No Parole

You get no parole from your family.

That's the theme of Peruvian writer-performer Carlo D'Amore's riveting one-man show, 'No Parole,' which continues through Nov. 9 at the Sacramento Theatre Company's newly named black box theater, The J. Arliss Pollock Stage.

In a line of several one-person shows that have graced the STC stage over the years, 'No Parole' ranks among the best.

The autobiographical work primarily explores the relationship between D'Amore and his mother, who has - shall we say - a 'loose' relationship with the law. From the time D'Amore was a small child in Peru, his mother was able to steal her way into better and better social positions, with the aid of her large purse that could hold many things, all of which could be sold later on the black market, to finance their way of life.

Her accomplice from a young age was her young son, who served as the lookout and became such an accomplished actor that when the family attempted to immigrate (illegally) to the United States, he so convincingly cried about having set fire to the passport page that held the visa stamp, that the border guards let the family into the country after all.

The roughly 90-minute theater piece (without intermission) traces D'Amore's life from birth to the present, and includes many characters, all of them played by the actor himself.

The most fully formed of these characters is, of course, D'Amore's mother, with whom he has a love/not love relationship. (He can't quite say 'hate.') At the start of the show, his estranged mother is being dumped on D'Amore by his brother, after she has a stroke. He takes her in, and then is stuck trying to find her something meaningful to do.

As they adjust to existence together in a tiny New York walk-up apartment, their lifelong relationship is explored in flashbacks.

D'Amore moves so seamlessly from character to character, that the audience gets fully immersed in each new person he becomes. Particularly moving is his mother, post-stroke: a woman still filled with pride, still working all the angles (legal and illegal), but slowed down by the effects of her infirmity.

The play, directed by Margaret Perry, is both funny and touching. It's also occasionally shocking, given the sorts of scams that D'Amore's mother pulls off.

Since he grew up under her influence and learned to be such an excellent actor - an excellent manipulator of people, and twister of the truth - one wonders if this piece is autobiographical ... or merely semi-autobiographical! But what's actually true, or shaped for the show, isn't important; everything hangs together as fact, and that's all the matters.

Myke Kunkel's scenic and lighting design, and Billy Atwell's sound design, are integral 'characters' in the show. Scene changes often are accompanied by sometimes subtle, sometimes dramatic lighting changes, along with music or television sound cues, all of them spot-on.

'No Parole' is a wonderful first production in the newly named theater. This riches-to-rags immigration story will introduce you to a collection of interesting characters, provide a chance to explore the lives of a family of Peruvian grifters, and make you realize that no matter how eccentric your relatives are, family remains the tie that binds us all together.

Whether or not we like it.

Tasty Tunes

If you've been to the Davis Farmers' Market, attended a local political or charitable fundraiser, visited a nursing home, enjoyed the Woodland County Fair or had dinner at Ludy's Main Street BBQ during the past 30 to 40 years, chances are you're familiar with the Putah Creek Crawdads: our own purveyors of old-time acoustic folk music.

Even if you never realized the group had a name.

'You can't help but smile when you listen to the Putah Creek Crawdads,' said Crilly Butler, a longtime Davis resident. 'Their folksy and traditional tunes are always light and fun, and it's obvious that they love to play. I always enjoy catching the first strains of their music as I approach the Farmers' Market on Saturday morning.

'What a great way to start the day!'

I recently had the delightful experience of sitting in during a band rehearsal, at the home of psychiatrist Cap Thomson. When the group took a break, we sat around and discussed their long history.

It's easier said than done, digging through those dusty memories, to remember when the group began or how and when the name got chosen.

'This isn't a youthful rock band,' laughed Thomson, who plays banjo. The group spans an age range of 48 years, from 38 to 86.

Marc Faye, a farmer from Knights Landing, remembers that the four original members started playing together in the 1960s, when hootenanny music was popular and everybody seemed to play a guitar.

'Somebody asked us to be the opening act for a professional performer,' Faye said, 'and we had to have a name. We don't know when that was, but it was probably 1972.'

'Actually, that was after 1980, when we gave ourselves the name,' corrected attorney Oliver 'Chip' Northup, lead singer and guitarist. 'We were going to play for the Newman Club.'

Someone else insisted that 1972 was the closer date, and that it revolved around a talent show. Someone else was sure it was 1965; another member said no, earlier than 1965.

Hmmm.

As for the name itself, someone remembered that it came from the fact that the Unitarian Church was located on Putah Creek, which contained crawdads. Someone else thought it came from the line in the song: 'You get a line and I'll get a pole, and I'll meet you down at the crawdad hole.'

(Over the years, the name changed with the location: They've been the Cache Creek Crawdads, the Knights Landing Crawdads and a few other Crawdads along the way.)

'You can write anything you want about us, as far as our history is concerned, because none of us older folks is sure,' laughed the group, as a whole.

'We'd be afraid to challenge you!'

All were pretty much in agreement that the original band's distant genesis was a yearly gathering held by members of the Unitarian Church over at Dillon Beach, when everyone would sit around in the evening and sing music.

'I'd pick up a guitar once in awhile at Dillon Beach, and fiddle around with it,' said Ray Coppock, who taught himself to play as a kid, but hadn't touched the instrument in decades. 'My wife finally bought me my own guitar. I've never been a really good guitar player in terms of fingering, but I do the chording.'

Coppock, who has a degree in journalism and worked as a farm reporter for the Sacramento Bee - until he moved to Davis, to work as an information specialist for the university Ag Extension, until his retirement - never considered himself a singer, either.

'I'd never sung until I got with the Crawdads, but it was fun. I'm a baritone, and you don't 'hear' the baritones; but if they're gone, you miss them. I love doing the harmony.

'I stand on Chip's right side, because my good ear is on the left. I'm guided by Chip's melody.'

Nobody was more surprised than Northup's children, when he became a singer.

'It was accepted in my family that I couldn't carry a tune,' he joked.

But he decided to take a guitar class through the Davis Art Center; he learned to strum the guitar and began to sing to his younger children at night.

'It was a terrible ordeal for my older children.'

But he stuck with it.

'The voice was always there, and I always loved to sing, but I needed to develop an ear for music. I eventually learned how to stay on key all through a song.'

Northup credits Coppock for inspiring him.

'Ray is very, very precise, and very careful to work out a harmony that's satisfying for him on each of our songs. It's fun to listen to him while we're singing.'

Coppock also relies on the steady presence of Thomson, singing and playing banjo on his right.

Thomson, former director of Yolo County Mental Health and former director of the Sutter Center for Psychiatry, learned to play ukulele in high school; while in college, he bought a $5 guitar. But it was an impulse purchase in 1948 that set the stage for the Crawdads.

'I was in Oakland, at a pawn shop,' Thomson said, 'and I saw this old banjo hanging on the wall, kind of broken down. They wanted $8.50 for it, and I couldn't talk them down in price, but I bought it anyway.

'I'm still playing that old banjo.'

Thomson wasn't the only one to get a bargain on the instrument that would serve him for decades. Bass player Marc Faye - who was born in Knights Landing, but grew up on Kauai - learned to play the ukulele at 15, and he made music on that instrument through high school. In college, someone suggested he graduate to guitar.

'I went to pawn shops in San Francisco,' Faye recalled, 'and found a Martin 0018 for $35. I played guitar until the '60s, when everyone else was playing guitars.'

A jazz-playing friend suggested that Faye try accompanying his group on bass. The friend owned three basses, and Faye borrowed one and began working with other groups, as well.

'I had so much fun doing it, I wouldn't give the bass back to him ... so the rascal charged me $150 to buy it. Any group was glad to have a bass, and I was the only bass in town.

'It was the best $150 I ever spent.'

Faye still plays that instrument today.

The Putah Creek Crawdads became more organized several years ago, when Wayne Ginsburg, a retired English and journalism teacher, joined the group.

'I met the group through Rotary, and through politics,' Ginsburg explained. 'I taught at least one of Marc's sons, and I kept running into Marc and Cap at various meetings. Chip was a member of the school board about the time I arrived, but I never met Ray until a Rotary function, when the group was playing and invited me to sit in.

'A month later, Marc invited me to be at another function.'

Ginsburg started playing violin in fourth grade in Fresno, and continued through seventh grade. But as he reached high school, violin was 'no longer cool'; he taught himself to play guitar and took some lessons. But he abandoned music about halfway through college.

'When my son was ready for me to force him to take Suzuki violin, I got out a couple of inherited violins and participated with him for a year or two.

'When he forced me to give that up, I didn't do much of anything again until about two years before I retired.'

Scared of having nothing to do in retirement, Ginsburg did something he'd always wanted to do: He bought a mandolin and started taking lessons. Two years later, he joined the Crawdads and took over arranging the group's gigs. Booking had been fairly haphazard up to that time, but with Ginsburg's many years in social organization, he knew how best to market the group.

About six months before Ginsburg joined, Kate Laddish also became a member of the Crawdads.

'Someone erroneously told these young fellows that I played fiddle,' said the 30-something geologist and educator.

'I didn't.

'I was mostly playing guitar at that point. I hadn't taken a violin lesson since eighth grade, but they invited me to a rehearsal. I arrived with my guitar, which I thought was the instrument I was actually playing, and I said 'I don't actually play fiddle.' I think it was Marc who said 'But you have one, right?' It was my violin.

