Crazy for You

To describe “Crazy for You,” the final production in the 2012 Music Circus season, as “energetic” would be to do it a disservice. It goes beyond energetic.

When “Crazy for You” opened on Broadway in 1992, New York Times critic Frank Rich said the opening was “… the moment at which Broadway finally rose up to grab the musical back from the British.” He went on to describe the show as “the American musical’s classic blend of music, laughter, dancing, sentiment and showmanship with a freshness and confidence rarely seen during the ‘Cats’ decade.”

With music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin, both of whom died before this show was developed, one could hardly call this a “new” show, musically. But Ken Ludwig, who wrote the book, called this a “new Gershwin musical comedy,” and Broadway fell in love with it. It was nominated for nine Tony Awards (and won three, including Best Musical and best choreography) and eight Drama Desk Awards (winning two, again Best Musical and best choreography).

In 1930 Ethel Merman starred in the first production of the George and Ira Gershwin musical, “Girl Crazy,” the story of a spoiled New York rich kid who learns about life , love and everything else on a Nevada dude ranch. In 1943, Judy Garland and Micky Rooney brought the story to the big screen, with choreography by the infamous Busby Berkeley.

In 1992, with the blessing of the Gershwin heirs, Ken Ludwig took another look at the old chestnut, did some extensive rewriting of the plot line, and produced “Crazy for You,” now delighting Music Circus audiences. Though Ludwig kept some of the original songs (most notably the first act finale, “I’ve Got Rhythm,” which is a show stopper) he also included other familiar songs from the Gershwin collection. The result is a show where every one of the 20 songs is a hit.

To match the material, director James Brennan has an all-star cast. Noah Racey (who may remind Davis residents of local song-and-dance man, Bob Bowen) is a great physical performer, whose body bends, quivers and contorts in ways you’d never imagine. He is in 11 different musical numbers, but his best moment may be in a “mirror scene.”

Anne Horak is the perfect Polly Baker, daughter of Everett (Paul Keith), hanging on to his deserted theater and remembering the glory days when his late wife graced its stage. Horak’s Polly is a feisty, independent woman stuck in a one-horse town but determined to take control of her life.

While the story centers on these two, there is a fine cast of supporting players including Matthew Shepard as Bela Zangler a famous theatrical producer in love with chorine Tess (Kim Arnett); Alix Korey is Bobby’s indomitable mother, Lottie Child; Robin Masella is Bobby’s overbearing fiancée Elaine.

The villain of the piece is Lank Hawkins (Aaron Serotsky), who owns the saloon next door to the theater and has his eye on expanding his own property. He also is sweet on Polly and sees Bobby as a threat to both of his plans.

The cowboy trio (straight out of “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”) are very funny, particularly Eric Gunhus, as the bearded Moose, who plays the bass like a guitar.

Choreography by Deanna L. Dys is outstanding, especially for the aforementioned “I Got Rhythm” and “Stiff Upper Lip.”

While the costumes by Marcy Froehlich are spectacular, especially for the big chorus numbers, right out of the Ziegfeld Follies, I was drawn even more to Polly’s dresses, which though somewhat plain in appearance had great “twirling” skirts and were perfect for all of her ensemble numbers with Bobby.

2012 has been a stellar year for The Music Circus, with exceptional productions and near full houses. With “Crazy for You” they are going out where they started — at the top of their game.

Fiddler on the Roof

Music Circus is presenting “Fiddler on the Roof” this week, directed by Glenn Casale.

“Fiddler” is one of those musicals that lulls you into a sense of complacency and then hits you over the head with its message.

Most of the first act is fun and funny, from the spectacular circle dance (“Tradition”) that opens the show, through the dreams of young girls for a perfect husband (“Matchmaker, Matchmaker”), to the personal relationship of a poor milkman with God and his conversations with the almighty (“If I were a rich man”) to the uneasy, but cordial relationship between the Jews and the Russian soldiers (“To Life”), to various examples of young love and the beautiful wedding of the first daughter.

Just when you have laughed and cried sentimental tears and are feeling good about this small community of the fictional village of Anatevka in 1905 Czarist Russia, it all turns dark and remains dark through the end of the show.

Based on the stories of Sholom Aleichem, this is the heartwarming tale of Tevye (Bob Amaral) and his wife Golde (Adrienne Barbeau) and their five daughters. Tevye struggles to balance his deep faith with the realities of a changing world, a task that is sometimes as shaky as a fiddler on a roof.

Amaral brings depth to the role of Tevye and when he glances up into the lights and begins his conversations with God, you believe he really sees something up there. His anguish over the marriage of favorite daughter Chava (Kristen J. Smith) to Russian soldier Fyedka (Will Taylor) was palpable.

Stage and screen star Barbeau, who began her career with acting classes at Music Circus, made her Broadway debut as Hodel in a 1960s production of “Fiddler.” Now she returns as Tevye’s wife, Golde, particularly good in the duet “Do You Love Me?” where she gradually realizes that after 25 years she has come to love this man who was an arranged marriage.

Music Circus favorite Helen Geller is Yente, the matchmaker, determined to find the perfect match for every unmarried person in Anatevka.

