this play by Acme Theatre Company, director David Burmester wrote that “‘As You Like It’ is a play about love: physical and intellectual love, sentimental and cynical love, love at first sight, love between friends, love between relatives, imagined love, and deep, lasting love. It is the roles we are often forced to play, either by circumstance or by societal pressure.”

The Davis Shakespeare Ensemble, frolicking in often convoluted love relationships in the Arboretum, play those roles very well.

Les Miserables

There is an old saying, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

It was with that in mind that I approached  Cameron Mackintosh’s “new and improved” 25th anniversary production of Boublil & Schonberg’s “Les Misérables,” the final show of California Musical Theatre’s Broadway series at the Sacramento Community Theater.

“Les Mis” has long been one of my favorite musicals and I was skeptical of any rewrites or changes. I need not have worried. The look is new (designed by Matt Kinley); the musical orchestrations (originally by John Cameron) have been updated by Christopher Jahnke; and certain plot elements have been tweaked by James Fenton. But the story is all there and the emotional punch may be even bigger for the changes.

The new look starts at the very beginning. Traditionally, during the prologue, prisoners march around a bleak yard in a circle while singing. In the new version, they are oarsmen on a ship and the activity makes more sense than the circling.

Kinley’s vision for the set uses pieces which, while large, never overpower the action. He mixes these with projections that effectively help indicate movement throughout the streets and sewers of Paris, and the death in Act 2 is a breathtaking effect.

Peter Lockeyer heads the exemplary cast as Jean Valjean, arrested for the crime of stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s dying child, and released after 19 years. A bitter man, Valjean takes his anger out on a bishop who befriends him (James Zannelli), only to have the bishop change his life. Valjean resolves to devote the rest of his life to doing good for humanity. Lockeyer has some thrilling moments, from the defiant “Who Am I?” to the poignant “Bring Him Home.” He is simply stunning.

Those who suffered through the terribly ill-cast Russell Crowe in the 2012 movie version of this musical will receive their reward in the powerful performance of Andrew Varela as Inspector Javert, relentlessly obsessed with tracking down Valjean and bringing him back to prison. Varela dominates every scene in which he appears.

Genevieve LeClerc inspires in the brief, but memorable role of Fantine, the factory worker forced into prostitution to save the life of her child. With recent memorable versions of Fantine’s “I Dreamed a Dream” by the likes of Susan Boyle and the movie’s Anne Hathaway, LeClerc still makes the song her own.

Valjean searches for Fantine’s daughter Cosette, being “cared for” by the Thernardiers, Timothy Gulan and wife Shawna M. Hamic. These two provide the comic relief for the show and play off each other nicely, deliciously grimy in Act 1 and clownish caricatures in Act 2.

Cosette and the Thernardiers’ little daughter Eponine are played by Ava Della Pietra and Erin Cearlock, who alternate in the roles. Della Pietra played Cosette on opening night, beautifully portraying the scared little girl, who has been exploited by the Thernardiers while their own daughter is pampered.

Briana Carlson-Goodman plays the grown-up Eponine, in love with Marius Pontmercy (Devin Ilaw), who considers her a friend, as he has fallen in love with Cosette (Julie Benko). Carlson-Goodman is heartbreaking as she walks the streets of Paris alone at night (“On My Own”). Ilaw impresses whenever he opens his mouth to sing. The “Heart Full of Love” trio by Marius, Cosette and Eponine is beautiful.

Enjolras, head of the rebelling students, is given a spirited performance by Jason Forbach, while Julian Silva as the spirited young Gavroche (a role he shares with Gaten Matarazzo) is a delight.

Marius’ “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables,” sung at the now deserted barricade, bemoaning the death of his friends, is a show highlight.

Backing all of these special performances is a large cast of factory workers, prostitutes, soldiers, rebels and townsfolk giving spine-tingling, rousing renditions of such songs as “One Day More” and the rousing finale, when all the spirits of the fallen unite on stage with the survivors to thunderous applause.

I suspect no fan of the show ever thought that “Les Misérables” needed a shot in the arm to improve it, but this new production brings a fresh approach that does not detract from, and rather improves on the original. It should be mentioned that this version is definitely R-rated with all the simulated sex being carried on by the prostitutes and their customers, but it is otherwise a not-to-be-missed production.

The Little Princess

The air was filled with excitement at the Sacramento Theatre Company on Saturday night — opening night of the world premiere of a new musical, “A Little Princess,” based on the beloved book by Frances Hodgson Burnett (author of “The Secret Garden”).

The authors of the new musical — William J. Brooke (book), Eric Rockwell (music) and Margaret Rose (lyrics) — apparently have been writing this show for almost 20 years. The first draft was presented as a staged reading at the Stages Festival of New Music in Chicago. After rewrites, the show was selected by the Dramatists Guild for its New Musicals Workshop. There, it was praised by industry dignitaries and now, at last, it was having its world premiere, under the direction of Michael Laum, STC’s executive producing director.

This show has everything one could want to make it a hit. The cast is strong, the songs are alternately pleasant and stirring, the set by Kelly Tighe works well and Jessica Minnihan’s costumes are beautiful. And yet, somehow with all these strong elements, the show just never quite gelled.

We were a good third of the way into the show before there even seemed to be a plot, though thin, and, expecting all of the disparate plot elements to come together in Act 2, it was a surprise that of the seven songs in that act, the first four did not advance the plot at all, and seemed to be stand-alone pieces. One of them may even have been an homage to “Be Our Guest” from “Beauty and the Beast.”

Yet in spite of the shortcomings of the show as a whole, there were enough really good things about it to make it an enjoyable evening. Many of the roles are double-cast and Alyssa Middleton as Sara Crewe (she alternates with Lauren Metzinger) was simply outstanding. This Davis High School sophomore and member of STC’s Young Professionals’ Conservatory carries the show and does it beautifully.