'I had wished that I played fiddle ... and it turned out that I did. Sort of.'

'Kate has a sensitivity about the way a song should be presented and performed,' Faye said. 'We used to just hack away at it, but we've become more 'performers' now. We're working on getting the hang of this thing.'

'I was totally flattered by what Marc said. It was so much nicer than 'Kate's so bossy, she won't shut up,' ' laughed Laddish, who cannot remember a time when music wasn't a big part of her life.

'Music was always playing in our house, and some of my earliest memories involve music.'

She started taking violin lessons in second grade, in the Berkeley public school system.

'That was the instrument I chose, because a friend played violin. The second song I ever learned how to play was the main theme to 'Star Wars.'

'I think one strength I do have is being able to essentially step outside, and observe what we're playing, and how we sound as we're doing it: to be a participant and an observer, to hear when something really works, and be able to say, 'Oh, that was great; we need to remember to do that.'

'Or say, 'I know this is the way we've always done this, but we always seem to trip up on it.'

'That's one thing I bring to the group.'

Watching the Crawdads perform at Ludy's, it's easy to envision a group-think taking place, as Coppock leans into Northup on the harmonies, and Laddish conducts with her bow, her foot or a certain look in her eye. These musicians have a nonverbal communication that works well for them.

And even after all these years, they continue to work on improving each show.

'I won't say Ludy's inspires us to greatness, because that implies greatness is attainable,' Laddish laughed. 'But I think something gels whenever we play at Ludy's. We sound better.

'Although it could be the beer.'

Enterprise beer columnist Michael Lewis recently told Thomson, 'You're always fun, and the marvelous thing is that you haven't improved a bit.'

'It sounds like a mean comment,' Lewis said, when I requested clarification, 'but I guess I meant they've remained delightfully the same over the many years that I've enjoyed their music.'

'The Putah Creek Crawdads have been an integral part of innumerable special events all over Yolo County for years,' said longtime Davis public events fixture Bob Bowen. 'Their music always brings a smile to my face.'

The group performs some 40 to 50 times a year, often in retirement homes or Alzheimer's facilities.

'Our residents absolutely love the Crawdads,' said Karen Wright, activities director at St. John's Retirement Village, in Woodland. 'We usually have them for our monthly social hour. They're great.'

Joan Callaway and Nancy Keltner, co-founders of All Things Right & Relevant, have had many dealings with the Crawdads through the years.

'I don't know how many times I've called them for one cause or another, and they've always been willing to perform,' Callaway said.

'It's sure a two-way street,' Keltner said. 'The joy they give, and the joy they get. You can just see it: They have so much fun doing it.'

The Crawdads never have made money performing all these years.

'We've never taken any money at all,' Ginsburg said. 'One time just after I joined, I think, the budget account go so big, about $1,500, so we found a particular charity group that was important to somebody. But none of us has taken any personal money out of it.'

Northup reminded him that they once took some of the funds and took their wives out to dinner; another time they bought an amplification system. ('And matching shirts!' Laddish chipped in.)

A recording is in the works now: This project began a few years ago, and the editing is taking longer than anticipated. But the resulting CD will be available. Eventually.

The Putah Creek Crawdads are one of those little gems that make living in Davis so special. They've been making us smile for decades ... and with the love these guys have for what they do, I'm sure they'll continue to entertain for many years to come.

Lee Riggs, of the musical group Riggity Jig, sums it up perfectly: 'It's always a fun time when the Crawdads play. They make the kind of music that makes you smile.

'And that's the point, isn't it?'

Treasure Island

Shiver me timbers! Thar be a new show in town, and it be a treasure chest full of fun.

Arrrrrr!

The Sacramento Theatre Company production of Ken Ludwig's 'Treasure Island,' directed by Peggy Shannon, is one rollicking bit of action after another. The opening night audience - consisting of a large number of children, some dressed as pirates - just loved it, although this isn't a 'children's show' per se.

Based on Robert Louis Stevenson's book of the same name, 'Treasure Island' tells of young Jim Hawkins, who matches wits with Long John Silver and his mob of pirates, to obtain the legendary Captain Flint's secret treasure. The production is filled with heart-pounding sword fights, edge-of-your-seat rescues and adventures certain to please patrons young and old.

The play's setting is created from the moment one enters the theater, with a huge ship set on stage, and its creaking sounds heard throughout. Arthur Rotch gets credit for his set design, while John Gromada adds to the atmosphere with his sound design and incidental music throughout the show.

While the production boasts many outstanding performances, the most remarkable is that given by young Will Block, in the role of Jim Hawkins. (He alternates with Anna Miles.) Block's stage presence shows a maturity beyond his years, and a level of expertise not entirely commensurate with the limited performance background in his bio.

This is a young man with oodles of talent, who handles very large amounts of dialogue, and with a convincing accent to boot.

The very nature of a show about pirates gives the actors, some of Sacramento's finest, the chance to do a lot of scenery-chewing; this is particularly true of Michael RJ Campbell in the role of Billy Bones, who escaped execution and has stolen the treasure map. Billy arrives at the lodge owned by Hawkins and his mother (Lynn Baker), and forces the other customers to drink with him, sing with him and raise a glass of rum to keep him entertained.

Also chewing the scenery in exemplary fashion are the ruthless Black Dog (Matt K. Miller) and the feared Blind Pew (Brett David Williams), who has sworn to kill Billy.

Many actors assume dual roles. Miller returns as the very prim and properly bewigged Captain Smollet, who pilots the ship, the Hispanola, which will take Jim - bearing the map given to him by Billy Bones, on his death - on a search for the treasure.

Patrick Murphy plays Squire Trelawney, a local nobleman who arranges for the voyage and finds the ship. Barry Hubbard is Dr. Livesey, a father figure to Jim, and with whom the map is entrusted.

Jonathan Rys Williams also plays two roles. He starts as Jim's father, who dies early in the play, and with whom the young lad shares a love of Shakespeare. Williams later returns as the deranged castaway Ben Gunn, a former pirate left marooned on Treasure Island, who is overjoyed to find other people on the island ... and whose only request is for a bit of cheese.

Michael Stevenson turns in an excellent performance as the peg-legged Long John Silver, who befriends Jim and is kind to the boy. Although Silver signs on to the Hispanola as its cook, he does so under false pretenses; he's also a pirate who is out to get the treasure for himself.

Christopher Duval gets high marks for his fight choreography. The show features many opportunities for swordplay among the pirates, and all are carried out beautifully.

'Treasure Island' is fun for all ages. Younger children may have difficulty with the language, which is true to Stevenson's original prose, but they'll love the action.

Particularly the excitement of the first-act conclusion.

Damn Yankees

Rodger McDonald has a fiendishly good time in the Woodland Opera House production of 'Damn Yankees.'

McDonald plays Mr. Applegate, otherwise known as the Devil, who manipulates the action in this sparkling musical, directed by Bobby Granger.

Mr. Applegate is called to Earth by long-time Washington Senators fanatic Joe Boyd (Steven Read), who says he'd sell his soul to see his beloved baseball team win the pennant just once. Enter Mr. Applegate - a great entrance, by the way - who promises not only to give the Senators a winning season, but to allow Boyd to be the man who makes it all happen.

Joe suddenly is transformed into youthful heavy-hitter Joe Hardy (Tim Stewart).

McDonald does such a wonderful job in this role that one wants to check under all that hair, to see if maybe he's hiding a couple of little horns. His satanic persona is assisted by Laurie Everly Klassen's black-and-red costume design, and Jeff Kean's delicious lighting effects.

'Damn Yankees' has a number of familiar songs, such as 'Heart' and 'Whatever Lola Wants,' but opens with the misogynistic 'Six Months Out of Every Year.' This song implies that women have no interest in baseball, but simply sit around the kitchen in aprons, complaining, waiting for their husbands to emerge from baseball season and take notice of them again.

I know many women who would take offense at that portrayal.

But remember that this show - with book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop, and music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross - was written in the 1950s, and so we can take it as a quaint historical perspective.

Read, emerging only recently after a 30-year absence from the stage, gives a credible performance as Joe Boyd. He's a little shaky in his portion of the lovely song, 'Goodbye Old Girl,' but delivers a moving and tender reprise during his reunion with his wife, Meg (Kathi Davi), at the play's conclusion.

Tim Stewart steps out of the shadows to become the transformed Joe Hardy. Stewart is sensational, with a voice that fills the Opera House and an eagerness that makes his Joe a fresh-faced, likable ball player. Yet he's also able to pull off the underlying sadness of the man who lives inside him, who still misses the relationship he had with his 'old girl.'

Laura Lothian is mesmerizing as Lola, whom Applegate calls from Hades to seduce his young protégé, after Joe starts to waver in his commitment to sell his soul for a winning season. The lithe and winsome Lothian looks great in all those slinky outfits, and she manages to be both evil and sympathetic.

Brian McCann, also listed as the show's vocal director, is outstanding as Van Buren, the team manager. Although familiar to Davis Musical Theatre Company patrons, McCann is making his debut appearance at the Woodland Opera House; he's a great addition to the company.

Jori Gonzales also is making her WOH debut as Gloria Thorpe, a sports reporter who suspects there's something not quite right about Joe Hardy, and is determined to uncover the truth about the Senators' newest star player.