Lauren T. Mack may be one of the best Tzeitels I’ve seen. Tevye’s daughters usually kind of blend together for me, but Mack stood out as a strong woman, with a touch of her mother’s sharpness, a woman who will rule her house with a firm hand and who is not afraid to stand up to her father when he attempts to marry her off to Lazar Wolf, the Butcher (another Music Circus favorite, Ron Wisniski).

Tzeitel’s intended, Motel the tailor, was given a good portrayal by Allen E. Read.

Jordan Bondurant is a memorable Perchik, the idealistic tutor who wins the heart of Hodel (Leah Horowitz).

There are wonderful moments in this production, particularly the Sabbath scene, where members of the town gather all over the theater to join in the action on stage, candles flickering softly as they sing the “Sabbath Prayer.”

It was another sell-out crowd on opening night and ticket sales are brisk. This is a wonderful production, so order your tickets soon!

Or,

Aphra Behn was the first professional English female playwright, in the middle of the 17th century. She was one of the most prolific dramatists of her time; she was also a spy for the court of Charles II.

Behn also was wonderfully scandalous, even by modern-day standards. She was famous not only for being a pioneer female writer in a male-dominated profession, but also for addressing issues of gender and sexuality. Her forte was comedy and she created strong, independent female characters who unapologetically made their own choices.

Behn is the subject of a very funny play, “Or,” (the comma is part of the title), written by Liz Duffy Adams and directed by Heidi Volker, which is being presented through Friday by the Barnyard Theatre Company at the historic Schmeiser Barn west of Davis.
Once again, Barnyard Theatre has assembled a stellar cast, headed by Hope Raymond as the ambitious, sensual Behn. Sean Olivares plays King Charles II. Rachel Pinto is Nell Gwynne, one of the first English actresses (previously, women had not been permitted to perform on the stage) and also mistress of both Charles and Aphra.

Behn’s husband William, presumed dead, is played by Geoffrey Albrecht.

The multi-talented Sarah Cohen plays Lady Davenant, the widowed proprietor of an acting company, who rattles off a monologue that runs the better part of two solid pages of dialogue. It’s a performance that stops the show with applause.

The maid Maria is played by Alexandra Moreno, and the “Jailer” opening night was Timothy Smith. Don Saylor, Kane Chai, Jenna Templeton and Sam Wheeler each were assigned the role for one performance.
The action begins in debtor’s prison (a really nice effect by set designer Davin Gee), with Behn composing a letter to the king, who has not paid her for her services. She writes her note in rhyme:

Here in debtor’s prison I do lie
For lack of funds promised me as your spy.
To nag and scold my own adored king
Believe me, pains me more than anything.
But justice to myself demands no less
Than princely favor and full recompense.

Before she can finish her note, she is visited by a masked stranger, eventually revealed as the king, who informs the writer that her debts have been paid and she is free to leave. He wants her as his mistress, an idea about which she is less than enthusiastic. But she needs a place to write, so they strike a bargain, with Behn dictating the terms, which include intimacies that do not extend to the bed.

The rest of the action takes place in the apartment rented to Behn by the king, where we first meet Gwynne, who is eager for both a professional and personal relationship with Behn, who is more than willling. There is opportunity for bedroom farce-like action with a front door, a bedroom door and a closet door, all of which get used for hiding and revealing.

When William returns from the dead, he is plotting to kill the king, unaware of Behn’s relationship with him and his proximity to William. The solution to the problem comes from an unlikely source, which Behn dutifully records in her pages.

Virginia Woolf once wrote, “All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn, which is, most scandalously but rather appropriately, in Westminster Abbey, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds.”

In “Or,” Liz Adams has sprinkled the grave of Aphra Behn liberally with flowers and given us a wonderful, if not quite historically accurate, picture of a remarkable woman, beautifully interpreted by the talented actors of Barnyard Theatre.

The Music Man

Last night I had one of those special theatrical moments that I will remember for a long time. It was opening night of Music Circus’ 20th production of “The Music Man,” one of my favorite musicals. Shirley Jones, who originated the role of Marian Paroo on Broadway and who played the role in the classic movie, was playing Marian’s mother, Mrs. Paroo. Her real life son, Patrick Cassidy, was doing the role of Harold Hill.

At the end of this wonderful production, when all the bows had been taken, Ms. Jones took the microphone and shared memories of making the movie with actor Robert Preston. She then sang a brief duet with her son, to tumultuous applause. It was a real “wow” moment and brought down the house.

There were a lot of “wow’ moments in this rollicking, delightful production, directed by Glenn Casale. After the always wonderful opening number, of traveling salesmen on a train complaining about the swindler Harold Hill, who has ruined so many towns for them, the entire town of River City, Iowa, explodes onto the stage with “Iowa Stubborn.” Such a colorful, tightly knit production number with lots of fresh-faced earnest young people mixed in with all the adult characters.

There follow all the scenes in which Hill convinces the town it needs a boys’ band and collects the money for instruments, uniforms and instruction books, all with the knowledge that he will be long gone from the town before the parents discover they have been conned.