Her duet with her father (Jerry Lee) is poignant, as Captain Crewe must say goodbye to his daughter at the door of the boarding school where she will live while he is off seeking a greater fortune in India.

Lee is a memorable Crewe, with a rich voice and a love for his daughter that comes through in all of his scenes with her.

This being England, the headmistress of the boarding school is a harridan of the first order, who kowtows to Sara because of her father’s wealth, but when Sara suffers a reversal of fortune, Miss Minchin (Deborah Tranelli) shows her true colors and makes “Annie’s” Miss Hannigan look almost pleasant. She takes everything away from Sara, including her name (she is called “Girl”), and sets her to scrubbing floors.

The girls in the school never really liked Sara in the first place, especially Lavinia (Abbey Williams-Campbell on opening night, sharing the role with Meghan Greene). Lavinia is tall and blond and haughty and has nothing but bad things to say (and do) to Sara, even before her fall from grace. Williams-Campbell played her with all the icy hauteur the role requires.

On the other hand, Ermengarde (Devon Hayakawa of Davis, sharing the role with Christine Miyashiro), described by some as the “school dunce,” falls in love with the stories that Sara makes up to entertain the girls, and becomes her friend and would-be protector. Hayakawa is cute as a button and very endearing as she remains Sara’s friend even when she has been reduced to the level of a maid.

Josh Powell is Tom Carrisford, Captain Crewe’s friend, who talks Crewe into investing all of his money in diamond mine speculation, both of them falling ill before the mine begins producing. Crewe dies of his illness, and Carrisford returns to England, weak and still ill, but now rich and feeling the guilt of his partner’s death. Powell is a delight, with a comedic flair, but ultimately turning serious as he takes on the responsibility for his partner’s daughter.

Others worthy of note in the cast include Tyler Wipfli as Mariette, Sara’s French maid, who inexplicably turns up after a couple of years just in time for the finale.

Martha Omiyo Kight is marvelous as Amelia, Miss Minchin’s henpecked sister.

Tori Johnson alternates with Emma Vance as Becky, a scullery maid who becomes Sara’s friend and roommate.

And unforgettable is Michael De Souza as Ram Dass, Carrisford’s servant, who serves as a narrator for the story. His strong voice and deadpan demeanor make him impossible to ignore.

Overall, I enjoyed the show, but I wish I could put my finger on what was missing to make it the great show it should have been.

Bat Boy

 

One would hardly think of the Weekly World News as a source for material to inspire a musical, but that’s exactly where Laurence O’Keefe, Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming came up with the idea for “Bat Boy: The Musical,"  now being performed on the university’s Wyatt Stage by the student-run Studio 301, directed and choreographed by Chris McCoy.

The “real” Bat Boy was, according to the Weekly World News, a creature who was half-human and half-bat captured in 1992 in a West Virginia cave by Dr. Bob Dillon of the S.O.S. (Seeker of Obscure Supernaturals). The newspaper reported on his capture, escape and recapture a few times throughout its brief history. Editor Dick Kulpa eventually admitted the story was fiction.
Studio 301 has presented a very polished production of the horror story, with a strong cast, some fun tunes (some forgettable) played by the competent six-piece off-stage orchestra under the direction of Alex Stalarow and sung by some very strong voices.

The story opens with a very realistic depiction of sibling spelunkers Ron (Johnny Wylie), Rick (Jimmy Beall) and Ruthie (Marissa Saravis) descending into a cave near the town of Hope Falls, W.Va. They are excited to possibly be the only people to have ever descended this far into the earth, and then shocked to find a creature living there. The headlamps on each of the characters, piercing the pitch black of the theater and only occasionally flashing on the creature add to the suspense.

The creature is captured, but not before biting Ruthie, who is rushed to the hospital and lays in critical condition throughout the play. The creature, whom they name Bat Boy (Marcos Sastre III) is taken to the town doctor, Dr. Parker (John Unrath), where he is placed in a cage and becomes an object of interest for Parker’s wife Meredith (Elizabeth Tremaine) and daughter Shelley (Rachel Wagner).

Meredith takes an unusual liking to the creature and insists he be called “Edgar,” while Shelley, first repulsed by him, grows to love him. The doctor comes home to find the creature in his home and intends to euthanize him but does not when his wife promises him sex if he will not do it. Parker feels this is a way to mend his broken marriage.

Unrath and Tremaine have beautiful voices. Unrath’s startles as he begins singing “Dance with me, My Darling,” and Tremaine’s emotional “A Home for You” is stunning.

Under tutelage from the family, Edgar quickly learns how to be human. He seems to be exceptionally intelligent and, thanks to BCC language tapes, speaks with an upper crust British accent.

The townsfolks, however, who sing about “Christian Charity,” are anything but Christian. It’s another case of outsider fear and they still want to “Kill the Bat Boy,” but if that can’t happen at least they can request that he not attend an upcoming revival meeting led by the Rev. Hightower (Malia Abayon).

Act 2 is the revival meeting, which Edgar insists on attending to ask the townsfolk to “Let Me Walk Among You.” (Sastre also has an excellent voice.) The meeting quickly disintegrates when Dr. Parker announces that Ruthie has died. This sets off a series of deaths and revelations about Bat Boy’s parentage and birth, better experienced than written about.

And we also find out why all the cows are dying, a parallel curse which, with the discovery of Bat Boy, everyone assumes is his doing … but really is for quite a different reason.

This is a pretty silly show, but performed beautifully by all of the actors involved.

The opening night audience was disappointingly small and I would hope that others decide to check this show out because,  for one thing where else are you going to see it? And for another silly or not, it really is a good show.