Kathi Ichtertz is quite good in the small role of Miss Weston.

Other standouts in this uniformly strong cast include Jessica Larrick as 'Sister' and Kathleen Flint as 'Doris,' two women who go ga-ga over Joe Hardy; and baseball players Erik Catalan (Henry), Tyler Russell Warren (Sohovik), Dan Masden (Smoky), Andrew Leathers (Vernon) and Justin Kelly (Bouley).

Gino Platina's choreography is first-rate. The ball players, in particular, display a range of athletic abilities that draw applause from the audience.

The show is set in several different locations, and the confines of the Opera House stage do not lend themselves to the kind of spectacular effects one usually expects from Kean's set design. The ball park, the locker room and the manager's office are quite good; the Boyds' home and the wall outside the ball park are disappointing, but they still work well.

'Damn Yankees' is an outstanding show, with lots of good, wholesome fun. And the original script has been given some interesting enhancements that bring the story up to date in an entertaining manner.

The Drowsy Chaperone

A touring production of 'The Drowsy Chaperone,' a completely original musical comedy that became the most celebrated musical of the 2006 Broadway season, opened last week at the Sacramento Community Theater.

The show is directed and choreographed by Tony Award nominee Casey Nicholaw ('Spamalot'), with music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison, and Bob Martin and Don McKellar; all four won Tony Awards.

While not destined to achieve 'old chestnut' status, the show is a delight, revisiting a time before musicals had to have a hard-hitting message ... or be a stage version of a beloved Disney animated film. 'The Drowsy Chaperone' has no deep message, no memorable songs, no cute animals running around on stage.

It's just good, clean fun, with a lot of laughs, a lot of groans - as the lines are delivered - and a lot of madcap mayhem.

The central character, known only as 'Man in Chair' (Jonathan Crombie, who played the role on Broadway), is a music lover who misses the days of old-style musicals. He speaks to the audience throughout the show, as he pulls out one of his old records (remember records?) and plays the original cast recording of his favorite show, 'The Drowsy Chaperone,' which his mother introduced him to.

As the record plays, the show comes to life on stage; Man in Chair narrates throughout, giving the show's history, discussing the actors playing the roles, and commenting on the various musical numbers.

It's kind of like Stephen Peithman's KXPR show, 'Musical Stages' ... but on speed.

As for the show within the show, nothing could be sillier or more formulaic.

Therein lies the fun.

The opening number, 'Fancy Dress,' introduces the show's many characters and lets the audience know right away that this is a plot with tongue set firmly in cheek. A big, fancy wedding has been planned, you see, and all these characters have assembled to make it happen.

The bride is a young actress, Janet Van De Graaff (Andrea Chamberlain), who plans to leave the stage to marry the dashing Robert Martin (Mark Ledbetter). Her producer, Feldzieg (Cliff Bemis), plans to sabotage the wedding, with the help of two gangsters disguised as pastry chefs (the delightful Paul Riopelle and Peter Riopelle).

The gangsters represent some unseen big boss who'll do serious damage to the producer if Janet leaves her show.

Alicia Irving has the role of The Drowsy Chaperone, the bride's elegantly attired friend and confidante, who is tasked with preventing the bride and groom from seeing each other on their wedding day. She states at the outset that champagne makes her drowsy, and then proceeds to down a bottle of it - with a martini chaser - and hence becomes 'the drowsy chaperone.'

The wedding is hosted by Mrs. Tottendale (Georgia Engel, well remembered from TV's 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' and 'Everybody Loves Raymond'). Engel originated this role on Broadway, and is every bit as charmingly and endearingly dingy as we remember from her TV roles.

Mrs. Tottendale's Underling is played by Nobel Shropshire (which sounds more like a character from the play!). Mrs. Tottendale and her Underling have a very funny slapstick scene, which requires Man in Chair to take mop in hand to clean up afterwards.

Another key player is the Latin Lover Aldolpho (Dale Hensley), the self-proclaimed 'King of Romance' who is hired by the producer to seduce the bride, and thus thwart the marriage.

Additional characters include George (Richard Vida), Robert's best man who, along with Robert, does a mean tap dance; Kitty (Linda Griffin), Feldzieg's ditsy aspiring-actress girlfriend; and Trix (Natasha Yvette Williams), an aviatrix who flies in at an opportune moment.

David Gallo's set is ingenious, and it must be pandemonium backstage, given all that takes place in front of the audience.

In the end, everyone lives happily ever after and a wedding does take place, because this is an old-fashioned musical comedy and that's the way those things end. There are, however, a few twists and turns along the way, along with a memorable special effect at the conclusion.

'The Drowsy Chaperone' has received much praise and a lot of criticism, but it would be difficult to imagine anyone not entertained by this delightful pastiche.

Be sure to visit the restroom beforehand, though, because the show runs 100 minutes with no intermission.

Forever Plaid

There was an exciting happening on 10th and K Streets on Sunday night. California Musical Theater opened its sparkling new Cosmopolitan Cabaret with the musical production of “Forever Plaid,” and ushered in a new kind of entertainment that could go a long way to revitalizing the downtown area.

The beautifully redesigned building (once a Woolworth) is nothing but inviting. For one thing, parking is plentiful, with a big parking lot right next door. The space is shared by the “Cosmo Café,” a new Paragary restaurant, at which patrons can book a table for a couple of hours before the performance (the price of the dinner is not included in the price of the performance). Next month a nightclub is expected to open upstairs, rounding out the patrons’ evening’s entertainment, for those who wish to extend their partying beyond the two hour cabaret performance.

The decor is clean and open with a large bar at which you can purchase drinks to take into the cabaret (there are stands for menus on the tables inside and a press release stated that there would be “pre-performance cocktail service in the theater,” but no menus were displayed and there did not seem to be any hint of waitpersons around on opening night).

Inside the cabaret itself one has the choice of sitting at small tables for four, or in tiered seating, with chairs in front of a beverage rail. The dark walls and soft lighting made for a very lush feeling. One of the persons seated at our table exclaimed that she was a fan of old movies where cabaret scenes like this were popular and that she had long hoped for a venue such as this in Sacramento. She was very excited to see the project finally come to fruition.

The opening production for the Cosmopolitan Cabaret is the delightful “Forever Plaid,” which will have an open-ended run. It’s the perfect sort of production for this type of venue and if it can find its audience, the run could be a long one, especially given that ticket prices are more affordable than some other theaters in the area.

The 1990 off-Broadway musical comedy, written by Stuart Ross, is a salute to the boy bands of the 1950s–The Four Lads, The Four Freshmen, The Four Aces, etc. The Plaids are a fictitious band who never made it to the big time, and who were killed in a terrible auto accident, colliding with a busload of Catholic schoolgirls on their way to the Ed Sullivan Show to see the United States debut of The Beatles.

The group has been dead for 44 years and now through some cosmic twist of fate or hole in the ozone or some reason nobody quite understands, they have returned to earth to do that one big concert. Their entrance into the theater, reminiscent of the local popular group, The Edlos, is perfect.

The cast for this 2 hour (no intermission) show are all veterans of other productions of “Forever Plaid.” Chris Crouch is Sparky, the baritone; J.D. Daw is Jinx, the high tenor (with a penchant for nosebleeds); Sean Hopkins is Smudge, the bass; and Justin Packard is Frankie, the lead tenor. The show is directed and choreographed by Guy Stroman, Frankie in the original New York cast.

Though none of these guys is old enough to know the music they are singing, they are spot on. The close harmony singing is perfect, the choreography executed with military precision. This is the music that I grew up listening to and as they rattled off song after song I was transported back in time – “Three Coins in a Fountain,” “Love is a Many Splendoured Thing,” and “Moments to Remember,” which everyone danced to at their prom.

In between are some hokey comedy bits, some touching sentimental bits about each guy’s past life (a section on a reverence for records was particularly good), and a bit of audience participation.

A highlight was a tribute to the old Ed Sullivan show, which managed to cram everything you ever remember about Ed Sullivan into one brief segment, all performed to an accordion rendition of “Lady of Spain.”

Sets, props and costumes are from Pittsburgh Clo, with lighting by Steve Odehnal, and combined to give an almost magical touch of “plaid” on the stage at just the right moments.

The show was wildly popular with the audience and should do well for a long time if it can find its people. I don’t know how much it will appeal to a younger audience, raised on rock & roll, who never saw Ed Sullivan or Perry Como (who also gets a loving tribute in this show), but it would be hard to not to like the easy listening harmonies or to not to be taken in by the engaging quartet singing their hearts out for the one big shot they never got in life.

First Person Shooter

People's actions have consequences, even if the consequences are far removed from the original intent of the behavior.

Or can we really make that assumption?

Capital Stage kicks off its fourth season with the Sacramento premiere of Aaron Loeb's highly praised new play, 'First Person Shooter,' helmed by Bay Area director Molly Aaronson-Gelb.

The play asks a relevant contemporary question: 'In a world where violence has become a game, who is responsible when the violence becomes all too real?' Loeb's drama received its world premiere in 2007 at the San Francisco Playhouse, and was named one of the season's top 10 plays by both the San Francisco Chronicle and the Oakland Tribune; in April, the Bay Area Critics Circle named 'First Person Shooter' the best original script of the 2007-08 theater season.

