Disgraced

(From L to R) Adam El-Sharkawi, Jennifer Le Blanc,
Michael Patrick Wiles, Atim Udoffia 

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A powerful, thought-provoking night of theater awaits audience at Capital Stage.

“Disgraced” is a Pulitzer Prize-winning, Tony Award-nominated play by Ayad Akhtar, directed by Michael Stevenson. With its theme of cultural identity at its core, this is a timely play, the most-performed play across the country in the 2015 season.

Leading an exceptionally strong cast is Adam El-Shakawi as Amir, a Pakistani-American attorney, moving up the corporate ladder and on the way to becoming partner in his prestigious law firm. Amir has rejected his cultural roots, hidden his Pakistani origins, and considers himself a good American.
His wife Emily (Jennifer LeBlanc) is white and an artist who is inspired by Islamic imagery and who seems to have a closer relationship with the good parts of Islam than her husband, but who can’t understand the culture on the cell level like Amir, who grew up in it.

LeBlanc gives Emily a blissfully idealistic character, fiercely protective of her husband, and infused with the love of the good parts of Islam, without really seeing the negative parts that have turned her husband against his culture

When asked by his idealistic nephew Abe (Benjamin T. Ismail), Amir reluctantly agrees to attend a hearing of an Imam wrongly accused of collecting money for terrorists. (“Don’t think of him as a Muslim, if you don’t want to. Just think of him as a wise man, who so many people depend on.”)
Though he does not actually represent the Imam, a photo in the newspaper “outs” Amir and starts difficulties at work, as layers of his carefully constructed past begin to peel.

Amir and Emily host a dinner party for Abe (Michael Patrick Wiles), the Jewish curator of a museum interested in Emily’s paintings, and his African-American wife Jory (Atim Udoffia), who is a colleague of Amir’s. Things aren’t going well even before the guests arrive, as Amir’s past is coming unraveled … his birth in Pakistan, his name change, etc. He has had a difficult meeting with one of the law firm’s partners.

During the uncomfortable dinner, while wine freely flows, conversation turns those subjects that should not be discussed in polite company — religion, politics and sex. Personal insults from the culture of each of the four start to emerge (kind of like having your mother fly out of your mouth when you are angry, though you vowed you would never say the things she always said).
By the end of an evening ultimately defined by hatred and rage, revelations have been made that are life-changing and unalterable.

In the final scene, it is three months later, and life has changed significantly. Amir, who has lost his job, is packing up the apartment. Nephew Abe has become a vocal spokesperson for the plight of Muslims, and accuses Amir of turning his back on his own heritage. (“You’ll always turn on your own people. You think that makes these people like you more when you do that. They don’t. They just think you hate yourself. And they’re right! You do!”)

As the play draw to its conclusion, it should leave audience members examining their own cultural feelings. Am I really comfortable with the mixed-race couple next door? Am I automatically uncomfortable when a man in a turban is flying on my plane? If a Jewish person heads up the local bank, do I think, even briefly, about his heritage? Do I extend myself to a woman in a hijab, or do I avert my eyes and wonder if her family might be terrorists?

We live in an era where so many of us are fearful and where anybody who isn’t just like us is considered suspect, even though we are ashamed to think of ourselves as having these feelings.
Akhtar rips off the Band-Aid on these feelings and exposes them to all of us, forcing us to take a hard look at how we really are … and are we a greater part of the problem than we wish to admit? Are we all, on some level, “disgraced”?

Mud Blue Sky

From left, Tara Sissom, Jamie Jones, Elisabeth Nunziato and Alexander Pannullo
deal with a 7-Up explosion in "Mud Blue Sky,"
on stage now at the B Street Theatre in Sacramento. Courtesy photo

 There was a time when many high school girls wanted to be stewardesses (in the era before men were allowed to serve airline passengers and they became “flight attendants.”)

There was something about the glamor of the life, flying all over the globe, serving famous passengers. The dress code was strict, there was a set weight limit and girls learned how to wear the proper amount of makeup so they always looked perfectly beautiful. The life was glamorized in the recent television series “Pan Am.”

Marisa Wegrzyn’s “Mud Blue Sky,” now on the B Street Theatre’s Main Stage, shows the reality behind the glitz and the glamor. The life of constant layovers leads to many nights in dingy hotels, absurdly early mornings and much time spent away from loved ones.

While this script is very funny, the work probably should be more properly considered a “dramedy” for the moments of pathos and sensitivity it displays. But mostly it’s just knee-slapping funny.

The setting is a dreary hotel near Chicago’s O’Hare airport and Beth (Jamie Jones) has just checked into her room, one of questionable cleanliness. She’s exhausted, her back hurts, and she just wants to be alone.

Sam (Elisabeth Nunziato), however, is ready to party and tries to entice Beth into a night of drinking and carousing. When not trying to play the party girl, Sam is on the phone dealing with her teenage son spending his first week at home alone, and feeling guilty that she isn’t there to help him with the problems he is encountering.

Beth seems desperate to get Sam out of her room, supposedly so she can get some sleep before their 5 a.m. wake-up call.

Nunziato and Jones have worked together so much over the years that watching the sparring between them in this play is like watching old friends bicker.

As it turns out, Beth isn’t planning on sleeping at all, but is meeting her teenage drug dealer, Jonathan (Alexander Pannullo), in the parking lot to buy some marijuana from him to help her get through the night. He has been her supplier for a couple of years and they have an odd friendly relationship.

It’s Jonathan’s prom night and his date has ditched him to go out with other friends. He looks rather lost in his tuxedo selling drugs to a middle-aged woman in a parking lot.

Pannullo is new to B Street and one might think he came from the young people’s program, so convincing is his teenage Jonathan. In fact, he is a UC San Diego graduate with a solid list of theatrical credentials behind him.

Jonathan ends up in Beth’s room to collect money from her, where he is discovered by Sam, who is later joined by Angie (Tara Sissom), a former flight attendant who lost her job because of her weight problems.

The dialog among these four souls, each at loose ends over what to do about their various concerns, is rapid-fire and funny, but there is an undercurrent of sadness for all of them. There is Sam’s guilt over being an absent mother, Beth’s decision about whether to take a severance package and leave the job before she is fired, Jonathan’s angst about what to do with his life and Angie’s apparent happy life, hiding how much she misses the camaraderie of the flying world.

There is no real plot to this show, and no real resolution at the end, but it’s more like sitting around with some old friends, having a few drinks, laughing and sharing memories. Like taking a brief flight, the passengers/audience can enjoy sharing the moments before the plane lands and the play ends.

Opening-night patrons are always treated to champagne and hors d’oeuvres at the end of the play. This night, we were greeted with Styrofoam containers of airplane-like dinners and bowls of peanuts. It was the perfect way to keep everyone in the mood for a while longer.

