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.

i Gelosi

The talented actress Vittoria (Sarah Zaragoza-Smith) keeps a tight rein
on her patron, the Duke of Mantua (Garrison Koebere), right,
and her lovelorn ex-boyfriend Orazio (Cassidy Smith), left,
in "I Gelosi," which kicks off the Acme Theatre Company's
36th season on Friday, Jan. 22. Courtesy photo

 It is generally believed that I Gelosi (translated as “the jealous ones”) was one of the earliest Italian acting troupes. It was formed in Milan, Italy, in 1569, and performed throughout Europe. Some say the group was the inspiration for today’s slapstick comedy. They performed commedia dell’arte, noted for its quick pace and clever, dark humor.

The 2008 play “I Gelosi,” written by playwright David Bridel, is loosely based on the original I Gelosi and is now being presented by Acme Theatre Company at the Veterans’ Memorial Theater, under the direction of Acme alum Hope Raymond.

“These were the ‘rock stars’ of their time, creating theater loved by all classes of people,” Raymond writes in her program notes. In fact, I Gelosi was the first troupe to be patronized by nobility and even performed for the king of France.

The play begins in a graveyard — a clever device to introduce the audience to the characters by name, as they all arise from their prominently displayed engraved headstones.

The group’s leader, Francesco (Andrés de Loera Brust) gives an introduction to the play before the actual play begins. He stood head-and-shoulder above the others in the cast, not only because of his height, but because of his command of the stage, and his unfailing projection, which made every word he spoke easy to understand.

My consistent complaint about Acme is the failure of many of its actors to project, especially in a venue as large as the Veterans’ Memorial Theater. This time I sat close to the stage and could hear almost everyone well, though there were a couple whose lines never made it over the apron.

Francesco and his two friends Giulio Pasquati (Ari Wilk) and Simone di Bologna (Benton Harshaw), are penniless performers, squabbling over which one must play the female part. In an unconventional move in an era when women were not permitted on stage, Francesco decides to hire Isabella Andreini (Avery Burstein), whom he marries — not for love, but more for convenience.

Isabella is not only an actress but a writer and if her performing on stage was scandalous, reading her works from the stage was even more so, though little is made of that fact in the plot of this show.

Though one of the newest, youngest members of Acme, at age 15, ninth-grader Burstein gave an experienced performance and held her own against the more seasoned actors.

The Orazio Padovano (Cassidy Smith), star-struck nephew of the Duke of Mantua (Garrison Koeberer), also comes a groupie and introduces Vittoria Piisimi (Sarah Zaragoza-Smith) into the company. The competition between Isabella and Vittoria forms much of the conflict in the story

More conflict arises after Francesco has an affair with the libidinous Sylvia (Julia Smart Truco), mistress of the Duke.

But thanks to the Duke’s reviews, I Gelosi are invited to perform in the court of Charles IX, King of France (Rocket Drew). With his thin build and oversized crown, Drew looks like he could have walked out of the pages of a Dr. Seuss book.

Charles is the son of Catherine de Medici (Chaitrika Budamagunta) and I fear that her projection was nonexistent and I missed just about all of her lines.

Riding a wave of popularity, Francesco makes a terrible mistake, thinking that he could use the stage as a platform to express his anger with Pope Gregory and the aristocracy, with the audience’s blessing (kind of like saying “I’m so popular I could walk down Fifth Avenue and shoot someone and the people would still love me.”)  It backfires, however, and I Gelosi is driven from the court and find themselves penniless, right back where they started.

Undaunted, Francesco, Giulio and Simone decide to start all over again.

In real life, Isabella died in childbirth in 1604. Francesco was so overwrought that he disbanded the troupe and retired from the stage. The stock commedia dell’arte character Isabella is named in her honor.

In presenting this look at “I Gelosi,” Acme has done honor to the forerunner of much of what the young acting company has become famous for. And once again, dedicated Acme alum Dan Renkin deserves much credit for the sword-fighting skills of the actors.

Echo Location

“Echo Location” is the third play by Carter Lewis to premiere at the B Street Theatre, behind “Women Who Steal” and “While We Were Bowling.” This 90-minute one-act play is directed by Buck Busfield.

Billed as a hilarious comedy, it’s not quite that, though there are some very funny lines and situations and the actors make the most of them. But there are dark overtones and things that don’t quite make sense, if examined too closely.