The Capital Stage production stars Kerry Davis (Sam Misner), Tommy Damotta (Cole Alexander Smith) and Wilson Fong (Ed Lee) as Wunderkinder who've turned game-playing into a profitable business; they now run JetPack Games, a start-up video game company, where the hottest, most violent game on the market has brought instant success to the young tech geniuses.

Kerry is a loner, socially inept but a brilliant computer programmer, whose life revolves around the world he has created on his screen. As Loeb's play begins, Kerry is consumed with making the shootings in his game look ever more real:

'The objects now respond to force vectors with absolute physical accuracy,' he notes. 'It makes the death animations so much more life-like. Actually ... and this is the part that rules ... they aren't even animations ... the game is able to physically model where the body should fly, how all the limbs should flop around, all in real time.'

Real life intrudes on Kerry's fantasy world when two boys stage a Columbine-style attack on a school, gunning down a number of their classmates and then themselves. They leave behind a taped message thanking JetPack for its video game, and explaining that they rehearsed their massacre for months on the game's custom map, before carrying it out.

An ambulance-chasing lawyer (Lee, in a dual role) gathers the parents of the slain students, and files a lawsuit against JetPack for its role in the tragedy. All sides of the issue subsequently collide.

Strong performances control this powerful play. Misner's Kerry is a Bill Gates-like computer geek: a likable fellow dealing with his own personal tragedy, who is forced to confront a situation in which he may unwittingly have played a personal role.

Adrian Roberts gives a powerful, moving performance as Daniel Jamison, one of the slain boys' grieving father, who finds himself manipulated by the system. Both Kerry and Jamison come to see each other as the enemy, and Roberts' final scene with Misner is heartbreaking.

Karyn Casl gives a sensitive performance as Jamison's wife, the boy's stepmother.

Smith is a live wire, playing dual roles as the masked shooter and also Tommy, JetPack's mercurial public relations manager. Smith's energy builds throughout the play, and fuels an outstanding performance.

Megan Pearl Smith is reminiscent of Joan Cusack as Tamar, JetPack's wisecracking managing director.

The action takes place in several venues; set designer Jonathan Williams handles this nicely on the small stage, by using an abstract back and side wall that consist of various sizes of blocks, on which projections and flashing 'loading' messages indicate the passage of time.

Loeb takes no obvious stance on either side of the debate, but leaves audience members to examine their own feelings on what, if any, responsibility belongs to gamers, in the wake of such tragic situations.

'First Person Shooter' is a hard-hitting drama, and is certain to promote discussion among audience members long after they leave the theater.

Fiddler on the Roof

One of the first things noticed about the Davis Musical Theatre Company's production of 'Fiddler on the Roof,' directed by Steve Isaacson, is the quality of the chorus.

From the opening 'Tradition,' through the 'Sabbath Prayer' and to the closing 'Epilogue,' the chorus gives full voice to the music of Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick. Thanks also to the choreography by Jan Isaacson - who also plays Golde in this production - the chorus members give a good musical depth to this perennial favorite, with its book based on the stories of Sholom Aleichem.

One sometimes thinks of 'musicals' as light, frothy pieces that lift the spirit and set the toes to tapping, but 'Fiddler' is no such musical.

True, light moments can be found in this story of the milkman, Tevye (Jeff Nauer), his wife and five daughters, and the townspeople of Anatevka, a small village in Russia.

But the play is dominated by shocking moments, tremendously sad sections and an ending that gives only a faint glimmer of hope, and is more a downer than anything else.


But between the opening and closing numbers, patrons will enjoy some very good things and a lot of familiar music. This 'Fiddler' is one of those 'spotty' productions - with some performers shining, and others not so much - but there's still much to like.

Nauer reprises the role he played at the Woodland Opera House a year ago. He has a strong voice and is a good actor, but his Tevye is more a combination of a downtrodden Jewish milkman and Santa Claus. Try as he might, whatever he does, Nauer can't get rid of that twinkle in his eye.

That said, he has wonderful moments, particularly during the scenes with his daughters, when this man of strong traditional values must confront a changing world and realize that his children have very different views on life and love ... and can he accept them?

His duet with Isaacson's Golde - when the couple discovers, after 25 years, that they've grown to love each other - is quite touching.

The three daughters are simply marvelous: both individually and together, during their trio in 'Matchmaker, Matchmaker.'

Amanda Yount is Tzeitel, the eldest, who pleads with Tevye not to betroth her to Lzar Wolf, the butcher (Jon Mounts), because of her love for her childhood friend, Motel (Brennan Ballard).

Hodel (Josephine Longo), the intellectual middle daughter, decides to marry the student Perchik (Giorgio Selvaggio), and she shocks her father by asking for his blessing, instead of his permission.

Selvaggio is one of those performers who suddenly displays a huge voice that we don't quite expect; he's a delightful surprise.

Shannon Kendall is radiant as Chava, Tevye's favorite daughter, who breaks her father's heart when she falls in love with Fyedka (Trevor Hoffmann), a Russian and therefore Tevye's sworn enemy.

Dannette Vassar, here playing Yente the Matchmaker, is a continuing pleasure. Having watched Vassar progress from bit parts to lead roles has been a delight; she's wonderful as Yente, who needs to know everybody's business ... and, ideally, shape everyone's life.

Julie Kulmann, usually a stalwart of the chorus, finds her niche as Grandma Tzeitel, in Tevye's nightmare. She's absolutely perfect for the character.

Her husband, Rich Kulmann, has made a career of playing rabbis. In this production, his rabbi is older than when last I saw him do such a role ... but, then, Kulmann also is older! His blessings for things such as sewing machines - and the tzar - are priceless.

Lindsay Carpenter, George Morales, Herb K. Schultz and Marc Valdez play the bottle dancers who entertain at the wedding of Tzeitel and Motel. They managed to keep the bottles upright on their hats during the performance I saw last weekend, although one bottle stood at a rakish angle throughout the dance, only by some miracle didn't fall.

Carpenter also plays the title character, who follows Tevye throughout the play.

Chris Petersen is quite earnest as Mendel, the rabbi's son, and also is listed as the orchestra's drummer. Things must be interesting in the orchestra pit and backstage, when he darts to and fro.

Jean Henderson once again created authentic-looking costumes, although I wouldn't have pressed the outfits so well. We somehow don't expect Tevye to arrive on stage, pulling a milk wagon, with a perfect crease pressed in his flawlessly smooth pants.

Steve Isaacson is credited for scenic design, and has done as much as he could with the spare bits of scenery. But I'd definitely lose the gobo projection that is intended to represent buildings in a village, but instead looks only weird.

Hairspray

Move over, Hannah Montana, there’s a new girl in town and her name is Tracy Turnblad.

An irrepressible Joline Mujica bursts onto the Music Circus stage as Tracy in the season’s rousing closer, “Hairspray” (a Music Circus debut for this show) and she worms her way into everyone’s heart. She’s a girl with a big dream who isn’t going to let the fact that she can’t fit into a size 2 rain on her parade. She believes in the goodness of people, the equality of everyone, and in taking a stand for what you know is right.

The phenomenon of “Hairspray” began as a non-musical movie, written and directed by John Waters, in 1988. It gave Ricki Lake her first big role and featured Divine in the cross-dressing role of Tracy’s mother, Edna Turnblad. Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan adapted the movie for the stage, with music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Wittman. It opened on Broadway in August of 2002 and won eight Tony awards (out of 13 nominations), including an award for Best Musical. More recently it’s been turned back into a movie – a musical this time – starring John Travolta as Edna.

The setting is Baltimore of the 1960s. Tracy is an avid fan of the afternoon “Corny Collins Show,” (modeled after American Bandstand, and featuring John Scherer as the Fred Willard-esque Corny Collins). Her dream is to win a regular spot on the show in still-segregated Baltimore.

When she does and then discovers that her friends won’t be permitted to dance with her, because they are African-American, she becomes determined to get the station to let the white kids and the black kids dance together. Her controversial statement on national television, that “every day should be Negro Day”causes an uproar. Tracy is color blind when it comes to dancing partners and learned her best moves from Seaweed J. Stubbs (Wilkie Ferguson) and his pals, with whom she has spent many hours in detention.

Paul Vogt, who took over the role of Edna Turnblad in Las Vegas from Harvey Fierstein (who originated the role on Broadway) has also played the role in Boston and on Broadway. Edna is a laundress who once had dreams of fame and fortune, but as her weight has soared, her self esteem has dipped so low she “hasn’t left the house since Mamie Eisenhower rolled her hose and bobbed her bangs.” The loves of her life are her daughter Tracy and her husband, Wilbur (Dick Decareau), a novelty store owner. Edna is afraid her little girl is going to be hurt by trying to follow her dreams in a world where thin is in.

Vogt is a veteran comedian who has played a lot of roles in drag (e.g. another Edna, Edna Garrett from “The Facts of Life” on NBC’s “The Rerun Show”) and his comedic talents are never better displayed than when he is cavorting with veteran Decareau in the show stopping “Timeless to Me” (the two have an easy, appealing rapport that earns them the show’s built-in encore).

Tracy becomes the bane of existence for “Corny Collins Show” producer Velma Von Tussle (Joanna Glushak), whose life revolves around her daughter Amber (Heather Nichole White). Von Tussle is determined that her daughter will win the title of “Miss Hairspray” and she will do whatever necessary to make that happen. Glushak and White are the villains you love to hate and they succeed in their goals.