Peter Pan

If you have children — or grandchildren — looking for something to do the next couple of weekends, I highly recommend taking them to Woodland Opera House’s sparkling new production of “Peter Pan.”

This is not the Peter Pan of Disney and you probably won’t recognize any of the songs, but this version, with book, music and lyrics by Piers Chater Robinson and directed by Angela Baltezore, is loads of fun. The theater full of young children — who sat spellbound throughout the evening and cheered at the end — attested to that (there was even one toddler, so caught up in it all that when the children’s choir marched up on stage to take their bows, he slipped out of his seat and followed them and had to be rescued by his mother).

Robinson created this adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s “Peter Pan” in 1985, following approval by the trustees of Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital in Britain, to whom Barrie had left the Peter Pan rights. Robinson’s adaptation was further developed into “Peter Pan The Official British Musical.” It has since been performed all over the world and has been a favorite in the West End in London for the past 25 years.

Leading the cast in the title role is Emily Jo Seminoff. I first met this talented actress in 2006, when she was playing this role for the second time with Davis Musical Theater’s Young People’s Theater. It has been a delight to watch her grow up on stage and her Peter in this production is spot-on, the perfect little boy who won’t grow up and becomes confused when Wendy wants to. She also flies through the air with the greatest ease, courtesy of ZFX Flying Effects.

Seventh-grader Emily O’Flaherty tackles the role of Wendy and does it beautifully. She has a lovely voice and is wonderfully at home on stage.

Her brothers, John (Bailey Robinson-Burmester) and Michael (Makenna Harding-Davis) also deserve kudos. Robinson-Burmester continues in his theater family’s tradition and carries the torch very well, while Harding-Davis is just cute as a button in all of her scenes.

Rodger McDonald is the father of the Darling children and also Captain Hook. Was there ever a better actor for the role? As Hook he is appropriately nasty, without scaring the children in the audience, and as Mr. Darling he is all bluff and bluster, but obviously loving his children very much.

Returning to the stage after a long hiatus is Betsy Taloff, as Mrs. Darling, the mother everyone would like to have, loving and understanding, particularly when Wendy expresses a desire to return to Neverland once a year to help Peter with spring cleaning.

Stealing the show are Marcus Lucia as Nana, the nursemaid dog, and Mary Dahlberg as the crocodile who follows Hook everywhere, hoping to get another taste of him. Aided by the costume design of Denise Miles these two make very credible (and popular) animals.

Kudos also to Chris Taloff for “playing” Tinker Bell. The green light which flitted around the stage, augmented with twinkle music by musical director James Glica-Hernandez, was just perfect, especially when Tink nestled in Peter’s hands, dying. There was also lots of fun with Hook at the curtain call.

The crew of Lost Boys — Emily Miller, Ryan Everitt, Hayley Harrison, Casey Wathen, Jimin Moon and Jordan Hayakawa — were all great, and the Indian dancers — Camila Morales, Keri Ruanto, Andrew Duncan and Hunter Lamar — along with chief Horacio Gonzalez had the show stopping dance of the evening, choreographed by Angela Baltezore and Eva Sarry.

Hook’s second in command, Smee (Jeff Nauer) succeeded in making the bumbling pirate more lovable than frightening.

The production is great fun for the whole family and will only be around weekends until May 12, so get your tickets before they are sold out.

Oklahoma!

A big “Yeeow! Aye-yip-aye-yo-d-ee-ay!” to Davis Musical Theater Company for its energetic opening weekend of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!”

This show hits high marks across the board from strong direction and choreography by Jan Isaacson, a strong cast, Jean Henderson’s great costume designs (though I have to admit those cowboys had the shiniest boots I’ve ever seen!), and music direction by Chris Congdon.

“Oklahoma!,” the first musical collaboration of Rodgers and Hammerstein — who later brought the world the likes of “Carousel,” “South Pacific,” “The King and I” and “Sound of Music” — changed the face of musical theater history when it debuted in 1943, for telling an emotional story through music, lyrics and dance as had never been done before. Based on the play “Green Grow the Lilacs” by Lynn Riggs, “Oklahoma!” brought something akin to folk art to professional theater and won a Pulitzer special award and citation for music in 1944.

One dare not look too closely at the plot of this musical, for there is little there. At a time when musicals are just as likely to have a dark side as a cheery side, the story of a boy and a girl, their friends and a lunch box social is not exactly likely to provoke much psychological introspection.

The story is set in the Oklahoma territory in 1907 — the days just before statehood — and touches ever so lightly on the ongoing feud between farmers and cattlemen, though that definitely takes a back seat to the story of Curly, a cattleman, in love with Laurey, who lives on a farm with her Aunt Eller and the hired man, Jud Fry, the dark character who has his eye on Laurey, while Laurey has her eye on Curly.

Travis Nagler isn’t quite your typical pretty boy Curly, but looks every bit the catttleman and delivers solid vocals whenever he opens his mouth. His relationship with Laurey (Laura Woodruff) showed some sparks, especially in their verbal battles with one another, and they were believable in their romantic scenes.

Nagler also does his own dancing in the dream sequence with “Dream Laurey” (Kaylin Scott) and “Dream Jud” (Gabe Avila).

Woodruff was a lovely Laurey, with a beautiful soprano. I particular enjoyed her scenes of introspection, when she talks about her dreams and seems to escape into that wished-for world. It was very moving.

Mary Young reprises her 2006 performance as Aunt Eller, one of her better roles. She’s a crusty old dame, reluctant to let her softer side show, and commanding enough respect that everyone listens to her.

Outstanding was Scott Scholes, as Will Parker, in love with Ado Annie (Ashley Holm) and just returned from Kansas City, where he entered a rodeo trying to win $50 so he can marry the girl of his dreams. His “Everything’s Up to Date in Kansas City” was a real show stopper, especially with the choreography for the cowboys.