Benjamin Rindell (Kurt Johnson) is a white English professor about to be married to African-American Emmy (Mary Lynne Robinson). As the play opens, they are sitting in the gorgeous back yard of their home (sets by Sam Reno). Emmy is decorating for their upcoming nuptials while Benjamin sits wracked with angst about past events and a recent indiscretion.

In attempting to enter the home of Emmy’s boyfriend, Bluetooth Atkinson (Oge Agulue), to remove all of Emmy’s things, Benjamin inadvertently caused the death of Bluetooth’s cat, who leaped at Benjamin and got caught in a ceiling fan and was decapitated. Benjamin has brought what’s left of the cat home in a paper bag.

(First puzzling thing … there is no back story to the romance of these two. Emmy was with Bluetooth for only three months and she is about to be married to Benjamin, before she has even removed her things from Bluetooth’s home. That has to be the quickest marriage decision in history.)

Onto the scene bounds 15-year-old Allison (Sarah Grodsky), with the announcement that she has been told by her recently deceased mother that she is Benjamin’s daughter and she wants a blood test to prove it. The last thing in the world Benjamin wants is a teenaged daughter, especially one who is as assertive as Allison.

Bluetooth arrives, angry about his cat (who has now been relegated to a red-stained plastic container in the freezer). He tries to ignite a spark with Emmy again, and he tells Benjamin that in exchange for his not going to the police about the burglary (and cat death), he will need to beat Benjamin up. Benjamin agrees and they settle on a time later the next day.

The beating bothered me a lot. First, who dresses up in their good clothes to beat someone up? I understand Bluetooth’s need to rid himself of the rage he feels for losing Emmy by hitting his rival, and I understand Benjamin’s need to rid himself of the guilt he feels about not only the burglary and the cat death, and other things that have weighed heavily on him, but the beating seemed unnecessarily brutal, while Emmy and Allison sit in the yard and hold on to each other.

It was a difficult scene to watch and the dramatic lighting added to the brutality of it. It seemed out of place in a comedy.

(I was not the only person commenting about the lighting emphasizing the black-on-white violence.)

Things resolve themselves by the ending and one hopes that Allison and her father actually will have a relationship. One of the sweetest moments in the play is a brief encounter between the two of them.

The performances of all four actors was outstanding. Johnson is a complex man who wants only a simple happily-ever-after and can’t seem to get it. Robinson’s Emmy is a delight as she takes charge and leaves no doubt about her feelings for this man. She is also simply gorgeous in her stylish wedding gown.

Allison is a unique young lady, who, at age 15, finding herself alone, has driven her mother’s truck to find her father. She seems to know what she wants in life but she hasn’t quite figured out the difficulties of an underage girl living on her own. Grodsky is a delight to watch bring this character to life.

Agulue is a tall, strong black man, who plays Bluetooth as a calm man, but who has a lot of anger within him. He is also barely hiding a lot of pain at the loss of the woman he loves. The beating he gives to Benjamin doesn’t come from a place of viciousness, but from a place of righteous indignation and the sense that justice must be administered.

This is still a work in progress and the playwright says he still may be rewriting scenes throughout the run of the play.

Romeo and Juliet

Emily Jo Seminoff and Colin Coate portray the star-crossed lovers.
Courtesy photo

“Romeo and Juliet” is Shakespeare’s most popular romance, and his most unnecessary tragedy. It is now moving audiences at the Woodland Opera House, under the direction of Rodger McDonald, who also gives a powerful performance as Friar Lawrence.

It’s a very odd set, designed by John Bowles, consisting of four gray-colored slanted platforms, placed one in front of the other across the entire stage to give different levels to the scenes in a sort of switchback effect (providing great opportunity for lively swordplay). But Denise Miles’ beautiful costumes place the cast right in the 16th century without need for more complicated set pieces.

Colin Coate is Romeo, in the throes of his first real love. He has the swagger and the bravado of a young man, when in the company of his friends, upholding the Montague family honor against the generations-long enemy, the Capulets, and yet is awkward and shy when in the presence of Juliet, who makes his hormones rage, though he does not quite know how to woo her.

As Juliet, Emily Jo Seminoff was demure and dazzling in a flowing virginal white gown. Nearly 14, and on the verge of puberty, she embraces this would-be suitor, swoons at thoughts of him and flirts shamelessly when in his presence. It is a gentle side of Seminoff I have not seen before and she carries it off beautifully. This Juliet is already defiant of her parents. She knows what she wants and she isn’t going to let family stand in her way.