Hound of the Baskervilles

Joe Higgins as Mr. Frankland, Michael RJ Campbell as Dr. John Watson
and Sean Patrick Nill as Jack Stapleton perform in
Sacramento Theatre Company’s “The Hound of the Baskervilles.”
Barry Wisdom Photography/Courtesy photo

  

Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick Dr. Watson are traipsing out onto the moors now to solve the crimes of the mysterious “Hound of the Baskervilles,” at Sacramento Theatre Company,

This adaptation is by playwrights R. Hamilton Wright and David Pichette, who have kept the basic mystery intact while adding bits of humor between Holmes and Watson as well as some plot and character twists along the way.

Reprising their roles as Sherlock and Watson from STC’s 2011 production of “Sherlock Holmes: the Final Adventure” are William Elsman and Michael RJ Campbell, respectively, both of whom give impeccable performances. Elsman is tall and erudite and sees clues that no one else catches; Campbell is the blustery, sometimes sardonic, always-faithful Watson. He is the “human element” that the OCD Holmes relies on in order to connect with a case’s human side.

The play begins in Holmes’ drawing room, where he is complaining to Watson that life is boring and that his most recent crimes have offered him no challenge. Right on cue, a challenging case comes knocking at his door in the person of Dr. James Mortimer (Casey McClellan).

The wealthy Sir Charles Baskerville has been found dead in his home, seemingly of natural causes, but Mortimer is suspicious because Sir Charles died with an expression of horror on his face and he noticed “the footprints of a gigantic hound” nearby.

The Baskerville family supposedly has been under a curse since the era of the English Civil War, when Hugo Baskerville offered his soul to the devil for help in abducting a woman; he reportedly was killed by a giant spectral hound. Sir Charles believed in the curse and apparently was running away from something when he died.

Mortimer fears for the life of Charles’ heir, Sir Henry (“call me Hank”) Baskerville (Dan Fagan), a cowboy from Canada. Hank is unconcerned about the curse, despite a mysterious anonymous warning note he receives, and moves into Baskerville Hall anyway.

Holmes finds the mystery intriguing though he claims he has another matter to attend to. He sends Watson to observe the goings-on and meet the local characters — each of whom has his or her own reason to have wanted Sir Charles dead. (Holmes, in the meantime is doing his own investigation, unbeknownst to Watson.)

Others in the cast include Matthew Rives as the butler Barrymore, Cynthia Speakman as his wife, and Aviva Pressman and Sean Patrick Nill as the neighbors, Beryl and Jack Stapleton. Some have projection problems and their lines were lost.

What makes this production so much fun is the scenic design by Jarrod Bodensteiner and Renee Degarmo and the lighting design of Jessica Bertine. While the whole stage is a rocky section of the Devonshire moor, pools of light focus on smaller scenes while the setting is soundlessly changed on the other side of the stage, the technicians working in pitch darkness.

William Myers’ sound effects, particularly the creepy growls and attacks of the hound, add a particular creepy quality to the story.

You can never go wrong with a good Sherlock Holmes mystery, and with the likes of Elsman and Campbell at the helm under the direction of Michael Laun, this one is a winner.

Brigadoon

From left, Tomás Eredia as Harry Beaton, Erik Leiken as Piper
and Scott Griffith as Sword Dancer are in
the DMTC production of “Brigadoon,”
on stage from April 22 through May 15.
Fred Gladdis/Enterprise photo

I had no idea there were so many men with kilts in Davis until I entered the Jean Henderson Performing Arts Center for opening night of Davis Musical Theatre Company’s “Brigadoon.”

The lobby was full of them, including one man who brought his bagpipe (though didn’t play it), as well as women in various types of plaids, from skirts to sashes. The bar was serving a Scottish-named drink and I expected to see haggis at the snack bar.

It was all great fun and a good way to get in the mood for a trip back to Scotland to that mysterious highland town that appears out of the mist only once every 100 years.

The Lerner and Loewe classic has been around since it first appeared on Broadway in 1947 and became more popular when made into an MGM musical in 1954, with Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse. It has always been one of my favorites, and I was happy that this DMTC production, directed by John Haine, did not disappoint.

From the beautiful choral numbers sung by all the townspeople to the lively Scottish dancing choreographed by Ron Cisneros, this is a loving production enjoyed by the near-capacity crowd on opening night.

We first meet Tommy (F. James Raasch) and his sardonic friend Jeff (Coury Murdock) while they are wandering, lost in the Scottish highlands. Tommy confesses that he’s rather lost in his own life, too, engaged to a girl he’s not sure he loves, and part of a world in which he does not feel comfortable. The sounds from the waking Brigadoon seem to come right on cue.

Raasch is a likeable fellow who was a good choice for the role of Tommy. As for Murdock, the character Jeff has few, if any, redeeming qualities. He has a negative and sardonic outlook on life, which is not helped by the flask he keeps raising to his lips.

The two stumble into this 18th-century village enjoying the third day of their “miracle,” which will be explained later by the wise Mr. Lundie (Jeremy Carlson). Tommy is instantly drawn to Fiona MacLaren (Jeri Gonzales), who’s in town to shop for the wedding of her sister Jean (Jessica Arena).
The character of Fiona is quite a departure from the fiery Aldonza that Gonzales played in “Man of La Mancha” and she could not have done it better. Her voice has the strength to handle the most operatic melodies, yet her personality is warm and engaging.

Also outstanding is Scott Scholes, as Charlie Dalrymple, Jean’s fiancé. He had a delightful innocence about him as he contemplates his wedding (“I’ll go home with Bonnie Jean”).

Also outstanding is McKinley Carlisle as the bawdy, libidinous Meg Brockie, who lures Jeff to her shed and proceeds to show him that the Scots are more “generous” than they have a reputation for being. Her lusty “The Love of My Life” is great fun, as is her “My Mother’s Wedding Day.”’

Tomas Eredia had the monumental task of stepping into the role of Harry Beaton — Jean’s angry, scorned suitor, who threatens to destroy Brigadoon by leaving it — when the original actor cast in the role broke his leg two weeks before the opening. On the whole, he handles the role well, but he needs to work on “being dead” a bit more convincingly.

Alison Weaver, as Maggie Anderson, performs a heart-breaking grief dance following Harry’s death. We feel her pain.

The ache of the funeral is further spotlighted by the mournful bagpipe of Erik Leiken (who doesn’t love a good bagpipe?).

Jean Henderson’s colorful costumes add to the atmosphere of a Scottish village, especially in the entrance of the clans, with each decked out in its special tartan sash.
There is a new name in the pit, Peter Kagstrom as music director, who did a fine job with the DMTC underground orchestra.