Tracy’s best friend, Penny Pingleton is played by Haley Podshun. It’s a small, supporting role, but Schwartz is delightful as the fun-loving, if not overly bright best friend whose most endearing characteristics are her love and loyalty. She begins to come into her own when the sight of Seaweed Stubbs sets her heart going pitter patter.

Her mother, Prudy (Stacey Scotte) is appalled when she discovers that there was “a Negro in the house,” because now she will never be able to sell the place. Scotte does a nice job playing the uptight Prudy, which makes her transformation, later in the show, as she begins to appreciate Seaweed’s physical attributes, very funny.

Seaweed’s mother, the rhyming couplet spouting Motormouth Maybelle is given a dazzling performance by Inga Ballard, whom Music Circus regulars may remember from some of her other show-stopping performances in shows such as “Smokey Joe’s Café,” “Ragtime,” and “Show Boat.” She brings down the house with her “I Know Where I’ve Been.”

Ron Wisniski plays several small roles, from the “Corny Collins Show” sponsor, hairspray magnet Harriman F. Spritzer to the principal of Tracy’s school and does them all well.

“Hairspray” owes a lot of its popularity to the grossly exaggerated look of the 60s hairstyles, those impossibly high beehives and the Jackie Kennedy bob. Jason Hayes gets well deserved kudos for his hair and wig design. A bow was (I assumed inadvertently) left off of Tracy’s wig on opening night, which made the look rather bizarre and it was amazing what a difference it made just adding that little element in the next scene.

This show promises high energy, delightful performances, and energetic choreography by Bob Richard and delivers on all counts.

“Hairspray” takes the audience back to a more carefree time and when the cast sings the finale “You Can’t Stop the Beat,” Tracy has won the hearts not only of Baltimore, but all of Sacramento as well.

Tom Sawyer

Few stories could be more perfect for a good, old-fashioned family musical than Mark Twain's 'Tom Sawyer.'

Ken Ludwig thought so, when he conceived the idea and adapted the novel. Don Schlitz thought so, when he wrote the music and lyrics.

And Amy Vyvlecka thought so, when she agreed to direct the show to debut this year's Woodland Opera House Theater for Families season. The energetic production delights on many levels, despite some shortcomings in the Ludwig/Schlitz book.

While all the familiar stories are present - the whitewashed fence, the friendship with Becky Thatcher, the specter of Injun Joe, Huck and Tom attending their own funeral, and so forth - they all feel more like sorta connected vignettes than a single, smoothly flowing storyline.

The music is enjoyable but forgettable.

Although Twain never gives his Tom a specific age, the character is this play is a bit older than one's traditional mental image of the lad; this choice was made by Ludwig and Schlitz, so they could add a budding romantic relationship - and a love song, 'To Hear You Say My Name' - between Tom (Casey Camacho) and Becky Thatcher (Kara Sheldon).

The play's central relationship therefore is between Tom and Becky, rather than Tom and his best friend Huckleberry Finn, which changes the feel of the original story.

All that said, Vyvlecka's production is charming, largely due to a cast of good - and some outstanding - actors.

Asking a 14-year-old to carry a show is a tall order, but Camacho, a Woodland High School ninth-grader, is up to the task. He has it all: He sings and moves well, and has great energy and charisma on stage; you just want to smile while watching him. He bursts onto the stage during the opening number, 'Hey, Tom Sawyer'; with very few exceptions, he's in almost every subsequent scene.

Huck is played by UC Davis student Elio Gutierrez, but the age difference between the two actors isn't apparent. Gutierrez is an equally strong presence: He has his own moment in the sun with 'I Can Read!,' which he sings with the Widow Douglas (Katie Ichtertz), who has taken the homeless boy under her wing and given him a sense of family for the first time.

The song is a genuine highlight, and will leave you thinking of 'The Rain in Spain,' from 'My Fair Lady.'

Nancy Agee is a lovely Aunt Polly, often exasperated with the mischievous Tom but able to show her affection for him in 'Angels Lost.' She sings this duet with Judge Thatcher (Wayne Raymond) after Tom and Becky get lost on a school outing through nearby caves, and are presumed dead.

Alex Stapp is nicely smug as Tom's annoyingly perfect younger half-brother, Sidney. Kirk Parrott is tall and menacing as Injun Joe, while Chris Taloff turns in a good performance as attorney Lanyard Bellamy. Eric Alley is lovable as the perpetually inebriated Muff Potter.

Vyvlecka's simple set design works wonderfully. By flying in a roof, she can indicate a church or a school. When assisted by Jeff Kean's inventive lighting design, she creates a wonderful graveyard whose boundaries extend beyond the edges of the stage. It's one of the most impressive (yet simplest) scenes in the play.

Dim lighting and a suggestion of stalactites hanging from the top of the stage beautifully convey the interior of a cave, without having to go overboard on set pieces.

Vyvlecka and Tyler Warren share credit for choreography; the moves are simple and occasionally repetitious, but they allow untrained dancers to look comfortable and experienced, thereby adding to the energy on stage.

The small, five-piece pit orchestra works well for accompaniment.

'Tom Sawyer' is far from being the newest 'great American musical,' but this Woodland Opera House production is a lot of fun. It's certain to delight young and old alike.

Evita

“Evita,” this week’s Music Circus production, is the third and final collaboration between British musical theater legends Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice and was the Tony Award winner for best musical in 1980. This show, which is more than a musical and less than an opera tells the story of the rise of Maria Eva Duarte, the child of an unwed mother in the rural areas of Argentina to a show business career in Buenos Aires, to her ultimate position as Eva Peron, wife of President Juan Peron, and first lady of Argentina.

The Music Circus production is under the direction of Glenn Casale and features Julie Murney in the title role. Murney turns in a lovely performances and there are moments which really shine, first of which being her arrival in Buenos Aires, an (almost) innocent young girl with the whole world ahead of her and just so excited to be in the big city.

The second, of course, is the show’s signature song, “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” (which bears an uncanny resemblance to the Bach/Gounod “Ave Maria”), on the occasion of Juan Peron’s (Scott Blanks) assuming the presidency. Murney runs the gamut of emotions for the adoring fans outside the Casa Rosada, the Presidential Palace. At first she seems shy, overwhelmed by the crowds, then warms to them, then becomes strident in her justification for her lifestyle and underscoring her love for and belief in her husband, and finally, again shy and overwhelmed. It’s a first class delivery.

Scott Blanks, who has played Juan Peron in two different touring companies of “Evita” has a smoldering chemistry with Murney in the scene in which Peron and Eva first meet, leaving no question about how good she would really be for him. Thought he sometimes thinks it’s not worth all the effort, he allows himself to be molded by his wife until he successfully wins the support of the working class, the “descamisados,” and with it, the presidency.

Eric Kunze returns to reprise the role of Che, which he played at Music Circus eight years ago. While Che is described only as “a revolutionary,” it is clear that he is modeled on Che Guevara (whose path never crossed Eva Peron’s in real life). The character makes an effective narrator of the story and Kunze is a powerful presence, pointing out the duplicity of Eva’s character, and mocking the Peron administration and its manipulation of the lower classes.

Philip Michael Baskerville is deliciously sleazy as Augustin Magaldi, a cabaret singer who becomes the first of a series of increasingly influential men Eva uses to sleep her way to the top.

Kari Yancy plays the young girl who was Peron’s mistress until Eva shows up. Her song, “Another Suitcase in Another Hall” is very sweet and plaintive and Yancy gives it a lot of heart.

A group of military men and a group of upper class citizens play a big role in this show, expressing their displeasure at Eva’s role in Peron’s life. The problem with a small stage is that it does not give the opportunity for the close-order drill that made the original production so spectacular, but choreographer John MacInnis has created some interesting visuals that work well and convey the same message.

Marcy Froehlich’s costumes are nicely representative of the period, and I particularly liked Eva’s patterned dress, as she arrives in Buenos Aires, surrounded by muted browns and tans. A lovely visual portrait.

This is another winner for Music Circus, which only has one more show (Hairspray) to go before the end of this outstanding season.

Twelfth Night

There is a phrase used in the arts, that sometimes the appreciation of an art form requires “suspension of disbelief.” That is, the audience agrees to suspend judgement in exchange for a promise of entertainment. In theater, there is smoke and mirrors, makeup, costumes and magic. We believe a 40 year old balding tenor is actually a 20 year old hunk; we believe the blonde, blue-eyed girl is really a native of a south sea island; we believe the skinny guy can really lift that huge set of weights.

It is recommended that people leave their disbelief at the Buckhorn before going across the street to see the Winters Community Theater production of William Shakespeare’s comedy, “Twelfth Night,” continuing through August 16 in the amphitheater behind the Winters Community Center, under the direction of Howard Hupe.

Janette Dahn and Dominic Orlando play twins, Viola and Sebastian, shipwrecked off the island of the shores of Illyria. Neither knows the other has survived. Viola decides to dress in her brother’s clothes and pass herself off as a young page named Cesario, under which guise she enters the service of Duke Orsino (Trent Beeby). She finds herself attracted to her new boss.

Orsino is in love with Lady Olivia (JoAnn May), grieving the death of her father and brothers. Orsino sends Cesario with messages of love to Olivia, who wants nothing to do with Orsino, but finds herself attracted to the young page.