Cassidy is a suave Hill, who plays the role of a slick swindler with great panache. It is easy to understand why he has a girl in every town.

Jason Graae plays Hill’s old partner, Marcellus Washburn, now settling for respectability and a nice girlfriend, Ethel Toffelmier (Diane Vincent), but ready to join Hill in one last swindle. Graae shines in leading the town’s young people in the dance, “The Shipoopi.”

If I confess a guilty secret, Shirley Jones has always been the only Marian Paroo for me, all others paling in comparison. How fortunate, then, that Brandi Burkhardt is so wonderful that I easily accepted her in the role. With an amazing voice and a no-nonsense personality, she makes the perfect match for Cassidy’s Harold.
Jones herself, of course, is great as Marian’s mother, the widow Paroo. Loved her Irish accent and her duet with Marian was lovely.

Young Winthrop Paroo, Marian’s shy, lisping younger brother is played by Carter Thomas, who has a lengthy performing resume and is a member of actors’ Equity. He is simply wonderful. He takes command of the stage in “Wells Fargo Wagon,” and is adorable in “Gary, Indiana.” While perhaps a bit tall for a 10-year-old, it didn’t matter when he began to perform.

The feuding members of the town’s school board, Jacey Squires (J.D. Daw), Ewart Dunlop (Jack Doyle), Oliver Hix (Michael Dotson), and Olin Britt (Joseph Torello) are a wonderful hit as a barbershop quartet.
Music Circus favorite, Ron Wisniski is Charlie Cowell, the anvil salesman, determined to bring Hill to justice once and for all and plays it to the hilt. (My favorite line: “anvils have a limited appeal.”)

The town’s first couple, Mayor and Mrs. Eulalie MacKecknie Shinn (Kevin Cooney and Paula Leggett Chase) are great characters and Mrs. Shinn’s Delsarte dance company is a delight.

“The Music Man” always makes me feel happy and, based on the filled theater last night, and the report that the show is almost completely sold out (though there are still a few tickets left), there are lots of others who agree with me. As productions go, this Music Circus production is one of the best.

 Patrick Cassidy and Shirley Jones

Grease

It was nice to see the Wells Fargo Pavilion filled to near capacity as Music Circus began its 2012 season with a high-octane, high-energy production of “Grease,”directed by Glenn Casale.

This old chestnut by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey opened on Broadway in 1972 and ran for 3,388 performances at three different theaters. The subsequent movie was a runaway hit for John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John
.
Fortunately, this is a show that is filled with snappy tunes (if not exactly always intelligent lyrics — “shoowop, shoowally, wally, yippity, boom-de-boom, chang-chang, changadee-chang-chibop, that’s the way it should be, wahoo, yeah” — interesting characters, and lively dances that keep the toes tapping and the brain kind of not thinking about the plot of the show.

In these politically correct times, what would be the chance of getting a play produced that dealt with a wholesome young girl falling for what she thinks is a wholesome young man, who turns out to be one of the “greasers” at her school, and ultimately realizing that if she wants to fit in all she has to do is abandon all of her moral values, don a skin-tight outfit and spike heels, pierce her ears, poof up her hair, learn to smoke and drink and start undulating around the guy?

Now she fits in, she has friends, she has a boyfriend and everybody lives happily ever after. It’s a show I really want to hate, but somehow can’t, because it’s so darn much fun.

So I won’t dwell on the plot. I’ll just think about the fun on stage, the performances and the infectious tunes.
Though “Grease” focuses on Danny and Sandy, this is really more of an ensemble show than one would imagine. There are 15 in the cast and each gets his or her turn to shine throughout the evening. There is no denying that it stretches the imagination to think of any of these actors as high school students — but if “Glee” can make it work with 25- to 30-year-old “teenagers,” so can Music Circus.

And make it work they do. Kirsten Scott is sweet and innocent as Sandy and you feel her discomfort when confronted with the hard-edged drinking and smoking “Pink Ladies.” Her “Hopelessly Devoted to You” is a song that was not in the original stage show, but was written by John Farrar for the movie.

Lesli Margherita (Rizzo) could not be more different from Sandy, with a brittle, hard edge to her that hints of a difficult life. And yet, when she thinks she has been “knocked up” by boyfriend Kenickie (Michael D. Jablonski), her vulnerable side shines through when she defiantly belts “There Are Worse Things I Could Do.”

Jablonski has one of the high moments of the show, as he drives onto the stage in his shiny hot rod, “Greased Lightning.”

Melissa WolfKlain made an impression as Jan, one of the Pink Ladies. Her winning smile and perky attitude were difficult to ignore whenever she was on stage.

Brandon Albright has the macho swagger of Danny Zuko, who’s really in love with Sandy, but is a slave to peer pressure. Unable to admit his feelings to his greaser buddies, he treats Sandy like any other good-looking girl in school. When she finally turns up in her sexy outfit, he is able to admit “You’re the One that I Want.”

If one doesn’t think too carefully about the thin plot of this show, or the age of the “teenagers,” and just concentrates on all the elements that make it up, “Grease” is a delightful evening of theater that will send you home humming at least one of its songs.