Patricia Glass is superb as Juliet’s nurse and confidante. Hers was one of the strongest performances in the show.

Sara Wieringa is stunning in her role as Lady Capulet, portraying her as a strong woman yet distant as a mother and wife, while her husband (Steve Mackay) is determined that Juliet will wed the somewhat bland Paris (Gabe Avila) and will not hear any argument to the contrary.

Romeo’s cousin, Benvolio, is played by Luke Crabbe. He is a likeable fellow and loyal to his friend. It is Benvolio who helps Romeo hide after he murders Juliet’s cousin Tybalt (Jay Patrick). Patrick seemed an odd choice for this role, as, in his Canadian Mountie red-colored coat and large black mustache, he seemed older than the rest of his friends.

Jason Oler, a familiar face to Sacramento audiences, makes his Woodland debut playing Mercutio. Neither Capulet nor Montague, it is Mercutio who sneaks Romeo into the Capulet masked ball, where he first sets eyes on Juliet. After Tybalt threatens Romeo’s life, Mercutio intends to engage him in a duel, but Romeo intervenes and inadvertently causes Mercutio’s death.

Others in the cast include Gil Sebastian and Jessica Woehler as Lord and Lady Montague and Sara Matsui-Colby as the Princess. Special mention also should be made of Mary and Melissa Dahlberg, whose job it was to be servants and stand around through endless scenes. They did it very well!

There is no program credit given for choreography of the fight scenes, but the swordplay was very well done, and probably would have pleased Errol Flynn himself.

The death scene is very touching … and painful … realizing what family feuds can cost. The arrangement of the stage allows for the entire cast to be on stage when the lovers die, which makes for a lovely tableau.

The Realistic Joneses

Clockwise from left, John Lamb, Dana Friedman,
Dave Pierini and Elisabeth Nunziato
star in B Street Theatre's production of
“The Realistic Joneses.” Courtesy photo

“Variety” described “The Realistic Joneses” by Will Eno — currently running at the B Street Theatre — as “weird and wonderful.” In three little words, it completely describes this weirdly moving and wonderfully funny play that was nominated for both Outer Critics Circle and Drama League awards.

Director Buck Busfield pulled out the big guns from the B Street family to cast Dave Pierini and Elisabeth Nunziato as Bob and Jennifer Jones, with John Lamb and Dana Brooke as their new neighbors John and Pony Jones. These four have performed together for so many years that their chemistry was a given before the lights even came up.

As the play opens, Bob and Jennifer are enjoying the night air in their back yard. There is something “off” in this relationship. Conversation is strained. Jennifer struggles to find a topic of mutual interest and wonders if, after all these years, they have run out of words. Bob seems more distracted and grumpy. Jennifer keeps trying to find subjects that will please him, to no avail.

Into this scene stumble (literally, falling over garbage cans) John and Pony Jones, newly moved into the neighborhood, who have been eavesdropping on their conversation over the fence. They awkwardly intrude themselves into their neighbors’ lives. John is the more outgoing, and Pony is just a little “fey,” seemingly afraid of everything, especially bugs and germs and illness.

When Bob and John disappear into the house, Jennifer, feeling the need to “tell someone,” blurts out details of Bob’s rare degenerative neurological disease, which causes him spasms of pain, periodic vision loss and memory lapses.

(Those who have dealt with loved ones with dementia will find this play increasingly familiar, as Bob’s symptoms worsen.)

The deepening involvement of the two couples evolves over a series of short scenes, in which some further revelations are made, attractions are admitted, and the need for support from “someone” on the part of each of the four characters contributes to what seemed, originally, to be an unlikely friendship.

What drives this play and makes it such a success (it is, according to Busfield, “the most-performed play across the country in the last six months”) is the writing of playwright Eno, who poses questions of mortality, frustration, solitude, love, loss and coping so adroitly that he elevates the most pedestrian of human activities.

He explores the difficulty of communication, between husband and wife or among friends. He shows the difficulty of dealing with someone with a debilitating mental illness and how isolating that can be.
And yet, there are many light moments when you laugh as well as cry at the condition of the four characters as they struggle to find a foothold in normal world.

When John makes a surprising confession, the whole picture changes significantly and the closeness and comfort the two couples share with each other in the closing scene seems a logical progression of their friendship.