Holm is perfect as Annie, the hormonally charged young woman who just can’t say no to any man who “talks purdy” to her. In Will’s absence she decided she’s in love with the Persian peddler Ali Hakim (Avila), who eagerly returns her interest, but his own interests don’t really lead toward the altar.

Avila was fun as Hakim who is a typical traveling salesman until he finds himself in a romantic mess. He finds a clever way to extricate himself from a bad situation.

Left out of the program, but still an important character is Andrew Carnes (Michael Davis), Annie’s father who refused to permit Annie to marry Will unless Will could show some responsibility by coming up with $50 cash. For Davis, this was one to check off his bucket list, as, after a productive lifetime, he has finally appeared on stage in a musical … and has done a credible job of it too!

I always have trouble with the plot line and the character of Jud Fry (Steve Isaacson). Jud is the “bad guy,” the “outsider” whom nobody likes and who turns violent in the end. Isaacson owns this role. He brings humanity to Fry and gives the audience a glimpse of why he is the way he is. It is a beautiful and moving performance and makes me wish that Isaacson appeared on stage more often, since he is such a talented actor.

In this week, when we have once again seen the length to which “outsiders” will go when they become angry, I couldn’t help thinking of the bombers of Boston and all the other “outsiders” we have witnessed in the news in recent years.

Jud’s “outsiderness” is even more apparent when there is a more or less a sham trial following his death, in the front yard of Aunt Eller’s house, where the judge laughs and pronounces Curly not guilty of murder so the young folks can get on with their honeymoon and not bother about a more formal trial at the courthouse.

One suspects that had it been Fry who killed Curly, the response of folks would have been quite different.

However, “Oklahoma!” is not a message show, unless the message is to kick up your heels and have a good time, which the DMTC audiences certainly will have if they are fortunate enough to catch this production.

Billy Elliot

When “Billy Elliot,” the musical based on the 2000 movie, with music by Elton John, opened on Broadway, it won just about every award possible, including 10 Tonys, 10 Drama Desk awards, and 8 Outer Circle Critics Circle awards.  America took the story of a young northern England boy who just wants dance to its heart.

The show is now running at the Sacramento Community Theater and judging by the sustained cheers throughout the musical, and the standing ovation at its conclusion, Sacramento has taken the show to its heart as well.

The story is set during the 1984-85 miners’ strike and the story of the dancers intermingles with the story of the striking miners an often ingenious ways.

Billy’s father wants him to be a boxer, but after an unpleasant beginning, Billy stumbles on a dance class being held in the same building.  Intrigued, he begins to mimic the girls in the ballet class and soon is one of the students himself.  His teacher realizes that he has talent and takes him under her wing with private lessons when his father forbids him to attend the class again.

The dancing in this show is amazing.  Billy was played on opening night by Mitchell Tobin, a 12 year old from Florida who has been dancing since he was 3 years old. He shares the role at other productions with Ben Cook, Drew Minard, and Noah Parets. 

Tobin had a few minor fluffs in his dancing on opening night, but is simply amazing.  The Act 1 “Angry Dance” will leave you breathless. And as good as his dancing is, the kid is also a convincing actor who will bring you to tears.

Janet Dickinson is Mrs. Wilkinson, Billy’s dance teacher who discovers the talent in the boy and becomes a sort of surrogate mother to him when she learns that his own mother (Molly Garner) is dead.  Though she obviously cares for the boy, she keeps him at arms length, keeping the teacher/student relationship very strong.

Billy’s father is played by Rich Herbert, a bear of a man who is torn between his desire to make a man of his son and his son’s passion for dancing.

The character of “Dad” has been written, in this show, somewhat confusing.  In the movie, the struggle to accept Billy’s love of dancing evolves over time, when in the musical it seems instantaneous and somewhat unbelievable.

There are some sweet moments between Billy and the ghost of his mother, especially when it comes time for her to finally leave him.

Billy’s cross-dressing friend Michael was played on opening night by Sam Poon, who alternates in the role with Jake Kitchin.  Billy keeps Michael’s secret and their relationship is very sweet.

It was a little unsettling to see this show immediately following the death of Margaret Thatcher. The show goes out of its way to vilify the former Prime Minister for her attempts (ultimately successful) at breaking the miners’ union.  The opening of Act 2 is particularly mean-spirited, being held at a Christmas pageant where people wear Thatcher masks and wigs, a chorus of puppets are dressed as Thatcher, and an enormous inflated Thatcher rises out of the building.  At one point the lyrics include

Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher
We all celebrate today
‘Cause it’s one day closer to your death.

while dancers carry around a grave marker with “Thatcher R.I.P.” on it.

In London, a vote was taken of the audience about whether this number should be left in the show for the night of her death and the vote was nearly unanimous that it should remain, with only one dissenting vote.

The show’s biggest problem is difficulty understanding lyrics and dialog, a combination of the difficult Northern England accent and terminology combined with the perennial acoustical problems of the Community Center theater.

However, that should not deter anyone from seeing this show.  I have been wanting to see “Billy Elliot” since it opened to rave reviews on Broadway...and it was well worth the wait!

The Mountaintop

The setting is Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis Tennessee.  The date is April 4, 1968.  There is a storm raging outside.  The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. has just given his “I’ve been to the mountaintop” speech in support of the Memphis sanitation workers’ strike and has returned to his motel room, exhausted, craving caffeine.  He has sent Ralph Abernathy off to get some Pall Mall cigarettes for him. 

He prepares to work on his speech for the next day, which will address “Why America is going to Hell.”

Unbeknownst to King, it is his last night on earth and it’s going to be a strange evening. The play imagines the events that might have taken place the night before King’s assassination.