And that’s the way it should be, wahoo, yeah!

Hairspray

You just can’t stop the beat going on at the Davis Musical Theatre Company these days. A sparkling new production of “Hairspray,” directed by Jason Hammond, opened last week to a sold-out house of cheering fans, whose enjoyment of the show only served to heighten the feeling of joy as the show came to an end.

 “Hairspray” is a stage show based on the 1988 John Waters film, brought to the stage with a book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan, music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman. DMTC has created a big show with a cast of almost 40 and a 17-piece orchestra. Sets by Mark and Christine Deamer are representative of the era (1960s Baltimore) rather than literal, and give the whole stage kind of a “Jetsons”-esque cartoon-like appearance, which allows for moving the various set pieces in and out easily.

 This is the story of idealistic Tracy Turnblad (Eimi Taormina) who just loves to dance to the music on “The Corny Collins Show,” modeled after “American Bandstand,” and featuring Matt Taloff as Corny Collins. Her favorite day of the month is “Negro Day,” when black kids take over the set. She loves their music and is staunchly in favor of integration. Though there is a story line of racial inequality, integration, interracial friendship and love, it is Tracy’s story, that of a social misfit who desperately just wants to be herself, that takes center stage. Tracy is 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.

 I have watched with pleasure as Taormina has risen from bit parts to more substantial roles with DMTC. With “Hairspray,” she has come into her own fully as a leading lady. She simply makes this show, with an irrepressible personality and a sparkle that just won’t quit.

Tracy’s mother is Edna, 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 (Andy Hyun), 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.

The role of Edna was played in the movie by drag queen Divine and on the stage by Harvey Fierstein. Stepping into the house dress and pumps for DMTC is Scott Minor, who puts a lot of oomph into his characterization.

Hyun, is, of course, wonderful in his role as Tracy’s father, the only negative being that the age disparity between himself and Minor can’t be solved with gray for his hair. But if you can get past the visual, he’s great.

 Outstanding is Danielle Hansen as Tracy’s best friend, Penny Pingleton. Everybody should have a BFF like Penny. She begins to come into her own when the sight of Seaweed Stubbs (Erik Catalan) sets her heart going pitter-patter.

Seaweed’s mother, the rhyming couplet-spouting Motormouth Maybelle, the host of the show on “Negro Day,” is given a dazzling performance by Deborah Hammond.

 Emily Jo Seminoff is another young actress whose progress I have enjoyed watching at DMTC. In this, she becomes the bad girl, Amber Von Tussle, the most popular girl (she thinks) on “The Corny Collins Show” and ready to assume the crown as Miss Hairspray. She plays the role to the hilt.

Patricia Glass is Amber’s mother, the producer of the show, who is certain her daughter will skyrocket to fame and is willing to do anything to make that happen. Together, Seminoff and Glass are the villains you love to hate.

Of all amazing wigs in this production (designed by director Hammond), Glass may have the most bizarre. It’s difficult to look at its sharp angles and not think of the Farrelly brothers’ comedy film, “There’s Something about Mary.”

Alex Cesena plays Link Larkin, supposedly Amber’s boyfriend, but whose life is changed by meeting idealistic Tracy. He sings well and ultimately makes a very ardent and tender-hearted boyfriend.

 “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 of Davis as well.

Henry V

Before I went to review the Davis Shakespeare Ensemble’s production of "Henry V," I rented the Kenneth Branagh movie to get myself in the mood for seeing this epic play. The movie, of course, has a cast of thousands. And as Henry, bloodied but unbowed, wades through the field of bodies at the end of the Battle of Agincourt I wondered how in the world the young Davis group was going to pull it off with a cast of five, all of whom were making their Davis Shakespeare Ensemble debut.

Well, the answer to that question was: surprisingly well. This production, directed by Rob Salas, works because of an amazingly talented cast who each play many parts. Casey Worthington is Henry V and others; Mitchell VanLandingham is the Dauphin, Canterbury and others; Kevin Ganger is Exeter, Pistol, Charles, and others; Misty Day is Nell Quickly, Fluellen, and others; and Cody Ganger is Catherine, Bardolph, and others.

It also works because of the ingenious costume design by Maggie S. Chan, who has woven an intricate set of chains for each actor over which are laid sashes, capes, and other bits of costume to allow for instant transformation into the next character, whether a soldier, a townsman, or a king.

The close confines of the UC Davis Arboretum Gazebo make it possible for the slow motion battles, with real swords flashing uncomfortably close to the audience, yet always under close supervision by the actor, to actually give one the sense of being in a real battle. (And kudos to whoever painted the beautiful French and British shields).

No dialect coach is listed, but the ability to switch from English to French to a broad Scottish accent may seem effortless, but had to have taken great effort to bring it all off so seamlessly. (As a native American speaker, I can’t address the actual authenticity of the languages, but it sounded good to me!)