By the end of the evening you will wonder how much you really know about your friends and neighbors.

I heard a lot of comments along the line of “I’ll have to think about this one …” leaving the theater, and the play may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s definitely worth giving this quirky show a try. It will definitely get you talking to each other, and perhaps examining the secrets in your own life.

Driving Miss Daisy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Producers

Mike Mechanick as Max Bialystock, left, an the unscrupulous Broadway producer,
and Andy Hyun as Leo Bloom, his accountant and producing partner,
ogle their new secretary/receptionist, Ulla (Jessica Arena). Courtesy photo 

“The Producers,” now playing at Davis Musical Theater Company is a musical adapted by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan from Brooks' 1968 film of the same name, with lyrics written by Brooks and music composed by Brooks and arranged by Glen Kelly and Doug Besterman.

The original Broadway production opened on April 19, 2001, starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, and ran for 2,502 performances, winning a record-breaking 12 Tony Awards. It spawned a successful London production running for just over two years, national tours in the US and UK, many productions worldwide and a 2005 film version.

“The Producers” is a fast-paced laugh from start to finish, with enough material to offend just about everyone, from Jews, to Nazis, to old ladies, to gays, to dumb blondes, to corporate drones and just about anyone in between.  As with most Mel Brooks scripts, it’s all done with such a sense of fun that you’re amazed at the things that make you laugh.  The musical is much lighter than the darker comedy movie on which it is based.

The story centers around Max Bialystock, a formerly successful producer who now can’t get a hit to save his soul and who has become famous for his flops.  Michael Mechanick must have been channeling Nathan Lane in spots in this production.  His performance is very strong and not quite over the top, but just outrageous enough and oh so funny,

Into Max’s office walks mild-mannered accountant Leo Bloom (Andy Hyun), who carries a strip of his baby blanket around in his pocket to soothe himself in times of stress.  Bloom discovers that it’s possible for a producer to make more money with a flop show than with a hit, if they play it right.  Hyun, who played this role in DMTC’s 2010 production,  makes a perfect Bloom, with the wide eyed innocence of a man who can be perfectly molded by the likes of Max Bialystock.

The team of Bialystock and Bloom is born.

They need the worst play in the world, the worst director in the world, a bunch of gullible horny old ladies as backers, and when the show fails, as it is destined to do, Bialystock and Bloom will be off with their millions to sun themselves on the beach in Rio de Janeiro.

The first thing to do is to find the worst show every written and in Franz Leibkind’s “Springtime for Hitler,” they feel they have found a real loser.  Certain to offend everyone.  A visit to Leibkind (Travis Negler) involves the dance “Der Guten Tag Hop Clop,” but eventually the contract is signed.

Negler is a big, not too bright, Nazi leftover, whose passion is his carrier pigeons and whose love for “der Fuhrer” is still very strong.

Next they need to find the worst director on Broadway and Max knows just the person...the very gay Roger De Bris (T. Patrick Van), who appears dressed as the Chrysler Building, on his way to a costume party.  Van is perfectly campy, as is his “associate,” Carmen Ghia (Josh Smith), who can drag out an exit better than most.

Max’s rather unorthodox way of raising funds is to jolly little old ladies into giving him checks. Mary Young plays the aggressive “Hold-me, Touch-me” and is hilarious.  And perhaps my favorite number of the whole show is “Along Came Bialy,” a dance number performed by a host of little old ladies on walkers.  Local senior centers, take note at what may be possible with the assistance of a choreographer as wonderful as Ron Cisneros.

Jessica Arena plays Ulla, the hypersexual Swedish actress wannabe who works as a secretary for Bialystock and Bloom until she can go into rehearsals for the musical. Arena lays it on thick, the term “lay” perhaps the operative word here! She’s very funny.

One always wishes for a bigger budget for DMTC so that the quality of its sets can match the quality of the performances.  Steve Isaacson’s set design is fine and the tech crew and actors move the big set pieces around beautifully integrated into the action of the show, but I always think of how much better it would be with a bigger, splashier set.

Unlike the 2010 production, the DMTC orchestra worked well, easy to be heard from their underground cave yet not overpowering the singers on the stage.  DMTC has finally discovered the perfect marriage of instrumental music to vocal music.

“The Producers” is fun from start to finish.

Take note, after 30+ years of start times at 8:15, DMTC is now starting its shows at 8 p.m.  Don’t be like the critic, who showed up 7 minutes late.