For anyone who has enjoyed this delightful story over the years, or who just believes in magic and wants to see it appear on stage, this is an engaging production.

Alice in Wonderland

 

“You must be mad,” said the Cat, “Or you wouldn’t have come here.”

Greg Alexander’s adaptation of “Alice in Wonderland,” now at the B Street Theater as part of the Family Series is billed “for ages 5+.”  They got that right.  The little kids sat entranced and laughed uproariously at the zany antics on stage.

This is not your mother’s “Alice,” nor is it Lewis Carroll’s.  The outrageous frenzy was great for the kids, but wore a bit thin.  The beloved fairy tale turned into a moralistic lesson in 12 step programs, self-help groups, and parenting lessons thinly disguised as life in Wonderland.

Alice is not a little girl, but a petulant, self-indulgent teenager, with lots of food allergies, and glued to her cell phone.  She, with her friends, speaks in Internet-ese and says “OMG!” and “Like-Like-Like!” a lot.  When she follows the White Rabbit she loses first loses her GPS and then her cell phone itself, in strange ways peripherally related to Carroll’s story, and has no clue how to survive.

Ultimately, this becomes a lesson in realizing she had those skills all along (I expected someone to invite her to click her heels together).

The weirdness of the script should not take away from the fine acting by the cast, particularly Stephanie Altholz as Alice, who has developed the annoyingly accurate screeching inflection of a spoiled teenager and John Lamb, in several roles, each one fun to watch, particularly the caterpillar.

Music composer Noah Agruss along with playwright Alexander has written some cute songs, particularly the opening number, familiar to anyone living in the Internet age.

Newsies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

West Side Story

 

“West Side Story” — the classical musical with book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim — debuted on Broadway in 1957 and set a musical style that moved musical theater in a whole new direction.

It opened last weekend at the Woodland Opera House, under the direction of Angela Baltezore, with musical direction by Dean Mora and vocal direction by James Glica-Hernandez.

“West Side Story” is, of course, the “Romeo and Juliet” story, modernized and set on the mean streets of New York. It revolves around the running feud between the Sharks (Puerto Ricans) and the Jets (native New Yorkers). Some of the material (particularly the barely censored language, such as “Gee, Officer Krupke — krup you”) seems a bit dated, but the hatred between gangs is, sadly, even more relevant today.

Those in the audience opening night were in for a big treat. This is a wildly energetic show, with powerful performances and lively dancing (choreographed by Staci Arriaga).

There are 10 newcomers in the 28-member cast, which may account for the quality of the overall performances, several of which were outstanding.

Donovan McNeely was powerful as Riff, the leader of the Jets gang. Likewise, most of his crew rose above the norm for memorable performances.

Daniel Silva fairly crackled with barely repressed rage as Action, while Bailey Robinson-Burmester was dynamic as A-Rab and Jordan Hayakawa works her darndest to make herself one of the gang as Anybodys.

The Sharks were led by Kevin Gruwell as Bernardo, a powerful performance. The extra heft on his body made for a more menacing Bernardo, unquestionably the leader of this gang.

Raymond Whitney as Chino had a smaller role, as the potential mate for Maria, but in the crucial moment, his pain and anger were palpable.

Of course, the lovers in this story are Tony (Joshua Wheeler) and Maria (Giana Gambardella), both newcomers to Woodland. In a run-of-the-mill production of this show, Wheeler, an excellent singer, could stand tall as Tony. But when up against the passion and fire of the members of the two rival gangs, his energy just could not match and he paled in comparison, though still gave a fine performance.

Gambardella, on the other hand, gave an impeccable performance. She beautifully portrays the innocent excitement of a young girl falling in love for the first time, never more evident than in her “I Feel Pretty,” as she prepares for her date with Tony, and the anguish of a young woman who feels her life crashing in around her as Tony falls victim to Chino’s gun.

Another newcomer to Woodland is Christina Castro as Anita, Bernardo’s girlfriend. Castro is a real firecracker, showing all the Latin temperament that Anita should. She may have been at her best in the number “America,” flashing her colorful skirts (costumes by Denise Miles).

Her duet with Maria (“A Boy Like That”) was outstanding, as she struggles to balance her grief at Bernardo’s death, her anger at Maria for being in love with his killer, and her love for Maria, understanding the depth of Maria’s feelings for Tony.

There is a full orchestra of seven under the baton of Dean Mora. I was most impressed by Cassandra Brokken, who often played her bass, in that cramped orchestra space, almost like a guitar.

There’s not much you can do to pretty up a stage to represent the back streets of a New York slum, but scenic designer John Bowles has found creative ways to use chain-link fences and creates enough levels, using boxes and walls, to allow the men to jump, somersault and chase each other around the street like a Cirque du Soleil rehearsal.

This is a must-see show for lovers of musical theater. All involved in this show, whether on stage or backstage, can be proud of the end result their hard work.

DMTC for SNR

It was 3 a.m. on a day way back in 1984 when Jan Isaacson woke husband Steve and told him it was time to start a family. Not that kind. Rather, she told him they needed to start a theater company. Jan envisioned a company that would encompass all ages and feature only musical theater productions.

And so they did. The Davis Musical Theatre Company spent many years “homeless and wandering,” according to Jan, looking for a permanent location. It found that stability in 2005, when the company built the Jean Henderson Performing Arts Center, a 240-seat theater in Davis.

At 32 years of age, DMTC is now the state’s longest-running, year-round, nonprofessional musical theater company that includes a full orchestra and a young performer’s theater.

“We must be doing something right,” Jan says of the company’s longevity.

For its principal players, DMTC’s success is rooted in its homey vibe. “There’s a real sense of family about the group,” says DMTC actress Dannette Vassar, who joined in 1997. “There’s not the backstage drama that you sometimes find in other theater groups. It’s a very comfortable place to be.”

Over the years, the company has grown from a struggling community theater to a first-rate amateur theater.

After a recent performance of Man of La Mancha, Nancianne Pfister, a veteran of the Davis theater scene, was so impressed she wrote a letter to its directors. “Everything about [the show] was without flaw: music, acting, directing, set, costumes … the show was a true lift to my soul,” she wrote.

There are two shows left in DMTC’s current season: Brigadoon, which opens April 22, and The Music Man, which will open June 17.

The Fantasticks

 

“The Fantasticks” is the longest running musical in the world. It ran for 42 years (more than 17,000 performances) off Broadway. A revival opened in 2006 and is still going strong. As of 2010, its original investors have earned 240 times their original investments.

The musical has played throughout the United States and in at least 67 foreign countries. Now it is playing at Sacramento Theatre Company in a production that should not be missed.