After a lot of back and forth, intrigue and conniving, Viola and Sebastian are reunited and the citizens are shocked -- I tell you shocked – to realize that there are two of them, when they look identical

And herein lies the suspension of disbelief because not only are the twins different genders, but Sebastian is head and shoulders taller than his twin sister, a little matter the woman he has just married seems not to have noticed!

But we suspend disbelief in exchange for promise of entertainment, and entertainment there is in this rollicking production. Though fighting the sound of motorcycles riding back and forth across the bridge into Winters and wind that blew the on-stage trees over several times, the cast continued on gamely and turned in an evening worth the drive out to Winters.

The production is edited and lasts just two hours (including a 20 minute intermission) from start to finish. “We say the beautiful poetry, but we cut some of the extraneous scenes to make it run well,” says Germaine Hupe, who also acts as narrator and plays Maria, Olivia’s gentlewoman. “Gentlewoman” is an apt description of Hupe, who is gracious and “gentle,” whether she’s setting the scene, tending to Olivia, or plotting a fiendish trick on Malvolio (Michael Barbour), Olivia’s pompous head steward.

Trent Beeby is Orsino, the Duke of Illyria, and gives a solid performance.

But perhaps the night belongs to Larry Justice, as Sir Toby Belch, Olivia’s uncle, whose drunken revels are legendary. Justice is over the top and very funny, as is his foil, Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Philip Pittman), who puts up with a lot in the hope of an opportunity to woo the fair Olivia.

Dahn turns in a fine performance as Viola, completely believable in her male garb and in her feelings for Orsino.

JoAnn May is a controlled, regal Olivia, finding her grieving heart reawakened by her growing feelings for the young Cesario.

Barbour is less malevolent as Malvolio than pompously righteous, and later downright silly as he plays into the hands of the crew determined to bring him down a peg or two.

Kirsten Myers is particularly enjoyable as Feste, Olivia’s jester. She displays a lovely singing voice and her laughter as she plots with Maria, Toby and Andrew to make a fool of Malvolio is infectious

Director Howard Hupe shows up in two brief roles, as a Sea Captain in the opening scene, helping settle Viola onto the island, and later as the priest who marries Sebastian and Olivia. Though Hupe is generally in the director’s chair, even in these two small roles, his acting talent is apparent.

Others in the cast include Maureen Hallett as Orsino’s valet and, later, a police officer, Stephen Catanio as Antonio, a friend of Sebastian, Colleen Hallett as Olivia’s servant, and Tom Neely as a police officer.

The setting is lovely for this summer’s evening comedy, with a stage nestled along the banks of Putah Creek, and a nice terraced seating area (though patrons might be more comfortable if they bring chairs). At $5 per ticket, it’s definitely an affordable way to spend the evening. All children under 12 are admitted free, if they come with a responsible adult.

A Longtime Jewel In Winters' Crown

This feature article appeared in the Davis Enterprise on 8/7/08

Fortunately for the town of Winters, and the outlying communities, Howard Hupe, one of the founders of the Winters Community Theater, and a regular director there, decided against taking a 14 year old bride.

Hupe, a native of Pittsburgh, PA met Davis resident Germaine Walgenbach (whose father, Jake, the owner of Jake’s Plumbing since 1948 was a beloved town character) on a blind date. Howard was attending the Army Language School (now called the Defense Language Institute) in Monterey and Germaine was doing her first year of teaching in Pacific Grove They fell in love and became engaged. Hupe went off to Saudi Arabia, as the first American other than embassy personnel in that country.

He traveled around the country with an interpreter and, as Germaine recalls the story, happened to notice one day that the interpreter looked particularly happy. The interpreter replied that he had just returned from his second honeymoon.

Howard said "Oh, that's a lovely custom...we do that, too, in our country after several years, we take off with our wife" and the interpreter said "No--this is my new wife. She's 14 and my mother just arranged her and she's absolutely wonderful."

The interpreter then said that he would be very happy to have his mother arrange for a wife for Howard as well, but Howard explained that he had a fiancee back in the states.

“This guy said ‘do you have a picture of her?’ -- this 'old bat' of 22 -- me – so Howard hauled out a picture of me and he just shook his head and said, "tsk tsk...her father must have many sheep and goats!!”

Howard returned to the States, and married Germaine in Georgia, where he was sent to another special school. The two traveled extensively with the Army and lived for three years in Tehran, where Germain taught at the English language school, just before the fall of the Shah.

Germaine recalls having to have armed guards traveling with them on school field trips and one particular occasion when the school bus was being bombarded with rocks. Everyone was lying on the floor to escape the bombardment and their son looked at his mother and said “Don’t ever tell me that Grandpa had to walk three miles to school when he was a kid.”

In addition to giving the Hupes a unique world view, their Army experiences also gave them an introduction to theater. Germaine had been a drama major, but “Howard’s theatrical experiences had been limited to playing a tree in his fourth grade play.”

“It was high school,” Howard corrects his wife. “I was much more advanced.”

They were living in Missoula, Montana when they were first married and saw a notice that a group was auditioning for roles in a play. “I wanted to try out, so I dragged Howard along,” said Germaine. “They took one look at him (he was a hunk)...and had that voice...and they cast him and me. That was the beginning of it.”

The Hupes continued to be active in theater wherever they were stationed because almost every military post had some sort of a theater, usually run by the women’s club, who would get their husbands involved as well.

When Howard retired, after 25 years in the military, they moved back to California, where Germaine’s roots were. Howard planned to go to graduate school to get a Masters Degree in counseling, and Germaine applied for a teaching position in 17 different locations. She was hired to teach English at Winters High School.

“I was only going to stay two years while Howard completed graduate school but I fell in love with the town and the people.”

When he completed his degree, Howard also joined the faculty of Winters High School as a counselor.

Though they lived in Davis, the couple became quite active in the social life of Winters. A few years after the Hupes’ participation in the 1976 Centennial Festival in Winters, there was a movement to start a theater group. Howard explains, “It was Shirley Rominger, who has since died; Linda Glick, our current theater group president; Jeannie Vaughn; Germaine’s brother Wayne; Germain and I who decided to form a group.”

They sought permission from the city of Winters to use the community center, currently under construction, for performances, and it was granted. In fact, the very first production was a benefit for Yolo Family Service Agency, and Howard explains that “the kitchen floor was still unpaved. Just dirt. And there were no stalls in the bathroom, so it was a unique experience.”

But the fledgling company took root and began putting on 4-5 productions a year. With the demise of the Davis Comic Opera Company, the Winters Community Theater is now the oldest continuously running community theater in Yolo County.

Elly Award winning actor/director Gil Sebastian got his start with the Winters Community Theater.

“When I was in high school I had no desire to do theater,” he said. “I was really shy and didn’t like performing in front of people. But I had a girlfriend at the time who was the city clerk in Winters. They were doing a melodrama and she said there was a role for a butler and that I would only have two lines. I said it scared me to be on stage, but she dared me and I went out, delivered my two lines and I’ve been doing it ever since -- 27 years now!”

Sebastian explained that the Hupes made a very comfortable environment. “Howard was more than just a director; he was like a surrogate father. I learned so much from him–his demeanor and attitude. I even learned how to tie a tie (I was 28 years old at the time). It was always that family atmosphere, always a family group.”

It was that comfortable environment that drew Amy Vyvlecka, now a director with the Woodland Opera House. “Howard and Germaine are just delightful people, and it reflects on their whole theater experience. What loved about doing shows in Winters was that it made theater fun again.”

Vyvlecka was a theater major at San Francisco State and when someone dropped out of a production of “Twelfth Night” in Winters, she was asked to take over the role. “I didn’t know Shakespeare. I didn’t even like Shakespeare, but I agreed to do the role.” And she began to learn how to perform Shakespeare.

“Both Howard and Germaine have this love of Shakespeare and of teaching and they let people explore characters. Now I do love Shakespeare,” says Vyvlecka, pointing that she has performed in three of the summer Shakespeare productions.

“Germaine’s love for Shakespeare is just incredible,” added Sebastian “She is so thorough. She does an incredible job.”

But Shakespeare is only the summer production. There are all those plays at the community center throughout the rest of the year. Winters has been fortunate to have enormous community support.

“By the time we put on our 25th play, which was something like 20 years ago, more than 600 people had participated,” Germain remembers. “Now we’ve done more than 100 productions and it must be up to about 1500, in terms of either acting or helping to build sets or being spear carriers or helping with costumes and this kind of thing, which is pretty amazing for a town that size.”

“We’re pretty much non-threatening and we welcome new people without any hesitation. If there’s a part for them and we think they’ll do well, we’ll put them on stage,” says Howard.

The group advertises in all the outlying areas, but their core of members come from Winters Woodland and Davis. “They get a talent pool from within the community that’s pretty consistent,” Sebastian says.

“We don’t have a very large pool to draw from that a lot of the other local theater companies do,” says Howard. “I attribute that to the fact that their venues are a little bit more sophisticated than the community center and there is the added distance, particularly during the winter months. That additional 12 miles in the fog and the rain is enough to dissuade some people.”

“It really has a good diverse representation of community members,” said Vyvlecka. “One of my favorites is Larry Justice, who was the sheriff for the town for years. He is a sheriff but he’s so funny on stage.”