The story takes place at the death of Henry IV and the rise to the throne of his heretofore high living son, Henry V. The new king, not unlike the current Prince Harry, likes to party and has a reputation, though he surprises everyone by taking very seriously his new role as King. Having been assured by Canterbury (with extensive corroborative material) that England has the right to claim lands in France, because of Henry’s roots in the French royal family, the young king makes his intentions known.

The Dauphin responds with an insult in the form of tennis balls and, in reply, Henry announces that he will invade France. All culminates with Henry’s rousing St. Crispin’s day speech, the battle and the ultimate defeat of the French by the English (history records that some 8,000 French were killed, as compared to a few hundred English).

And, of course, there is a girl, the French Princess Catherine, who is wooed, and eventually won by the victorious Henry. The scene with Catherine and her maid, who is trying to teach the young Princess some words in English is very cute and a nice break from the heavier war plans.

If there was any downside to my evening at this Davis Shakespeare Ensemble production, it was an older British couple sitting nearby who talked and giggled throughout most of Act 2. Such behavior would be rude anywhere, but it was a terrible distraction in a venue as small as the Gazebo.

The Davis Shakespeare Ensemble has a real winner with this production, and what a nice way to spend a pleasantly warm evening in Davis. Spray on some mosquito repellant, though. I didn’t, and made a tasty meal for several mosquitos throughout the night.

Triple Espresso

There are some for whom “Triple Espresso,” the new “highly caffeinated comedy”at Sacramento’s Cosmopolitan Cabaret, may not be their “cup of tea” (pun intended), but it’s important to remember that a cabaret show is not the same as a show you would expect to see in a theater.

If you are into laughter, an intimate setting, impromptu audience participation, and some broad, low-brow humor, you’re going to enjoy this production.

Early in 1995, Bill Arnold, Michael Pearce Donley and Bob Stromberg, three successful solo performers who admired each other’s work, gathered over coffee, never knowing the full impact that caffeinated brew would have on their future.

They decided to write something they could perform as a trio — something fun, something unusual, something that would make people laugh so hard they’d snort and embarrass themselves.

I didn’t see any snorting at the Continental Cabaret, but there was no doubt the audience was having a great time, and doing more than their share of tittering.

You can’t argue with success. In the past 15 years, “Triple Espresso” has entertained more than 1.7 million people in 50 cities in six countries in three languages (English, German and Flemish). The show continuously ran for 12 years in Minneapolis and 10 years in San Diego.

Arnold, Donley and Stromberg have opened the Sacramento run and will play the roles until July 10, when they are replaced by another trio, to run through July 22. Some 30 actors have been trained to take on the roles, making it possible to have the show running in several locations at the same time.

Hugh Butternut (Donley) is a lounge lizard, who has been the pianist at the Triple Espresso Coffeehouse for some 20 years. He wears colorful sequined jackets, has a big smarmy grin and a patronizing manner as he invites the audience to sing along with some of his favorite musical numbers from the ’70s.

To celebrate his 20th anniversary, Butternut has invited his two former partners, Bobby Bean (Bob Stromberg) and Buzz Maxwell (Bill Arnold), to join him for the occasion. He is hoping to heal the rift that occurred during an embarrassing incident on “The Mike Douglas Show.”

Bean, who has the personality of a used car salesman, is all smiles and joy at seeing his old partner. Maxwell, however, is sullen, angry and determined not to participate in the grand reunion. It all goes back to the TV appearance and little bits and pieces of information continue to drop throughout the show, until finally all is revealed in a hilarious number toward the end.

The trio (well, two of them anyway) try to relive the glory days of their success, though their success was more of a “I coulda been a contender” type of memory. They never really hit the big time … and they blame it on that Mike Douglas incident.

In flashbacks, each man reprises the high point of his talent — Bean’s attempt to hit it big in Africa, doing a funny medley of old songs sung with a tribal beat.

Maxwell is a laid-back, inept magician doing some of the funniest magic you’ve ever seen. (It takes great talent to be that bad!)

This is a corny show that will keep the cabaret crowd laughing. After the show, the audience has an opportunity to meet the performers in the lobby, and pose for photos.

How I Learned to Drive

One of the first things that hits you in the first monologue of playwright Paula Vogel’s “How I Learned to Drive,” now at Capital Stage under the tight direction of Janis Stevens, is the quality of the writing. There is a Steinbeck-esque quality to the descriptive passages.

“Here on the land the Department of Agriculture owns, the smell of sleeping farm animal is thick in the air. The smells of clover and hay mix with the smells of the leather dashboard …”

It bodes well for what is to come, and the production does not disappoint.

“Sometimes to tell a secret, you first have to teach a lesson,” says L’il Bit (Stephanie Gularte), who uses driving instructions as a metaphor for general behavior, and, as the play progresses, to describe sexual abuse at the hands of her “Uncle Peck” (James Hiser).

There are no superlatives strong enough to describe Gularte’s performance. She plays a woman in her middle 30s looking back over her life, and remembering her conflicted emotions around abuse by Uncle Peck, the only person in her family she felt actually understood her. In chameleon-like fashion, Gularte can be 35 or 11 with only the help of a pony tail and a change in the expression on her face. It is a remarkable performance.