This is King’s own particular garden of Gethsemane, written by playwright Katori Hall (who won the Olivier Award for this play), presented by Capital Stage, and directed by the multi-talented Anthony D’Juan, making his Capital Stage directorial debut (though familiar to Capital audiences from his on-stage performances).

It was important to Hall not to deify King.  “King changed the world, but he was not a deity.  He was a man, a human being.  So it was important to show him as such: vulnerable,” the playwright states.

Beethoven Oden creates a very human King.  He’s tired.  He’s coming down with a cold.  He has smelly feet.  He smokes too much. He’s caffeine addicted.  He lies to his wife.  He’s disappointed at the turnout for his speech, afraid that his followers are tired of the fight...and he’s concerned about the continuing threats on his life and that of his family.  The threats have loomed so large that he mentioned them in his speech (“I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you...”)  Paranoid, he obsessively paces back and forth, peeking through the curtains, checking tables, lamps, etc. for listening devices.

He calls the front desk for coffee, which is delivered by Camae (ZZ Moor), a maid at the hotel, who says she’s working her first night.  She is awed by King and is at first coyly deferential, and then, as it appears there is chemistry between them, becomes flirty. She tries to leave several times, but, encouraged by King, continues to stay, sharing a cigarette (she has Pall Malls) and prompting King to confront his life, his past, his legacy and the future of his people..

Camae is just what King needs to relax.  As she becomes more comfortable with him, she allows herself to be foul-mouthed and sassy and puts King at ease. With King’s reputation as a womanizer, it looks like this play is going in one direction, but then, as Camae’s secret becomes known, it takes a 180 degree turn and goes in a completely different direction.

Moor’s performance is spot on, with her accentuated Southern drawl.  Her performance could easily descend to the cutesy but she stays in character, not caricature.

As the play moves forward and the focus of it shifts, it loses a bit of credibility and enters more of the fantasy realm, in stark contrast to the beginning, though the finale, where King is able to see the results of his work is masterful and impressive.

The set for this production is by Capital Stage co-founder Jonathan Williams, who obviously must have spent a lot of time in seedy motels in order to create one so perfectly. (I did wonder if the hem of the bedspread, askew on one of the beds, was deliberate or accidental.)

This is a 90 minute, no intermission play, which is a good thing because to include a break in the middle would destroy the mood set throughout.

In his last speech, King said “I’m happy tonight.  I’m not worried about anything.  I’m not fearing any man.  Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”  One hopes that on his last night he really came to feel that.

"Master Harold"...and the Boys

Sacramento Theater Company’s new production of Athol Fugard’s “‘Master Harold’...and the Boys” is not to be missed.  Set in a tea room in South Africa during the period of apartheid, it tells the coming of age story of a young white boy of privilege and his relationship with the two black employees at his mother’s shop.

Director Buddy Butler has a dream cast.  Will Block (Harold...or Hally) is finishing his sixth year with STC’s Young People’s Company with this production and his performance is mesmerizing.  His is a complex character, a good friend to Sam (Michael J. Asberry) and Willie (Rob Anthony Gray), but recognizes the disparity in their ranks.  Still, Sam has been both a father figure and his student throughout his growing up years and their relationship is complicated. Hally helps Sam with vocabulary, Sam teaches Hally life lessons.

Block hits all the proper nuances.  He beautifully and poignantly portrays Hally’s struggles with his feelings about his father, and his convoluted relationship with Sam.

Asberry likewise gives a sensitive and layered performance.  He brings dignity and wisdom to his menial job and finds joy in simple things, like the upcoming ballroom dance competition in which both he and Willie will be competing. He feels very protective of Hally, yet walks on eggshells some of the time, very much aware of the class distinction between the two of them. He has known the boy since he was very young and the two have reached a point where their relationship may have to change. The tenderness and humanity he displays in the earlier scenes with both Willie and Hally give way to anger and raw emotion in the play's climax. When Hally eventually strips him of any and all dignity, the man that Sam becomes is frightening and Asberry gives a gut wrenching performance.

The action takes place on a rainy afternoon in the tea room, when Hally comes home from school for his afternoon meal, which appears to be his daily habit.  Sam has been busy helping Willie with the finer points of the quick step.  Gray is perfect as the charismatic Willie, with an innocent sense of humor, but whose temper is quick, and who routinely gives his wife a “hiding.” He accepts as something that a husband must do to a wife and can’t understand why this makes her angry.  He is afraid that her last beating was so severe she won’t even compete in the dance competition.

The parental-like relationship between Sam and Hally is beautifully demonstrated when Hally recalls “the best day of his life,” when Sam made a kite for him and he was able to fly it for the first time.  His face glows with the memory, though Sam’s later recollections of that day are quite different.

The central figure in the story is Hally’s father, apparently an amputee, and and abusive alcoholic. The father has been in the hospital, but is being released early, which sends Hally over the edge, desperate to convince his mother, by telephone, that the father needs a longer recovery period and should not be brought home. You can see the fear in Hally as he contemplates how his life will change with his father home again.  Feeling powerless to stop what is about to happen, Hally takes his anger and frustration out on Sam and Willie.

Thought the play is an example of the world of apartheid, it still rings true today, in an era where we are sadly still divided in to “us” and “them” and where in moments of stress “we” can still reduce “them” to the class of “other” and thus not equal.  Sam brings such dignity to the world of the “other” and shows us the humanity that Hally forgets in his anger.

Midsummer Night's Dream

Love is in the air at the Sacramento Theatre Company, as once again the company presents one of Shakespeare’s most beloved classics, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
Director Christine Nicholson has given us a more modern version, set in the early 20th century, with colorful costumes by Jessica Minnihan. Nine actors play all 23 roles, several playing three different roles, which is occasionally confusing, especially keeping the queens straight.