This is a 1960 musical, with music by Harvey Schmidt and lyrics by Tom Jones, that tells a story about two neighboring parents who trick their children, Luisa and Matt, into falling in love by pretending to feud. As the time of their hoped-for betrothal approaches, the parents hire traveling actors to stage a mock abduction, so that Matt can heroically seem to save Luisa, ending the supposed feud between the two families.

The plan backfires. When the children discover the deception, they reject the arranged love match and separate, and, separately, wander out into the world, their experiences so painful that they return home with wiser eyes and take up where they left off.

The lesson to be learned is that parents should not meddle in their children’s love lives!

It’s a simple story; the conundrum is why it has been so popular for so along. Other than the song, “Try to Remember,” and a few forgettable songs recorded by Barbra Streisand that people may know from that recording, there is no fabulous score. There is essentially no set, no jazzy Broadway-type pizzazz, and yet people love it.

Audiences especially will love this STC production, which has a fabulous cast including the just-turned-15 actress Monique Ward Lonergan, who is irresistibly enchanting as Luisa. Despite being on stage with seven seasoned Sacramento actors, she not only holds her own, but makes this her show.

Another towering performance is given by Jerry Lee, who plays El Gallo, who narrates the story and becomes part of it later. He enters as a larger-than-life presence with a pair of twinkling eyes that engage the audience immediately.

Later, as he becomes the contractor for the men who will attempt to abduct Luisa, that twinkle turns evil and he is every bit as scary as any depiction of Lucifer you may have seen. Add to that the powerful voice, and you have a magnificent performance.

Luisa’s love is Matt (Joshua Durfey), who loves the girl across the wall their parents have erected and about whom she swoons in the manner of every 15-year-old. Durfey, making his STC debut, has an extensive Shakespearean background. He is the perfect idealistic young man, head over heels in love with this girl he has barely met.

The parents in the original show were both fathers, but in this one Luisa has a father and Matt has a mother. It does not change the story at all. Michael Coleman is Luisa’s father, well-meaning, but bungling. Amanda Goldrick (an Ann B. Davis doppelganger) is Matt’s mother, delighting in her plot with Luisa’s father, excited as a child when they scheme to have the young girl abducted so that Matt can come to her aid and win her affection.

Tara Henry plays the mute who becomes the wall over which Matt and Luisa communicate, and also Mortimer, the assistant thug hired to kidnap Luisa.

Gary S. Martinez, an STC favorite, is delicious as Henry, trying to figure out his role in the abduction plot and emoting all over the stage.

The intimacy of STC’s Pollock Stage helps the intimacy of this show (a character nearly fell into the lap of an audience member on opening night).

This was my third time seeing this show and I don’t remember enjoying it this much the first two times. If you’ve never seen “The Fantasticks,” it’s a piece of theater history and you owe it to yourself to catch this entertaining production.

Blackberry Winter

“Blackberry Winter,” a new play by Steve Yockey currently at Capital Stage, is essentially a one-woman show (with two additional actors who play very minor parts), about a woman trying to deal with her mother’s progressing Alzheimer’s disease. It is one act and runs about 90 minutes.

When I read the director’s notes before the play started and read “… this becomes the crux of Vivienne’s battle as we watch a powerful, driven and self-confident woman slowly crumble under the weight of her inability to fix what is wrong with her mother…” I readied myself for an emotional roller coaster and wondered if I had enough tissues with me.

But this play, directed by Capital Stage co-founder Jonathan Williams, is anything but depressing. Vivienne (Amy Resnick) is powerful, funny, sarcastic, emotional, a bit vulgar (but not much) and so perfectly embodies the jumbled emotions of someone who is dealing with a much-loved mother who just isn’t the mother she remembers that this show will resonate with anyone in a similar situation.
(And if you are not dealing with dementia, you will find the show very funny — and also very moving.)

“I don’t drink, but lately I’ve become jealous of people who do,” Vivienne confides to the audience, as she plunks another quarter into a big piggy bank because of using bad language. She has some extremely witty lines, but is the humorous tone real? “This smile is made of granite,” she says, a fake smile on her face.

Most of the play is a conversation with the audience. Resnick strides onto the stage, wearing a power suit and a lovely scarf at her neck (scarves take on major significance as the show progresses) and immediately looks out into the audience, makes eye contact, and starts to talk about an envelope she has just received from the assisted living facility where her mother resides.

She knows that they are writing to tell her it’s time to move Mom to a nursing home “which is quite simply outside my sphere of understanding at this moment.” She wants the best for her mother and knows that having to give up yet another bit of independence by moving is going to be very painful for her mother.

The set, designed by Williams, shows a collection of pedestals of different heights, scattered around the stage. Each contains an item of importance to Vivienne, things like a tiny wooden horse, a bottle of iodine, a pile of silk scarves, a gardening trowel, etc., things that will become props in part of the explanation of the person her mother was, or now is.

Dan Lydersen is credited with animation design, to illustrate an original myth that Vivienne has created to try to explain Alzheimer’s to herself and “why this horrible disease exists.”

The back wall becomes a screen on which is performed a three-section shadow puppet story with the help of Mole (Jacob Garcia) and Egret (Sara Lynn Wagner). The animation part of the play is less successful than the monologue itself, but the figures are lovely.

This is a “must see” for anyone dealing with dementia, and a “should see” for others who love good theater.

[Title of Show]

Nephi Speer, Brian Bohlender, Lauren Ettensohn and Eimi Taormina
photo credit:  Meredith Nixon

[Title of Show], directed by Mariana Seda, is a musical about two guys writing a musical about two guys writing a musical. This delightful production showcases the best of four talented actors, Brian Bohlender as Jeff, Nephi Speer as Hunter, Eimi Taormina as Susan and Heidi Lauren Ettensohn, with David Taylor as Larry, the accompanist.

Jeff and Hunter are musical writing partners who have hit a dry pach, but when they hear of a new musical theater festival they decide to enter something; They have ony three weeks to come up with a show.  As they brainstorm ideas (book plots, poems, etc.) they decide that their brain storming session themselves, set to music, might be an interesting idea.

With the help of Susan and Heidi they develop their musical, which is successful at the festival, finds an off-Broadway home and then plans to move to Broadway.  The changing relationships among the four friends as their fame grows teaches them ultimately what is important in life.

This is a show that musical theater buffs will love because of its in-jokes and obscure references. Those less enlightened will enjoy the tuneful songs, the inventive choreography and the camaraderie among the actors.

Adult language and themes make this inappropriate for young children.

The Shadow Box

Beverly (Natasha Hause), dressed in gold lamé
and dripping with jewelry,
is confronted with the reality of dying
when she visits her former husband,
a patient at a hospice program,
in "The Shadow Box," playing now in Sacramento.
Courtesy photo

We’re all going to die. You, me, everybody you love. It’s a given.