Hiser is disturbingly smarmy as the uncle with whom L’il Bit has a convoluted relationship, yet while smarmy, he is also almost likable, as he exudes Southern charm.

L’il Bit is a lonely girl in a dysfunctional family, longing for love from someone, happy with a grown-up who is willing to listen to her, who tells her he loves her, who seems to understand her but, even as a young child, knowing that things were not quite right.

The action goes back and forth, in L’il Bit’s memory, from childhood to adulthood and back again. The girl is aware that she is not entirely innocent in the relationship. She plays her own cards by being consciously seductive, encouraged by her manipulative uncle.

“Nothing is going to happen between us — until you want it to,” he tells her at several stages of her puberty, implying casually that she’ll give in with enough pressure.

He is the adult in all this, a position of power he uses to ensure that something is, in fact, happening between them.

“You’re crossing the line,” L’il Bit will tell Peck when he gets too close and he will back off … but never entirely.

The cast includes Eric Wheeler, Jamie Jones and Melanie Marshall as a kind of Greek Chorus, keeping the action moving and filling in as several other characters, including L’il Bit’s weird family, who offer a surprising amount comedy in this otherwise dark story.

This play gives a complex look at the subject of incest and molestation, the complicated relationship between a young girl and a man she has known and loved all of her life. But her final monologue reveals for all what it is like to be in her situation and what it does to a girl for the rest of her life. It is chilling.

The brilliant writing of Vogel, who won a Pulitzer Prize for drama for this play; the brilliant direction of one of Sacramento’s true gems, Janis Stevens; and an incredibly talented cast at the top of their game make this a play not to be missed.

Wicked

After two years of teasing, California Musical Theatre finally brought the touring Broadway production of “Wicked” to the Community Center Theater for a four-week run, double the usual time.

Judging by the long line of patrons snaking into the building, the virtually filled theater, and the wild applause that greeted the lowering of the lights prior to the overture, the wait had been worth it.

There’s no question about it, this musical is magnificent. It features a large cast, a spectacular set, beautiful costumes and more special effects than have been seen on the auditorium stage in a very long time. There is an added plus of a real orchestra that does not need so much amplification that your ears hurt.

It’s easy to see why this musical has won every major award possible (35 of them), including the Grammy Award, the Olivier Award, three Tonys and six Drama Desk awards, including best musical. Ticket sales for North America have totaled $1.8 billion.

The success of the musical has boosted the sales of the Gregory Maguire book, already a bestseller, to nearly 5 million.

The story is Maguire’s prequel to “The Wizard of Oz,” answering such questions as “why is the wicked witch green?” “Does she have a name?” (Yes — Elphaba — Maguire’s homage to L. Frank Baum’s name), “Was she born mean, or did she become mean?” and “Can anyone really be as sticky sweet as Glinda?”
The fast-paced show travels to all the familiar places we know from “The Wizard of Oz” and the little hints and quotes from the movie are fun to find tucked in among the Stephen Schwartz music, Winnie Holzman script and Eugene Lee set.

Having seen the show once before in San Francisco and being very familiar with the original cast recording, what I liked about this production was that Nicole Parker (Elphaba) and Alli Mauzey (Glinda), who both played the roles on Broadway, made the roles their own, with a more subdued (in spots) performance, a different emphasis on parts of familiar songs, allowing one very quickly to lose the image of Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, who originated the roles.

Glinda is the overly perky, blond cheerleader type who arrives at Shiz University surrounded by her adoring entourage and just knowing she is going to end up with the most handsome guy on campus. She is a flibbertigibbet concerned only with herself, her looks and what makes her look good.

Elphaba, having had a sad childhood that included abuse at the hands of her father, and being made to be the caretaker for her disabled sister Nessarose (Emily Ferranti) — someone should drop a house on her — is a serious student, concerned about real-world problems. If she weren’t stuck in Oz she’d be at an Occupy protest somewhere.

The two are assigned to be roommates, and it’s loathing at first sight, though the emotional “For Good,” at the end of the show, tells what kind of effect each has had on the other as their friendship has grown.

Rounding out the cast are a host of Ozians, such as Boq (Justin Brill), the Munchkin who is in love with Glinda and is willing to do anything she wants to win her heart, though in the process he loses his own.

Andy Kelso is Fiyero, who arrives at Shiz the male equivalent of Glinda … not interested in study, wanting only to party and hang out with the most beautiful girls on campus. Over the course of the show, he finds true love and undergoes perhaps the greatest transformation of anyone in the show.

P.J. Benjamin is the Wizard, harboring a secret longing all of his life and realizing, too late, that he didn’t have to look farther than his own front yard because it was there all the time.

Liz McCartney is Madame Morrible, headmistress at Shiz, who takes Elphaba under her wing when she discovers the girl has magical powers that can help her in her own goals.

Though this is a long show (and plan for a long wait in the parking lot afterwards), it passes in an eyeblink. I saw children of all ages in the audience and big groups of them all over the theater who cheered everything. It’s a good-feeling show that will leave you on a high. And the Act 1 finale will give you goose bumps.