The play tells several stories, each of which occurs during a single summer night in and around the forest and palace of an imagined Athens, in which fairies play pranks on lovesick mortals, earnest youths endure comical romantic confusion, and a group of mechanics attempts to rehearse a play in secret.

King Thesius (Troy Thomas) and Hippolyta (Carolyn Howarth) are discussing plans for their upcoming nuptials. But plans are interrupted by the arrival of Egeus (Michael RJ Campbell), a nobleman asking for help in forcing his daughter Hermia (Melanie Marshall) to marry Demetrius (Brent Bianchini), the husband of his choosing, though she is in love with Lysander (Anthony Person).

To further complicate things, Hermia’s friend Helena (Elizabeth Holzman) is in love with Demetrius — setting the stage for all of the twists and turns that develop over the course of the story.

Hermia and Lysander flee Athens into the woods, intending to be married at the home of his aunt. They are followed by Demetrius, determined to win Hermia’s hand, and Helena, determined to win the hand of Demetrius.

A group of mechanics are rehearsing in the woods, under the direction of Quince (Campbell). His four actors are Nick Bottom (Matt K. Miller), the weaver, who plays Pyramus in the troupe’s production of “Pyramus and Thisbe” to be presented later for Thesius’ wedding; Bianchini as Flute, the young man who argues against appearing as the very feminine Thisbe; Person as Starveling, a stereotypical backwoodsman who would rather whittle than perform; and Holzman as Snout, the tinker, who also plays the Wall.

The play within a play is wonderfully bad and the wall is handled beautifully with flowing garments and an interesting kind of “chink.”

This is an uneven production, but the good far outweighs the less good. In the less good category is the set by Anna Katherine Mantz. A large box sits in the middle of the stage and has no real discernible practical reason for being there, other than as a perch for Puck (Jason Oler) from time to time, and makes the rest of the stage seem crowded. It does open up to allow for action to take place inside, but it seems intrusive.

STC audience favorites Campbell and Miller raise any production a notch higher and this is no exception. Campbell is at his best as Quince, trying desperately to direct a production of “Pyramus and Thisbe” to be presented later to King Thesius (Thomas, who also plays Oberon, the king of the fairies).

Miller is Bottom, the egotistical would-be actor, who wants to play all the roles, because he knows that he can do each better than anybody else. (His instructions for how to play a lion are very funny.) When Puck turns him into a donkey, a simple cap-like piece is used rather than a full head mask, giving Titania the opportunity to have a lot of suggestive fun with the ears.

No program credit is given for incidental music, which occasionally blends nicely with the action on stage, but more often than not is intrusive and, during the intermission, downright annoying.

The fairies finally undo all the mischief they caused, and Puck offers amends to the other characters, and apologizes to the audience for anything that might have offended. This weak and idle theme was no more yielding than a dream.

Tribute

“Tribute” by Bernard Slade — perhaps better known for the play “Same Time Next Year” and his work in television productions such as “Bewitched,” “The Flying Nun” and “The Partridge Family” — is rarely performed, and it’s a shame. It’s a gem of a play, nicely balancing comedy with tragedy and leaving the audience feeling both good and sad at the end.

Director Dean Shellenberger has brought this play to the Woodland Opera House, and what a gift he has given to theatergoers of this area.

“Tribute” is a seven-person play that rises or falls on the character of Scottie Templeton, a man who is the person Murray of “A Thousand Clowns” would be if he were in his 50s. He has squandered his life and has ruined two marriages. He’s a Broadway press agent who can make anyone like him, but is so happy-go-lucky, he can’t take anything seriously.

But, we like Scottie for the same reason his friends like him — he’s totally charming, he loves life and he refuses to think of the negative. If the actor isn’t believably charming, the play would fall on its face.

Actor Bob Cooner is delightful, charming, lovable and frustrating all at once. Along with his ex-wife Maggie (Julie Bock) and best friend Lou (Walt Thompson), we roll our eyes at yet another dumb mistake Scottie has made.

The play begins at a tribute for Scottie, held in a theater because what other place would be large enough to hold all of his friends? Scottie, you see, was diagnosed with end-stage leukemia. The doctor (Georgann Wallace) says he has just a few months to live. The play follows his acceptance of the diagnosis and his attempt to establish a relationship with his adult son, Jud (Brent Randolph) with whom he has never been able to bond.

Randolph is suitably uptight and self-absorbed, a young man filled with anger who somehow — as the play progresses — begins to break down the walls he has been hiding behind for all of his life.

Maggie is the heart of the play, with her continuing love for Scottie (though apparently she is happily re-married), taking care of him as she would a child, with the overtones of a satisfactory sex life behind them.

Lou is the continuing thread through the play, who hosts the tribute and always seems to turn up when Scottie needs his friend. Walt Thompson is as likeable as Lou as Cooner is as Scottie.

Other characters who fill out the play include Leasa Talmadge as Salley, Scottie’s latest female acquaintance, whom he tries to set up with Jud, feeling the young man needs a woman in his life. Talmadge wears the most beautiful red costume of the play, designed by Denise Miles.

Jen Smuda-Cotter is Hilary, an ex-hooker and longtime friend of Scottie.

Wallace is that rare creature — a doctor who makes house calls. She is a gruff doctor, whose affection for Scottie can’t be denied and who desperately tries to get him to agree to take the treatment that could prolong his life.

Set design is by John Bowles, a two-level apartment big enough to hold a grand piano. The one thing I love about Woodland sets is they are all so solid. When someone slams a door in this play (which happens often), there isn’t a single tremor through the rest of the set … it’s as solid as your own house. The “tribute” portion of the play takes place in front of a curtain that is lowered in front of the apartment set.

This is a play with lots of chuckles throughout, though the audience is never far from thinking about the meaning of life and how one makes one’s mark in the world.