This life we live is a one-way street that leads to a dead end. Yet, we don’t often think about our mortality; we don’t spend time dwelling on our death because we don’t know when it will come and we optimistically assume it’s a long way into the future.

This is not the case with the three residents of a hospice-like facility, where they have been given the use of individual cottages because all hope of a cure for their illnesses is gone and they are going to die. Soon.

One of the conditions of living in the cottage is daily interviews by two mostly unseen interviewers (Michelle Champoux and Stephen Wellman) on how they are feeling, physically, but especially emotionally.

“The Shadow Box,” by Michael Cristofer and directed by Bill Zarrielo, presented by the ironically named Resurrection Theatre at the Wilkerson Theatre of the California Theatre complex, explores these patients and how they are handling their impending death(s). It is a moving and powerful show.

Back in 1969, Elizabeth Kubler Ross wrote about the emotional stages experienced by those facing imminent death: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

This production deals with each of those emotions as the patients interact with their friends and loved ones.
Joe (Michael Sicilia) has not, for some reason, seen his wife Maggie (Maureen Gaynor) or son Steve (Tony Brisson) in months. But they have been sent for and arrive with baggage and food … including a ham (because isn’t that what you bring to the grief-stricken?).

Steve has not been told that his father is dying and Maggie is in such denial that she won’t even enter Joe’s cottage because to go inside is to accept his death sentence, and she can’t do that.

Joe seems to be at peace with his impending death, but Maggie begs him to come home again: Let’s buy a small farm and forget all of this because it’s not true.

In Cottage 2 is Brian (Shawn B. O’Neal) and his young lover Mark (Eric Craig), who has been his caretaker for a long time. Death seems to have inspired the creativity in Brian and he wants to write and write and write. He doesn’t care if it’s good, he just wants to write.

Into this world sweeps Brian’s former wife Beverly (Natasha Hause), dressed in gold lamé and dripping with jewelry (you just know she must be drenched in Giorgio). She descends on Brian and Mark with an energy that explodes everywhere. She is there to remind Brian of all of their good times. It’s laughs and cuddles and promises until she comes face to face with the reality of his disease and what Mark has been dealing with.
Mark, at the same time, is the exhausted caregiver, forever sorting pills and cleaning up all sorts of messes. He is angry and has come to hate Brian at times, but is still in love with him and is terrified at the thought of losing him.

Cottage 3 houses Felicity (Janet Motenko) and her daughter Agnes (Adrienne Sher). Doctors have given up hope for Felicity, who has had multiple operations, is wheelchair-bound and is in great pain most of the time. She also has dementia and drifts in and out of reality, calling for her long-dead daughter Claire, whose frequent letters — which Agnes writes — are keeping hope alive in Felicity that the beloved daughter will soon come home.

As I watched Agnes caring for her mother, my overriding thought was that surely in the actress’ real life she deals with someone with dementia. It wasn’t only that her acting was so strong, but her entire body — including the expression on her face — echoed the exhaustion and reluctant acceptance of what she needed do that I hear from many caregivers of dementia victims.

There is some good humor in this show as well, though for the most part it was lost on the audience of about 10 people, who braved the rain to come to the theater. I suspect a larger audience would get it more.
Watching the three patients and the reactions of their loved ones, one is struck with the necessity of assessing our own lives, thinking how we can make the most of every moment, live positively, leave few regrets at the end of it, whenever it comes.

Because it could all be over in an instant and what, after all, was the most important thing?

Book of Mormon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Masterpiece of Comic Timing

Jason Kuykendall, foreground, Andy Lee Hillstrom, left,
and Dave Pierini star in B Street Theatre's production
of “A Masterpiece of Comic...Timing.”
B Street staff/Courtesy photo

The scene is an opulent suite in an upscale Arizona hotel (scenic design by Samantha Reno). The air-conditioning is off and the occupants, producer Jerry Cobb (David Pierini) and his flunky Charlie Bascher (Andy Lee-Hillstrom), are begging hotel management to please fix the air-conditioner. Even the bucket of ice they eventually acquire melts before it can do any good.

This is the setting of a new play, “A Masterpiece of Comic … Timing” by Robert Caisley, making its world premiere at the B Street Theatre. The two men are waiting for the arrival of Danny “Nebraska” Jones (Jason Kuykendall), an up-and-coming playwright, who is going to write a comic masterpiece for them.

But there is a problem. When Danny arrives, he’s in the depths of depression and as he flops onto the couch it is obvious he’s not up to writing a comedy. He can’t even think of a plot.

“Comedy doesn’t necessarily have to ‘mean’ anything,” Cobb explains. “You take a hundred jokes and put it in two acts, there’s your plot.”

There are lots of jokes in this play (some lovingly borrowed from other sources) that make up all of the crazy action going on on stage, there is a running gag and there’s an early plot point that returns at the end to tie things up. There’s sexist humor, offensive humor, good clean humor, slapstick humor and weather aberrations. When it all comes to an end, the audience is still laughing uproariously.

“Comedy is hard,” says director Buck Busfield. “Getting a laugh is hard because the line must not only be funny but well rendered. Perfectly rendered, in fact.”

This show works so well because most of the lines are perfectly rendered by some of the funniest actors in Sacramento.

Pierini is a loud, blustery comic in the manner of Nathan Lane and he is the center of most of the action on stage, as he stomps around yelling and puffing on his big cigar. As it starts to seem as if this comedy is not going to be written, he gets more and more desperate, fearing that the Russian investors are going to show up at his doorstep demanding a finished, funny script.

Kuykendall, as Danny, milks his melancholy character for all it’s worth, drinking gallons of bourbon, moaning that he has lost his “love” and can’t write without her, and pretty much having a rubbery body that can’t hold itself upright without assistance.

Then there is Lee-Hillstrom as Charlie, who is that stereotypical fussbudget lackey that important people can’t live without. With his ramrod-straight spine and his tiny moustache and the ability that he develops to be more emphatic, he becomes a caricature, but one who is very funny.

Cobb decides he must send for Danny’s girlfriend, with whom he has recently had a breakup, thinking that her presence will inspire Danny to find his sense of humor.

Elisabeth Nunziato is an electric copper-headed, sequined-clad bombshell, who shows up thinking she’s there to audition for Cobb. She is not at all happy to discover she’s been duped.

But Danny’s reaction to her arrival surprises everyone and doesn’t help get the script written anyway.

While Act 1 begins to drag a bit, things move forward at a dizzying speed in Act 2, and when the show ends, as does every good comedy, nobody cares that it wasn’t really about anything after all. It worked for “Seinfeld” and it works well for Caisley.