The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr

Something’s afoot at the Davis Art Center. It is Acme Theatre Company’s annual gift to the city of Davis, a free production on the center’s outdoor stage, preceded by a barbecue, giving everyone a chance to buy a burger, have a cup of strawberries with a sinfully large dollop of whipped cream, and lounge around on the grass waiting for the show to start.

This year’s production is “The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (abridged)” by Jess Gorgeson, Adam Long and Daniel Singer of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, and directed by Emily Henderson, Geoffrey Albrecht and Hope Raymond.

This is a parody of all of Shakespeare’s plays, traditionally performed by only three actors, but ingeniously arranged so that nine actors can actually do the roles.

Improvisation plays an important role and it is normal for the actors to deviate from the script and have spontaneous conversations about the material with each other or the audience, giving the appearance of something that may be being made up on the spot.

After an “overture” of sorts by many instruments from tuba to kazoo, it was announced by Brian Stewart that the evening’s show would feature an all-male cast. This prompted instant outrage from the female actors in the audience, who organized a protest on the spot, pulling women out of the audience to join in a protest march and occupy the stage.

Peace was restored when the men agreed to let the women be understudies and the play got under way. Beginning with “Romeo and Juliet,” the men (Stewart, Aaron Hirst and Antonio de Loera-Brust) found ingenious ways to work their way through several plays. “Titus Andronicus” was done as a cooking show with Loera-Brust as the hand-less chef, and, recognizing that none of the three was African-American, “Othello” was presented as a rap.

All of the comedies were combined into one convoluted reading by Hirst (the justification being that they all recycle the same plot devices anyway).

When the men ran out of steam, the women “understudies” (listed in the program as “The Company” — Leah Julian, Alina Lusebrink and Hannah Nielsen) took over the stage to present all the histories as a football game, with the crown as the football. Lusebrink’s death as Julius Caesar was a sight to behold. It naturally segued into the sequel, “Anthony and Cleopatra,” where Nielsen displayed a most electric-looking wig.

“Macbeth” was reduced to a witch’s pot and a duel, but done in thick Scottish brogue.
As the first act comes to an end, the stage is littered with crumpled pages of the plays that have been done. Only two are left undone, “Coriolanus,” which they refuse to do because they feel the “–anus” part is vulgar, and “Hamlet.”

The actors are nervous about doing Shakespeare’s most difficult play and run out of the theater, leaving technician Camilla Biaggi nervously telling jokes to the audience and finally calling for intermission, to give herself time to find the missing actors.

Naturally, the actors never return and it is left to the tech crew (Biaggi, Wil Forkin and Nick Mead) to do “Hamlet,” which they do with the help of some audience participation — a couple of people pulled from the audience and the entire audience enlisted to become Ophelia’s subconscious, her ego, superego and id, all to help her produce the perfect reaction to being ordered to “get thee to a nunnery.”

When they finally finish “Hamlet,” the cast does it again, in double-time, and then backwards.

To say this show relies on slapstick is a gross understatement, but it is wonderful fun and all the action should keep even small children entertained. What better way to spend some time on your holiday weekend, than stopping by the Art Center for a hilarious show done by incredibly talented and dedicated young actors?

Rent

It is tragic that composer/lyricist Jonathan Larson never lived to see the phenomenon that his musical, “Rent,” has become. He died of aortic dissection caused by Marfan’s syndrome on the morning of Jan. 25, 1996; the show opened for its off-Broadway run that night.

“Rent” played to sold-out houses, and its run was extended until April 1996, when it moved to the larger Nederlander Theater; it subsequently became the eighth-longest running show in Broadway history, and grossed more than $280 million.

It won every major best musical award, including the Tony, as well as the Pulitzer Prize for drama.

Tours of “Rent” have criss-crossed the country almost continuously since late 1996. It has been translated into every major language and performed on six continents. The show had such a loyal following in New York that the term “Renthead” came to be used to describe fans who would line up for hours in advance, just to get the $20 rush tickets; they subsequently boasted of having seen the show dozens of times.

One obsessed fan claims to have seen it more than 1,100 times during its 12-year run.

Now, UC Davis’ Studio 301 has brought “Rent” to the Wyatt Pavilion, under the direction of Mitchell VanLandingham and musical direction by Elizabeth Tremaine.

This is obviously a scaled-back version of the musical, but nonetheless enthusiastic, as the performers give it their all, and the intimacy of Wyatt Pavilion helps the audience feel more a part of this group of latter-day Bohemians.

“Rent” is an updated version of Puccini’s opera, “La Boheme,” the music from which is played in brief interludes throughout the show. It tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians who struggle to survive and create in New York’s Lower East Side, under the shadow of AIDS, at a time when drugs are plentiful.

(Already that theme is dated, as with new medications AIDS is no longer a death sentence and those living with the disease no longer take AZT on strict schedules.) The characters have become a “family they chose,” young people living with life, loss and love.

There are some incredibly gorgeous songs in this show (like “I’ll Cover You,” “Santa Fe,” “Without You” and the iconic “Seasons of Love”), all of which are done beautifully by the cast. The more upbeat tunes suffer from Wyatt Pavilion’s muddy sound system and shoddy sound balance.