The Opera House was less than half full on opening night, which I felt was terribly sad because this is a good play and the performances are outstanding. I hope more people will turn out to see it during the remainder of its run.

Flash

“Flash: A New Choreography” is the latest work created and choreographed by Qudus Onikeku, UC Davis Granada Artist-in-Residence and preeminent performance artist known for his Yoruba culture-based choreography that fuses together movement philosophies of hip-hop, capoeira and Nigerian masquerade tradition.

Onikeku’s poetic and multidisciplinary attempt to present painful memories runs through Sunday at the Main Theatre in  Wright Hall at UCD.

“All my work as a creative artist has been a series of possibilities of responding to issues that affect me primarily, and those that affect the permanent human values which I defend,” Onikeku said. “I know that my audience is not particularly concerned with these matters before coming to the theater, so it then becomes my responsibility to find other interesting and spectacular ways of reaching out and communicating.”

Onikeku grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, where survival of the fittest was the rule, “the continual crushing of one another, killings and lust for power.”

“How can we live with love in our hearts, with laughter and joy, when there have been and continue to be inhuman cruelties and murders committed every second of every day?” he asked.

“Flash” is not an uplifting work, but it is one that will profoundly affect the audience. The stage is bare, covered with black soil and fabric panels running around the outside. There is a cast of one narrator (Lindsey Beamish) and 10 dancers: Cynthia Arellanes, Mary Ann Brooks, Nicole Casado, Zach Heinzer, Mariah Heller, Hien Huynh, Manami Ii, Maribel Lopez, Jake Parkhurst and David Shih.

The 10 work as an ensemble, within which each dancer is encouraged to create his or her own character that integrates into the whole. Onikeu’s approach is innovative since he integrates improvisational and choreographic techniques. He also works with character and draws out the unique genius of each performer.
Beginning with the “nothingness” that is the world and the “spark” that creates the flash that directs the play, the narrator sets emotional scenes, to which the dancers react. In the first scene, for example, the narrator is describing the murder of a mother and her child as witnessed and, in some sense directed, by her son. It is a tale that doubles you over in pain and the pain is elaborately expressed by the dancers.

There is one brief “happy dance,” where the dancers rejoice in their lives, only to have the horror of their situation brought home to then again.

Brooks is spotlighted as she expresses her own pain eloquently. “I have been challenged as a performer — dancing from the inside out and not controlling the dance but letting the dance have its own life,” she said. “As dancers, we’re taught to control our movements, yet Qudus is teaching us how to allow the dance to develop and become something larger than us and our habitual dancing patterns.”

A girl carrying cheeses home for her mother comes upon a group of refugees, obviously starving, and she tries to share her cheese with them, until threatened by soldiers to move on or join the group.

The final scene graphically represents carnage, as a machete-wielding soldier attacks the people of a village. Anyone who has seen “Hotel Rwanda,” or has followed the carnage taking place in many African countries, will find the story familiar. As the machete came down again and again and again, I was reminded of our friend Victor, a refugee from the carnage taking place in then-Zaire. One night a police car stopped in our driveway and Victor was terrified. Later, he told us “when the police come to your house in Zaire, it is to kill you.”

I pictured Victor and his family as I watched the finale of this powerful work. Onikeku had brought that very real scenario of my friend to life for me and I felt changed by it.

Following opening night, there was a question-and-answer session and one dancer summed up the experience very well, saying that it was “an interesting journey of self-discovery.”

Whether on stage or in the audience, I suspect everyone will leave Wright Hall having been on their own journey of self-discovery, with greater awareness of what is going on in the world around us.

Nunsense

 

Dan Goggin apparently enjoyed his Catholic school upbringing so much that he decided to honor those wacky nuns of whom he was so fond. He penned a cabaret show called “The Nunsense Story,” which opened for a four-day run and was so popular it was extended to 38 weeks.

Encouraged, he expanded his original concept into a full-length comedy called “Nunsense,” which opened off-Broadway and ran for an unbelievable 10 years, the second longest running off-Broadway show (second only to “The Fantasticks”). By the time it ended its run, it had been translated into 26 different languages and had seen more than 8,000 productions worldwide.

It spawned a whole industry for Goggin, with (so far) five sequels to the original production. The Winters Community Theatre presented the third of these, “Nuncrackers, the Nunsense Christmas Musical,” in 2002 and now it is bringing the original to the stage.

“Nunsense” is a great show for community theater. There are only five in the cast (six, if you count Sister Mary Melody — Debi Bowen, who plays the piano accompaniment), there are no costume changes, and the set can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it.

What it does require is five talented actresses who can sing, dance and deliver corny old jokes and get the audience to laugh (or audibly groan) every time. Winters has found these actresses.

The story involves the Little Sisters of Hoboken — who once worked in a leper colony in the south of France — who are now living in New Jersey, after having been ousted by Protestant missionaries

While several of the sisters were out playing bingo with a bunch of Maryknolls, their cook, Sister Julia, Child of God (that’s one of the groaners) accidentally poisons 52 of the nuns with her tainted vichyssoise. The remaining sisters managed to bury all but four of the departed when they ran out of money and discovered that the Mother Superior took some of the money raised to buy a flat-screen TV.  So the four remaining are being kept in the freezer (“blue nuns,” you might say) and the health department is beating at their door.

They have decided to put on a show to raise the rest of the money so they can finally bury their fellow sisters … and thus is the set-up for the rest of the show.

This may be one of the strongest shows I have seen at Winters in a long time, due in large part to the addition of Mary Young, a longtime favorite of Davis Musical Theatre Company audiences, making her Winters debut in this production as Mother Superior Mary Regina, a former circus performer who can’t resist the spotlight. She is a delight to watch.