Love and Baseball

Brian Rife, Brittni Bargerstar in B Street Theatre's production of “Love and Baseball.”
B Street staff/Courtesy photo

There is a magical moment at the beginning of B Street Theatre’s new production, “Love & Baseball.” The character Will (Brian Rife) is trying to explain to Michele (Brittni Barger) the excitement of Game One of the 1988 World Series. He puts on a recording of announcer Vin Scully and Joe Garagiola calling the plays and he takes a baseball bat and pretends to be batter Kirk Gibson.

As the recording progressed I happened to glance at my husband, who was sitting up straight, leaning forward, mouth open, a big smile on his face, obviously hanging on to every word.

Then I looked around the theater and all over were other men “of a certain age” reacting the very same way.
That was when I knew that playwright Jerry R. Montoya had something special in his new script. Baseball is the great American pastime and brings back many memories to those who went off to watch their favorite team with Dad.

Later in the show, Will starts telling the story of the 1955 World Series, Dodgers and Yankees, Game 1. “Jackie Robinson was standing on third….” and again a ripple went through the audience as, all over, one person was leaning over and telling his or her companion what was coming.

B Street’s promotional material for this show says the play has “just the right amount of romance and sports to be entertaining to men and women alike.” The reaction from this audience certainly proved that to be true.
But it’s more than simply love and baseball. It’s the intelligent, crisp dialog and it’s that magical chemistry that some pairs of actors have and others have to pretend to have. The look the two actors have when they talk to each other just felt very real.

With direction by Buck Busfield and Montoya, the scenario flows realistically as well, and as Will and Michelle converse, the conversation becomes very organic and more like peeking in a neighbor’s window rather than watching a carefully scripted stage production.

However, one does need a degree of suspension of disbelief in the on-again, off-again not-quite romance of Will and Michelle. They meet a sum total of three times over five years, for a brief visit each time. Even given the possibility of love at first sight, these two are pushing the limit.

Barger’s Michele is a spunky, independent spirit, sharing an apartment with Will’s old roommate, who, she explains, is “just a friend.” She is just adventurous enough to consider an odd offer Will makes to her.
Rife as Will has all the easy-going charm of a Jimmy Stewart in his heyday. He is an independent filmmaker trying to save the 11 remaining Mexican gray wolves and so he can’t stay around to pursue what seems to be perhaps the start of something serious.

Unexpected things happen and it is two years before the two meet again, under the most awkward of situations. The spark is still there, but thinking about it is impossible.

But it’s fun to believe that true love is possible with a total stranger as we watch their relationship build and fall apart. Will they, like Jackie Robinson, make it to home plate in the end?

This is, indeed, a play that women will enjoy for its romance and any man or baseball-loving woman will enjoy for the memories of the good old days of classic baseball. It’s a show that everyone can fall in love with.

Twelfth Night

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Calendar Girls

The Winters Theatre Company presents the charming and hilarious “Calendar Girls” through March 20.

“Calendar Girls,” by Tim Firth, began as a 2003 movie starring Helen Mirren. It is based on a true story of Tricia Stewart and Angela Baker, who belonged to the Women’s Institute in England. Angela’s husband, John, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma and died a few years later.

The women in Angela’s WI chapter decided to raise money for research on leukemia and lymphoma. An “alternative version” of their annual calendar was proposed, with the women (ages 45-65) posing nude, tastefully surrounded by projects like very large cupcakes, sunflowers, knitting projects, etc.

The calendar was a huge success. More than 88,000 copies sold in the U.K. and 240,000 copies in America. The original goal was to raise £5,000 but more than £3.5 million were raised and the story has become the stuff of legend.

Now this delightful comedy has come to Winters, directed by Anita Ahuja, with a first-rate cast.

The setting is the Yorkshire town of Knapely. Lori Vaughn and Sara Wieringa are Chris and Annie, the Tricia and Angela characters. Vaughn is an irreverent take-charge person, the first to “bare it all” for the cause, while Wieringa presents a more soulful and sympathetic personality. She is the one who is more interested in memorializing her late husband than in achieving fame for the “calendar girls.”

And what a group of calendar girls they are. There’s Ruth (Linda Glick), perhaps the most straight-laced, who just can’t bring herself to pose, but will buy several copies of the calendar — and ends up being perhaps the funniest of them all.

Jessie, a retired teacher and secret firecracker, is played by longtime Davis Musical Theatre Company favorite Mary Young. It’s fair to say that in Jessie we are seeing a piece of Young we didn’t know existed. She always has had a great sense of comic timing and this role is right up her alley.

Cora (Christine Deamer) is a divorced single mother and the piano accompanist for the group. Deamer and the pit accompanist (Riley Loventhal) need to coordinate better, as she often has her hands poised over the keyboard and he has already started playing what she is supposedly playing.

Feisty Celia (Janene Whitesell), whom the girls think will need encouragement, confesses that in her younger days she once rode topless on a Harley Davidson and she is definitely in for the project.

The trick is keeping the project secret from Marie (Dona Akers), the straight-laced chairwoman of the Knapely WI. Akers always finds a way to inject ditzy comic humor into her roles and this one is no exception.

Ann Rost plays Lady Cravenshire, as shocked as Marie is to discover what the ladies of the club have been up to.

Debra DeAngelo — The Winters Express editor and columnist for 23 years, whose columns also are published on Sundays in The Davis Enterprise — is making her stage debut as Brenda Hulse, a visiting lecturer about to give a talk about broccoli to the women of the WI. It’s a small role, but DeAngelo gives it her all and does a credible job.

The men in the cast definitely play minor roles, compared to the women. Foremost among them, though, is Cortlandt Wilson as John, whom we watch deteriorate as his disease worsens. Brad Haney is Rod, Chris’ husband.

The funniest scene in the play is, not surprisingly, the photography session itself, showing the women doing various tasks around the home in the nude and being snapped by a bashful photographer (Manny Lanzaro). While the girls are (with one exception) nude on stage, the audience would never know it, thanks to the ingenious (and hilarious) ways they cover up.

The entire cast could work a bit more on their British accents, as they seem to be all over the place and very inconsistent, sometimes spot on, other times completely lacking and then back again. At least one seemed to be speaking with a Scottish accent, another perhaps from Liverpool.

However, American audiences are not fussy about such things and it does not detract from the charm, humor and pathos of this delightful production.

The set design by Jesse Akers, Trent Beeby and Ahuja is nice, but the final scene is particularly lovely.
This show is a salute to the bonds of friendship and the proof that sex appeal is not limited by age or size.