Joannie Bryant, a stay at home mom currently serving on the 13-member Board of Directors, has been performing with Winters Community Theater for several years now, her first production a two-woman play directed by Linda Glick, followed by“Twelfth Night”in the summer of 2004. “Howard asked me if I would be interested in being on the board, and I agreed,” she said, adding that “It’s fun–but my husband might not agree, since I spend a lot of time doing publicity.”

Publicity must be working. Seventy-six children auditioned for the recent production of “Sound of Music.” They double-cast the children’s roles, to give as many children as possible a chance to perform.

“Costuming in that play was a killer because we double cast,” remembers Germaine. “We tried to get the most talented kids and generally hoped they’d fit the costumes, but they didn’t always, so I ended up making 13 matching capes for the final scene where they perform at the concert and then take the trek across the Alps into Switzerland.” She also had some dirndls from their four years living in Germany, which she put to good use along with “an armload of clothing” donated by a Austrian neighbor.

Costuming has been a learned art for Germaine. “I did not sew. I came from a family of beautiful seamstresses. Whenever I needed something, I just said ‘mom, can you fix it?” When we got involved in the theater I found that I had to, so I started stapling hems and that kind of thing. Then we got some talented seamstresses who were willing to join our group and they taught me a few things, so I now know not as a seamstress so much as a “rigger.” I can take three Salvation Army dresses and make a decent costume out of them by rigging. It’s been a great experience; I’ve loved it.”

They rent storage space in Winters to house the costumes and set and prop pieces. The Hupes are always on the prowl for something that might work in a future production. “I will buy the weirdest collection of things,” said Germaine. When Lawrence’s Department Store closed in Davis, she spied a shield and some swords that were being used for decoration. “They were nothing but papier mache but they looked wonderful and I bought ‘em all for $10 and we’ve used them many times. I knew if we ever did a period play we could use them or a modern play set in an old castle. We’ve used them for that too.”

Gil Sebastian performed in twenty-five productions in Winters, and returned later to direct for the company. “It’s difficult to do staging at the community theater,” he said, “There are no wings and no backstage.” “The Wizard of Oz” was a huge production and they built extensions out into the audience. “It was tough, but we did it.”

Howard’s dream is a new performing arts center. “One of our goals right now is to try to work with the city to come up with a performing arts center, not just for us, but the high school needs it, the elementary school needs it, Parks & Rec needs it–something that can be theirs and they can work with, where they have graduated seating and things like that. I think it will eventually come to fruition in Winters because I think the town wants it and the city is behind it. It’s just a matter of finding a suitable venue and finding enough money and getting the grants.”

Like most community theaters, money (or lack of it) is a constant problem. Royalties alone take a huge chunk of admission revenue. The royalty for “Sound of Music,” for example, was $2,000, which is a big chunk of money when you only charge $10 for a ticket. Sometimes you have to be creative with finding funding.

“We had an antique auction once,” remembers Howard. “One of our supporters arranged for an auctioneer and we raised several thousand dollars on that auction which was actually attended by a lot of dealers.”

“And we’ve had a few ‘angels,’” says Germain, with a smile.

Bryant says that the board is working on their five-year plan and their ten-year plan. “We’re hoping to catch up with the rest of the world,” she laughs.

The Winters Community Theater is a little gem of an institution which owes its longevity to the dedication of a core group of people, primarily Howard and Germaine Hupe.

“I adore Howard and Germaine,” says Amy Vyvlecka. “ I think what they’re doing is really wonderful. It gives people the opportunity to do really great plays. It gives people a chance to try out some of these roles. So many people have this opportunity to be part of this family they’ve created.”

Gil Sebastian agrees. “Performing for Howard (who directed all of my 25 shows there) taught me some valuable life and work lessons, as well as theater etiquette. The confidence I gained, the ability to stay calm amid chaos, the ability to engage and hold an audience, the importance of humor, to respect others as you wish to be respected –– all have made me a better person, and I seriously owe all of that to Howard.”

Imagine how things might have changed in Yolo County, had Howard accepted that offer of a 14-year-old bride.

My Fair Lady

There aren’t enough superlatives to describe Music Circus’s new production of “My Fair Lady,” directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge, and running this week at the Wells Fargo Pavilion. This is a show that I have seen many, many times and have a special fondness for and in order to impress me, it has to be done exceptionally well. Fortunately, this production has done the Lerner & Loewe musical exceptionally well.

Right off the bat with the sparkling choreography of Josh Walden, the audience knew that it was in for a treat.

I was not sure, at first, how I was going to feel about Richard B. Watson as Henry Higgins, the brilliant, arrogant linguist who agrees to give lessons to the flower girl, Eliza Doolittle (Kate Baldwin) so that she can become “a lady in a flower shop.”

Anyone who has ever seen the original stage play, or the movie, with Rex Harrison and either Julie Andrews or Audrey Hepburn has a mental image of the age difference between Higgins and Eliza as being significant. Higgins is a crusty older man and Eliza is a sweet young thing.

In this production, however, Watson and Baldwin appear much closer together in age, so a romance between them does not seem implausible. It adds an extra air of sexual tension to the scenes and Watson so quickly dispels any doubts as to his ability to handle the role that I wondered how I could have had any doubt.

For her part, Baldwin is enchanting. She is more believable as the Cockney Eliza than some I’ve seen and perfect as the “lady” she becomes. Her entrance in the gown she is wearing to the ball at which she will make her debut in high society was stunning. (Costumer Leon Wiebers outdid himself on that one!)

Her best acting may be in the scene where she says nothing at all. As Higgins, his staff, and Col. Pickering are dancing and celebrating the triumph of the ball, totally ignoring Eliza, the look on her face was eloquent and heart-breaking.

Music Circus favorite Ron Wisniski is a bombastic Col. Pickering, come from India to meet with Higgins. It is Pickering who dares Higgins to take on the project of turning Eliza into a lady and he is a major presence in all of his scenes.

J.B. Adams is a real scene stealer as Eliza’s father, Alfred P. Doolittle who has show stopping numbers in both acts, with “With a Little Bit of Luck” and “Get Me to the Church on Time.”

Dan Callaway is the lovelorn Freddie, spending his time in front of Eliza’s doorstep hoping to catch a glimpse of her.

Annie O’Sullivan does a nice job as Mrs. Pearce, Higgins’ housekeeper, and Melinda Tanner was delicious as his mother.

Rodger McDonald, a familiar name particularly to Woodland audiences, is fun in the small role of Zoltan Karpathy, Higgins’ old student who now “uses the science of speech more to blackmail and swindle than teach.”

“My Fair Lady” is a big show with big scenes, difficult to pull off in theater in the round, but Scenic Designer Christian Harvey Boy does beautifully with what he has to work with (which includes what seems to be a larger than usual group of set changers). The scene at the Ascot races was particularly clever, and again, Costumer Wiebers gets high marks for the beautiful costumes, reminiscent of the original Cecil Beaton gowns, and the amazingly intricate hats.

The Wells Fargo Pavilion was filled to capacity on opening night, so tickets may be difficult to get, but if you are fortunate to see this production you won’t be disappointed.

On the Razzle

Tom Stoppard’s “On the Razzle,” currently presented at the Veterans Memorial Theater by Acme Theater Company, is the story of two store clerks who decide to go out on the town (“on the razzle”) while their boss is going to a parade and then meeting his fiancee who runs a women’s dress shop. Accidentally, the two guys stumble into the very same dress shop, while trying to hide from their boss. They misrepresent their identities to the dress shop owner and her friend, the women convince them to take them out to dinner at a big fancy restaurant (for which they have no money to pay).

Uh. Haven’t we seen this before? With music?

Well, yes, we have. Actually the original idea for this play came from a 19th century Austrian farce (“Einen Fux will er sich machen “) which spawned Thornton Wilder’s “The Matchmaker” in 1938 which again spawned Michael Stewart and Jerry Herman’s “Hello, Dolly!”in 1968. “On the Razzle” (1981) takes much of the plot of “Matchmaker,” but eliminates the matchmaker herself, so you will find no Dolly Levi, but much of the rest of the plot elements will be very familiar, with a little “Shop Around the Corner” (or “You’ve Got Mail,” depending on your age) thrown in for good measure.

The production, directed by Daniel “Pheelyks” Guttenberg, marks the new era in Acme history, with the retirement of founder David Burmester, who (wrote and) directed his last Acme play in May. In fact, this was the very first opening night of an Acme play I’ve attended where Burmester was not in the audience.

The Stoppard play is very funny, replete with puns and spoonerisms. Crystal clear diction and impeccable timing are necessary to get maximum effect and sadly, this was not always the case with the young cast.

Egypt Howard has the role of Herr Zangler, the tongue twisted shop owner going off to meet his fiancee in the big city. Ms. Howard did well conveying the part of a gruff old man, but so much of her dialog was rushed and muffled that one had to strain to get the humor, much of which was unfortunately lost. This is particularly disappointing in the opening scene, which needs to be performed with the timing and clarity of a stand-up comedian.

I thought perhaps her problem was that the lines were too rushed until Alex Kravitz came on stage as Weinberl, Zangler’s top clerk. Kravitz’s delivery was equally as rapid fire, but every word crystal clear, every joke hitting the mark.

Kane Chai, as Christopher, Weinberl’s assistant, is likewise wonderful, skillfully handling the lines and successfully getting the most out of the humor of his role.