If you have been raised in Catholic schools, you may find several of your old teachers in the cast, as I did. Sister Mary Hubert is a dead ringer for my old home economics teacher, and I enjoyed Christine Beamer’s performance very much. It doesn’t hurt that she also was a knockout in DMTC’s recent “Follies.” Hubert is the director of novices and aspires to be Superior. Her “Holier than Thou” is the show-stopper of the evening.

When Mother Superior is detained after an Act 1 incident (Young as you’ve never seen her before), Sister Robert Ann (Eleanor Yeatman), the show’s understudy, seizes the moment to reminisce about her childhood at St. Claire’s Catholic School, a beautiful, poignant song about the changes in the modern church. It is a stand-out moment for Yeatman.

Joanie Bryant is the novice, Sister Mary Leo. She is very sweet and wants to be the first ballerina nun. I’m not sure what the Little Sisters are doing with a Daughter of Charity cornette, but Mary Leo dons the headpiece and dances for all the world like The Flying Nun.

Rounding out the gang of five is Sister Amnesia (Linda Glick), who can’t remember who she is but who ultimately comes up with the solution for the burial of the blue nuns just in the nick of time.

The material is dated, some is mildly offensive (I didn’t like the song about the leper colony) and the jokes are corny, but the show is a delight, sure to please anyone, no matter what their religion.

Beauty and the Beast

There were a lot of sleepy little princesses leaving the Sacramento Community Center Theater on opening night of “Beauty and the Beast.”  This is a sure-fire kid pleaser and, given the number of people in the audience without children in tow, it is equally enjoyable for kids of all ages.

It’s a tale as old as time:  She’s the daughter of the crazy old town inventor, ridiculed by the townsfolk for her bookishness and her dreams of finding her prince charming.  He’s a prince with a curse on his head, hiding his hideous form away in a creepy old castle, feared by the townsfolk because he’s “different.”   The two outcasts find each other, fall in love, and live happily ever after.

The touring company of the Tony award-winning “Beauty and the Beast,” directed by Rob Roth, is a big, bold, opulent production that had everyone totally captivated.  The man behind me was a big, loud laugher and I wondered if he’d ever attended a theatrical production before.

Director Roth has managed to tell the simple love story with just enough glitz to keep it moving crisply and always entertaining, but never detracting from the message of seeing truth beneath physical appearance, or discovering the redemptive power of love.

“Beauty and the Beast” was last on the CMT stage in 2000, and was the first show I reviewed, so I have a soft spot in my heart for the show.  But there have been some changes over the years.  Primarily I missed the increasingly intricate costumes of the household staff as they come closer and closer to becoming permanent pieces of household furniture. Other than Cogsworth, the clock, acquiring a wind-up key, there was no change in any of the other costumes. 

I was also disappointed to note that if you didn’t know that “Babette” was supposed to be a feather duster, you would be hard pressed to figure that out, based on her costume.  But those are small complaints.

“Beauty and the Beast” is a technician’s dream, from the lavish sets by Stanley A. Meyer which flew in from above, rolled in from the wings, swivelled on turntables or just hung there looking every bit like the real thing..  And then there were the special effects--candles which ignited at a moment’s notice, sparkles, flashes, strobe lights, a headless kid who didn’t develop legs until the finale, and a transformation from Beast to Prince that would have done David Copperfield proud.

The lighting of Natalie Katz, however, was often too dark and made it difficult to see what was going on on stage. (If I didn’t know how Gaston met his end, I would not have been able to tell from what I could see on stage).  Likewise, the sound of John Petrafesa, Jr., needed serious tweaking.  Many of the conversations between Belle and the Beast were unable to be heard over the orchestra.

Hilary Maiberger is delicious as Belle, the spunky heroine, who, to save her father’s life, agrees to live in the castle of the Beast forever.  Maiberger is not only a beautiful singer, but no slouch in the dancing department either.

Darick Pead as the Beast is fierce and then endearingly tender as his love for Belle grows. His “If I can’t love her” was beautifully poignant.

 Joe Hager, as the town hunk, Gaston, the muscle-bound fool who is determined to marry Belle, swaggers onto the stage like a combination of Jethro Clampet and Li’l Abner.  He’s the villain you love to hate, and as male chauvinists go, none can hold a candle to this Gaston. 

His hapless foil, Maurice (Jimmy Larkin) was a delight, with a body made of rubber as he is routinely whacked about the stage by Gaston.

The supporting players are a marvelous collection of cartoonesque characters. Cogsworth (James May) the fussbudget clock and  Lumiere, the Candlestick holder (Hasan Nazari-Robati) nearly steal the show with their antics and groaners like “You’ve cut me to the wick...”  They are balanced nicely by Erin Edelle, as Mrs. Potts, the teapot, along with her son Chip (played on opening night by Gabriel L. Reis).  (There is a nice bit where Mrs. Potts carries her son on a tray across the stage.)

There are some gems in the smaller rolls, particularly Jessica Lorion as Babette, the feather duster, and Shani Hadhan as Madame de la Grande Bouche.  Taylor D. Colleton, Amanda Grace Holt and Stephanie Moskai as the three silly girls swooning for Gaston are likewise delightful.

The score by Alan Menken and lyrics by the late Howard Ashman, from a book by  Linda Woolverton, will be familiar to anyone who has seen the Disney animated feature that was the basis for this show.  There are six new songs added for the stage, with lyrics by Tim Rice, plus another song (“Human Again”) with lyrics by Ashman, which was cut from the movie.

Choreography by Matt West is a delight.  It’s not easy to design for dancing pieces of furniture, but West does well and the familiar “Be Our Guest” is a show-stopper.  Lesser known musically, “Gaston,” a drinking song with intricate moves involving beer steins, is absolutely fabulous, and perhaps my favorite number in the show.

This show will make anyone believe that miracles do happen, people can live happily ever after, and that inner beauty can tame the beast.