Man of La Mancha

Director/choreographer Jan Isaacson admits that “Man of La Mancha” is her favorite show. The superlative production now at Davis Musical Theatre Company is ample proof of that.

From the magnificent set designed by Steve Isaacson (more opulent than most DMTC sets), to the quality of the voices, to the full orchestral sound emanating from the approximately 15-piece orchestra underneath the stage (directed by Jonathan Rothman), this is an excellent production.

Written by Dale Wasserman, with music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion, “Man of La Mancha” is adapted from Wasserman’s non-musical “Don Quixote.”

The original Broadway production won five Tonys, including Best Musical, and it has been revived four times on Broadway. It has played in many other countries around the world, with productions in Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Icelandic, Gujarati, Uzbek, Hungarian, Serbian, Slovenian, Swahili, Finnish, Ukrainian and nine different dialects of Spanish.

“Man of La Mancha” tells the story of Manuel de Cervantes (Nathan Lacy), who, along with his companion Sancho Panza (Adam Sartain), is imprisoned by The Spanish Inquisition, for foreclosing on a church that had not paid its taxes.

As is the custom in this prison, the prisoners hold their own Inquisition of the newcomer, a mock trial, accusing the writer of being, among other things, an idealist and a bad poet. If “convicted,” he will lose his belongings, which consist primarily of a trunk of theatrical costumes and props, and an unfinished manuscript.

Cervantes’ defense is presented in the form of a play, in which Cervantes takes the role of Alonso Quijana, an old gentleman suffering from dementia, who now believes that he is the knight-errant, Don Quixote de La Mancha. In this guise, he travels the countryside with his trusty squire, Sancho, tilting at windmills he perceives as beasts and rescuing damsels in distress. He promises not to allow wickedness to flourish in the land. The delusional Quijana is an embarrassment to his respectable family.

Lacy is one of those actors who has but to utter a couple of notes of his first song to let the audience know that this is something special. His spare frame, accentuated by false bushy eyelashes and scrawny beard, give the perfect visual matching Picasso’s famous silhouette. Any solo he sings is wonderful, including the most famous song from this musical, “The Impossible Dream.”

Sartain is a nicely flouncy, slavishly loyal companion, who understands his master’s mental defects but supports him anyway. As he explains to the barkeep Aldonza (Jori Gonzales), who wonders why he is so loyal, he “really likes him.” He is especially winsome in the comic song, “A Little Gossip.”

In Aldonza, the serving wench and town whore, Quixote sees only the lovely “Dulcinea,” a fair lady whom he insists on treating with dignity, gentleness and respect, to her puzzlement, and becomes her protector. Gonzales has a rich voice in songs that express her puzzlement with this strange man “What does he want of me?” but can be exceptionally raw in her painful lament “Aldonza.” It’s a captivating performance.

Other strong performances are given by Brian McCann as the Padre (another fabulous voice), Steve Isaacson as The Governor (so nice to see him back on stage again), and Coury Murdock as The Duke/Dr. Carrasco. His powerful voice commands any scene in which he appears.

Quijana’s niece Antonia (Rachael Sherman-Shockley) and his housekeeper (Dannette Vasser) are very funny as they attempt to convince the padre that they are only thinking of the old man’s welfare, not his money.

The father of Mario Rodriguez, one of the muleteers, was the head muleteer in the original 1965 Broadway production and understudied Richard Kiley as Don Quixote. The original 50-year-old whip used on Broadway is on display in the DMTC lobby.

(It should be noted that while the play implies that Cervantes is going to his death as he is called before The Inquisition tribunal, he actually died of diabetes in Madrid in 1616.)

Frankenstein

The B Street Family Series has opened an outstanding production of a new version of the “Frankenstein” story, written by B Street associate producer and author of many Family Series plays, Jerry Montoya.

Walking into the small theater and looking at the gorgeous set by Samantha Reno was a hint that the audience was in for something special.

And indeed it delivered on that promise.

The story is set at Villa Diodati, on Lake Geneva, Switzerland, where Mary Shelley (Megan Wicks) and her husband Percy (Bryan Staggers) are hosting Lord Byron (Michael RJ Campbell), his personal physician John Polidori (John Lamb) and Mary’s stepsister (and mother of Byron’s illegitimate daughter) Claire Clairmont (Stephanie Altholz).

A discussion breaks out about ghost stories and whether women are capable of writing one, something about which the men scoff. Mary suggests a contest to see who can write the best ghost story.

The retelling of the Frankenstein tale is effectively handled, with the actors slipping into and out of characters in the story while Mary narrates.

Megan Wicks is simply electric as she paints the picture and characters of her ghost story. Aided by the lighting design of Les Solomon, she strides around the stage, striking dramatic poses that grab the audience and holds them until she moves again.

Solomon’s contrasting lighting for the Shelley home and the Frankenstein story is often subtle, but definitely leaves no question about whether we are in “today” or the fantasy tale of Mary Shelley.

Michael RJ Campbell is expansive as Lord Byron but positively terrifying as the corpse brought to life (though it is interesting how an undead person who can only roar loudly in one scene becomes so erudite in the next!). Campbell simply could not be better in this role.

Bryan Staggers gives a perfect performance as the somewhat effete Percy Shelley, the take-charge ship commander, and the skittish assistant to Dr. Frankenstein in the story itself.

John Lamb has the more difficult task, as a relatively minor character in the drawing room gathering, then the power-mad scientist discovering the “philosophers stone,” said to give immortality, and finally the terrified man who doesn’t know what he has created or how to stop it.

His experiments are aided in no small part by the special effects of beakers that bubble over in various colors and pots that smoke on cue. Good work on the part of technical director Steven Schmidt and his crew.

Altholz, who looks like she just stepped out of an old fashioned cameo portrait has less to do in her role as Claire, but does it very well nonetheless.

In an age where “The Walking Dead” is one of the most popular shows on television these days, “Frankenstein” is timely, and Montoya’s well written script gives lots for the adults in the audience to enjoy and enough scary stuff to delight the kids.

Happy Armenians

The country of Armenia has not had an easy time of it throughout history. It has been occupied by different dynasties from Ottoman to Iranian to Russian, among others. And then, between 1915 and 1918, during WWI, was the Armenian genocide, which killed 1.5 million victims and sent millions of women, children and the infirm on death marches into Syria (sound strangely familiar?) It is now a small sovereign state, bordered by Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan, and you don’t hear much about Armenia these days.

Playwright Aram Kouyoumdjian seeks to rectify that situation and to bring Armenia to light. His play, “Happy Armenians,” presented by California Stage and Vista Players at the Wilkerson Theater, supposes that there are parallel universes. In our universe all these terrible things happened to the people of Armenia, but in a parallel world, Armenians not only eluded the history of oppression and persecution, but actually became the most powerful country and has dominated the world for 600 years. Its main enemies are the warlike Swiss, whom they must guard against.