Delany Pelz as Melchior, the “new man” that Zangler hires, occasionally muffles her lines, but her stage presence is so electric that it really doesn’t matter. We get the humor whether the words are crisp or not...and most of the time her delivery is just fine.

Torin Lusebrink, playing Sonders, the debt-ridden suitor of Zangler’s niece, Marie, is a very promising young performer. He has an easy manner on stage and is one of those actors you enjoy watching.

Emily Tracy, always lovely to watch, plays Frau Fischer, the widow who has her eye on Weinberl and who has a surprise or two up her sleeve.

Pabo Frias has the small role of the lecherous Coachman, lusting after every woman he sees (“is she a go-er?”) with an inordinate fascination for breasts (“are they round like apples, or pointed like pears?”). He was funny in the role, but I would like to have seen it played a bit broader.

Vivian Breckenridge is very funny as the French maid Lisette, who is having a liaison in the kitchen with the Coachman, but we only know it from her assorted stages of dishabille as she runs to answer the front door.

Others in the cast include Carrie Miller as Madame Knorr, Kathleen Johnston as Zangler’s niece Marie, Anna Eckert-Kramer as Gertrude, Emma Kurtz as Miss Blumenblatt, Hannah May as the Foreigner, Sean Olivares as the tailor Hupfer, Danielle Wogulis as Phillipine, Jeremy Reinhard as the Constable, and GG Gilbert-Igelsrud as the Ragamuffin.

John Ramos’ set design consists of a huge white platform with a building wall in the middle, which allowed easy change of scenery by rotating the platform (also fun to see the colorful costumes against the white while the cast was changing scenes)

This first outing without Burmester at the helm shows that its founder has left Acme in good hands. The show could use a little work on delivery in spots, but is still a very funny, very enjoyable production.

Swing

If you like “Dancing with the Stars,” particularly the segments when the dance instructors dance with each other, you’re gonna love “Swing,” making its Music Circus debut this week. It’s just under two hours of nonstop singing and dancing with no dialog, no story line, no message, just high energy dancing and singing, an homage to the legends of the Big Band era, the music of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman and Harry James, along with some contemporary music with that 40s feel.

If you’re looking to be dazzled by footwork, flips, and other dance moves we might see in dance competitions, you won’t be disappointed. If you’re looking for more traditional “musical theater,” perhaps not so much so. The Music Circus crowd went wild for the hard-working company, but I also noticed that many people around us left at intermission. In truth, if I had not been there to review the show, I might have been tempted to leave myself, feeling that the second act was going to be just more of the same. But in the end, I was glad that I stayed, because there was some pretty good stuff in Act 2.

The cast of “Swing!” includes members of the Broadway cast and first national touring company, as well as professional ballroom dance competitors. The cast of four singers and 12 dancers includes Kirby Ward, a Music Circus veteran who also starred as song and dance men on the Broadway Sacramento Stage in “Crazy for You” and “Showboat.” Also appearing are singers Stacia Fernandez (Broadway cast), Julie Tolivar, Maceo Oliver and dancers Mark Stuart Eckstein (U.S. and Japanese tours), Beverly Durand (original Broadway cast), Paul Romero Jr., Sarah Marie Jenkins (U.S. and Japanese tours), Chris Saunders, Adealani Malia, Michael Jagger, Evita Arce, Christopher Beroiz, Desiree Duarte (original Broadway cast) and Lori Barber. The production is directed and choreographed by Dana Solimando, herself a member of the Broadway cast of “Swing!”

There is also an eight piece band – Mike McMullen, Mark Tulga (woodwinds), Larry Lunetta (trumpet), Chip Tingle (trombone), Darryl Archibald (keyboard), Tom Phillips (guitar), Steve Comber (bass) and Stan Lunetta (drums), several of whom walk up out of the orchestra pit at various points in the show to interact with the dancers. If you’ve never thought of a bass or a trombone as sensual instruments, you’ll be surprised!

Kirby Ward opens the show, with solo guitar, soon to be joined by all the company in a rousing “It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got that Swing” (reminiscent of many years of enjoyment from Davis High Jazz Choir performances!)

Foremost among the outstanding numbers was Julie Tolivar’s “Cry Me a River,” sung in duet with trombonist Chip Tingle, where Tolivar matched the wah-wah of the trombone perfectly.

Tolivar also displays her vocal versatility in “Two and Four,” where she sings in her operetta voice until, with the help of Ward, she unleashes her inner swing personality.

Stacia Fernandez and Maceo Oliver do an entire dating scene singing in only scat, in “Bli-Blip.”

(As an aside, Mr. Oliver is in desperate need of a dresser. Costumes by David Draper were overall outstanding, but Oliver’s first brown suit appeared to have pockets stuffed with things, giving the pants a very messy look. I expected something magical to emerge from the pockets, but nothing ever did. The collar of his pink shirt in a later scene was not turned down properly but bunched awkwardly on his right shoulder, and the contrast with the neat appearance of the dark suit was very distracting. And the white bow tie in the tuxedo he wore for the finale rested at a rakish angle on the side of his neck, rather than at the Adam’s apple line.)

The entire cast joined for a section called “The USO,” which closed out the first act. Each of the dancing pairs had a chance to shine in one number, and they all joined together for “In the Mood” / “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree.”

“Take Me Back to Tulsa,” by Oliver with the company introduced a western section of the program, which included an updated countrified version of “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.”

Sarah Marie Jenkins and Paul Romero Jr. were very cute in “Dancers in Love.”

Things come to a crescendo with Stacia Fernandez’s “Stomping at the Savoy,” followed by the entire company in “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing”)

This is definitely an enjoyable evening of entertainment, but if you prefer your musical theater with more of a plot to involve yourself in, this may not be the show for you.

But it's all about good, old fashioned fun. With its high energy, great music and terrific choreography, “Swing!” can’t help but put a tap in the toe of the most dour curmudgeon.

The Typograher's Dream

As I stood in the lobby at the end of opening night of “The Typographer’s Dream,” currently at Capital Stage, a group of people next to me were asking each other “What in the world was that all about?”

In truth, I was asking myself the same thing about the one-act Adam Bock play, directed by Stephanie Gularte. I wasn’t sure what it was, but what I was sure of was that I had enjoyed it very much.

Bock’s inspiration for his play was his developing love of typography – the designing of text and its placement on a page – while working at a design firm. He thought he should write a play about a typographer, and then, carrying the idea to the absurd with rhyming words, decided to add a geographer and a stenographer as well. He thought it would be interesting to explore the extent to which people’s jobs affect who they are in real life. (E.g., a geographer is concerned with boundaries – political boundaries, historical boundaries, social boundaries. Is she concerned with boundaries in her real life? Boundaries between people?)

There is no plot line in this comedy and for it to work a strong cast is essential. Fortunately for the audience, Gularte has a stellar cast who know how to wring the most out of every nanosecond on stage.

The show opens in silence for several minutes. Stenographer Dave (Davis’ Peter Mohrmann, who has also served as Capital Stage’s managing director for the past four years) enters hesitantly from the back of the theater, pulling a small suitcase on wheels. He proceeds to the stage set up for what looks like a panel discussion, and appears appalled to discover an audience out front, and no other people on stage. Mohrmann’s travels around and behind the stage are hilarious. He has the comedic timing of a Charlie Chaplain.

Eventually Dave settles himself at the speaker’s table, behind the sign which says “Stenographer.” He carefully pulls his a machine out of the little suitcase and meticulously sets it up on the table.

The door bursts open and in comes Annalise, the geographer (a welcome return to the Sacramento stage of Saffron Henke). Still in silence, Annalise quickly takes over the stage, moving Dave around, and settling herself in.

The two wait, impatiently (Annalise) and nervously (Dave), for the Typographer, who eventually rolls in. Literally. Gail Dartz is wonderful as Margaret, clearly the least forceful of the three, and easily interrupted as she attempts to speak In fact, her lines for most of the first quarter of the play consist of “Um”... “Um”... “Um. Ah.” However, timing is crucial and her delivery is impeccable.

The three are apparently at this event to describe their jobs. Clearly all three are passionate about their work and proud of the good job they do.

Without interaction with each other, they take turns talking about their jobs. Dave waxes poetic about the importance of stenography (technically court reporting, he reminds us many times, in struggling to identify exactly what his job should be called. “You call yourself a court reporter,” he says. “It’s a little more glamorous.”) He stresses his importance as the witness of record in court cases, and swells with pride at the skill required. “Those who can't quite achieve the necessary manual dexterity can always become surgeons.”

Annalise is excited about her profession, but upset that “geography” gets buried in the larger heading of “social studies” in school and wants it to be recognized for the significant stand-alone job that it is.

Margaret is in love with the beauty of typography, the design of words on the page, the page itself, the colors, the typefaces, the letters (though numbers trouble her, she admits). “I am my job,” she says. “I don’t care. I know that. It’s what I do all day. I am my job.”

As the play progresses, it become apparent that these three have personal reactions with each other and the effect their professions have on those relationships are brought out. Are they all happy having their very being set by what job they do?

Bock’s crisp dialog, Gularte’s skillful direction, and the actors’ impeccable timing make this a thoroughly enjoyable 90 minutes entertainment. Even if you aren’t sure what it is when it’s all finished!