The only problem this parallel Armenia has is that the King (Gregory DePetro) is childless, and he will die within a month. His heir can only be his nearest blood relation, who happens to be Levon (Daniel Hubbard), a history teacher from Los Angeles, in our universe.

By some mysterious process that the beautiful scientist, Siran (Heather Lynn Smith) has been perfecting for some 10 years, Levon is taken from our universe and moved to the parallel Armenia where he is expected to learn all there is to learn about running the country in the little time the King has left.

Kouyoumdjian has been working on this idea for several years and says that “the script started coming to life earlier last year, as Armenians around the globe were commemorating the Genocide’s centennial.” He knew he wanted to write a play that commemorated the genocide without being a “Genocide play.”

And, in fact, he has done just that. “Happy Armenians” is a comedy, which may not be full of big belly laughs, but the humor is often subtle (like references to the warlike Swiss), and gets much of its humor from how various tragedies in our world were handled in parallel Armenia. (Their Wall Street equivalent is wonderful).

This production is fortunate in that all five of the cast members originated their roles in Los Angeles, so have been playing these parts for a long time and have perfected them.

As the King, DePetro is regal, sincere, and convinced that he is leaving his Kingdom in good hands. He is quite cavalier in his treatment of his enemies and at times reads like a Star Trek script.

His queen, Jade Hykush, dedicates her performance to her grandparents, who were survivors of the Armenian genocide, so for the actress, this role is very personal and we feel the intensity of her emotions as she first does not believe her healthy appearing husband is really dying and then her anguish at his death.

Hubbard, as Levon, starts out as a befuddled man who can’t understand where he is and what he is doing there, but over the course of the 90-minute play grows in confidence and willingness to assume his responsibilities on the death of the King, of whom he has become quite fond.

Smith’s performance as Siran is at the soul of the play as it is she who convinces Levon that he is indeed the right person to assume the crown. It is also obvious that she is falling in love with him, and she will be a fitting queen for him to support and help him rule the country.

Rounding out the cast is Tavis L. Baker, as Patrick, the only non-Armenian in the King’s circle, who must keep his true identity secret, for xenophobia exists in this Armenia as well. He is confidante to the King and becomes friend and advisor to Levon as well. It is clear that these two will not only continue the King’s vision for the empire, but improve on it, using Levon’s knowledge of history from his own universe.

A big part of the effectiveness of this play is the original music of Ara Dabandjian, whose recorded themes hit just the right emotion of various scenes. Likewise, the lighting design of Henrik Mansourian and Kirk Glover create a perfect atmosphere for any universe.

As we watch Levon step into his new role as King, we might wonder what the world would have been like if we had lived in this parallel universe, which seems so logical and orderly, instead of the one we inhabit.

The Last Five Years

Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years, at Green Valley Theatre Company is a falling in and out of love story.

Cathy (Jennifer Morrison), an aspiring actress, and aspiring writer Jamie (Kevin Caravalho, who also directed the show) switch back and forth. Cathy starts at the end of the relationship and works backward to the beginning; Jamie starts at the beginning and works forward to the painful ending. The two meet in the middle, at their wedding.

The play was initially designed for each character to be on stage alone to sing, but wanting to make it more fluid and meatier, Caravalho keeps both on stage most of the time.

The end result makes the story a bit fuller.

Morrison is a marvel, a “belter” of the first order. She begins with the haunting “Still Hurting,” which has the ability to drag the audience into the song to feel her pain.

Caravalho, starting as a young man in love, brings delight and magic to the role as he gleefully talks about his “Shiksa Goddess.”

His mood darkens as the relationship begins to sour.

The music is further aided by the richness of a five-piece orchestra, which includes two cellos (and one cellist, Eimi Taormina, also an accomplished actress, stepping into the story briefly), and adds a depth that a single piano would not give.

The Little Mermaid

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love and Information

Jacob Garcia and Gail Dartez perform in “Love and Information”
running through Feb. 28 at Capital Stage. Charr Crail/Courtesy photo

Imagine dumping over a bucket of marbles.  Each marble has a theatrical scene written on it.  You pick up marbles at random and perform the scene.

That’s kind of how award-winning playwright, Caryl Churchill’s “Love and Information” seems to be.  Some 50+ scenes over 95 minutes, some as short as only two lines before blackout, strung together in what seems to be random fashion.  In fact, so random that even the playwright gives leeway for production interpretation. As long as the scenes which comprise of each of 7 sections remain within that section, it’s OK to rearrange them.  There are no character or gender names in the script, so men and women may reverse roles from how it was done in some other production.

It may seem like this would produce a big confusing mess, but in some odd way, it works.

The message is the message.

In these post-Sesame Street days, we have all grown up with short attention spans and a need for instant gratification, and Churchill’s work plays into that.  We get a glimpse, but only a glimpse of the lives of others and then we move on to the next scene.  It’s like flipping through the channels on your television set, catching brief glimpses of the program that is on before moving onto the next.

Some are funny, some are sad, some are confusing.  Some are short, a conversation of only 5 lines. Others may present a more complete scene, e.g. a scientist explaining how he gathers chickens for experiment on how their brains work. 

Some are very funny, as two teenagers with big crushes on a famous star, comparing what they know about him.

Some are more poignant, as a discussion with an Alzheimers patient, or someone being given a bad medical diagnosis.

One of our favorites was a piece called “Linguist,” which is a discussion of what the place where you put your food when you sit down to eat is called in different languages. (table, trapezi, stol, mesa, meza, tarang, tabulka).  The message of that one sneaks up on you.

There is a cast of eleven - Rob August, Eric Baldwin, Gail Dartez, Kristine Elizabeth David, Jacob Garcia, Laura Kaya, Jouni Kirjola, Tiffanie Mack, Alexander Martnez, Matt K. Miller and Emilie Talbot - and each plays a number of characters, each trying to make sense of what they know, all impeccably. 

As important as the actors is the tech staff.  Benjamin T. Ismail is the director who makes this all work.

Brian Watson is the scenic designer who has created a stage of circuitry and boxes which move in and out to suggest settings.

Steve Decker has the task of lighting and projections design/technical director.  Without his lighting and projections and the sound effects of Ed Lee, from electronic circuitry in motion to babies crying and dogs barking, this would not have been nearly as effective a production.

There is a set crew who move the set pieces around with such speed and proficiency that, despite the number of scenes to be covered, it all went very smoothly.

At the end of the show, the temptation is to say ‘what was that all about?” but as you think about it, it just somehow all makes sense.

This is a unique theatrical experience but a memorable one which should be very satisfying.