All dialog emanates from the same place in the center of the stage, no matter where the actor may be in the building (even when the actor is behind the audience!). The poor sound system also makes crisp diction impossible and a lot of plot points may be lost.

Kyle Lockridge plays filmmaker Mark Cohen, the central figure of the story, whose video, which he shoots throughout the action, forms the narration. Costumer designer Christine Deniz has decided to put him in a more subdued costume than the traditional brightly colored scarf and horn-rimmed glasses that have been such an integral part of the character’s identity. Lockridge’s performance, too, was a bit more subdued than one would expect from this character, though he was competent enough.

Michael Roscoe is the songwriter, Roger Davis, who falls in love with exotic dancer Mimi (Malia Abayon), a drug addict.

The heart of the show is Angel Dumott Schunard, a gay drag queen dying of AIDS. Angel was played the night I saw the show by Ulysses Morazan, substituting for Jason Phillips. One could not ask for a more affecting and moving performance than that given by Morazan, who was tender in his love scenes with Tom Collins (Marcos Sastre III) and outrageous in his dance numbers.

Sastre’s ministrations to Angel and his grief following his partner’s death were heartbreaking.

Others in the cast include Erica Kalingking as attorney Joanne Jefferson, partner to performance artist Maureen Johnson (Rachel Wagner). Ryan Geraghty is Benjamin Coffin III, who was appropriately unlikable as the landlord.

The director and cast are to be congratulated on giving a credible performance of a big Broadway musical.

Little Shop of Horrors

If I had any houseplants, I would not feed them after seeing what happens with Audrey II, the strange plant intent on world domination.

“Little Shop of Horrors,” the new musical at Sacramento Theatre Company, is a musical adaptation of the 1960s Roger Corman science fiction movie of the same name, with book and lyrics by Howard Ashman.
Directed by Michael Laun, and choreographed by Jerald Bolden, this is the story of a strange plant from outer space that finds its way into a Skid Row flower shop, owned by the blustery Mr. Mushnik. The plant is nurtured by Seymour Krelborn, a nerdy shop clerk who likes to experiment with plants and who is madly in love with the naive and somewhat ditzy shop girl, Audrey.

Seymour sees the chance to transform his life and win the heart of Audrey when the curious plant flourishes under his care. The plant, which he names “Audrey II,” is actually a talking creature from outer space and the only way to keep it alive is by feeding it human blood.

When Seymour becomes anemic from Audrey II’s nightly feedings, he is forced to find alternative sources of nourishment for the plant, drawing Seymour into a web of greed and deception that spirals out of control. The results are both hilarious and harrowing.

Andrew J. Perez leads a marvelous cast as Seymour. With his wire-rimmed glasses, tennis shoes and timid demeanor, he makes a perfect nerd, who is determined to save this pathetic, dying plant (“Grow for Me”), and then feeling growing dread as he realizes what the plant needs to eat (“Feed Me”). He can also be tender, in his profession of love to Audrey (the girl) in their duet “Suddenly Seymour.”

Jessica Goldman totters about the stage on ultra high heels, a bit top heavy with a prominent decolletage and a longing to get out of Skid Row and move to “Somewhere That’s Green.” She is victim to her abusive boyfriend, the evil dentist Orin Scrivello (William Elsman), who regularly beats her up, but she feels she doesn’t deserve anything better because she has “a past.” Goldman gives Audrey a beautiful air of vulnerability and innocence.

You have to wonder what sort of dental experiences Ashman had in his youth, given the sadistic antics he has written for Dr. Scrivello. William Elsman is evil personified as he gyrates around the stage in black leather, alternately taking quick sniffs of laughing gas and wielding a huge drill with which to work on Seymour’s mouth.

Elsman not only plays Scrivello, but several other characters as well, male and female, and is listed in the program as “Orin and everyone else.”

Michael R.J. Campbell plays Mr. Mushnik, the flower shop owner who plucked Seymour out of an orphanage and gave him a place to sleep (on the floor of the shop, under the desk) and allows him to have one Sunday off every two weeks. I love Campbell in just about everything he does, and he does not disappoint in this role.

There is a sort of Greek chorus of school dropouts who hang around the flower shop and keep the audience up to date with what is happening. Crystal (Miranda Lawson), Ronnette (Ure Egbuho) and Chiffon (Gabriella “Ella” Isaguirre) keep the action moving and each has a moment to shine. Lawson, in particular, displays a great set of pipes whenever she steps into the spotlight.

But with all this talent, the show really belongs to Audrey II, the plant whose size increases with every scene. Jeffrey Lloyd Heatherly is the booming voice of the plant, at times frighteningly commanding, at other times deceptively whining and pleading for help.

Aaron Hitchcock is the man who really brings the plant to life and gives it such character. He is assisted by Tom Block, Javen Crosby, Daffyd Wynn and Garrick Sigl.

Music is by a small, unseen four-piece combo led by conductor Dan Pool. The wonderful set is by Jarrood Bodensteiner, with lighting design by Jessica Bertine. Jessica Minnihan’s costumes are fun — from the drab, nondescript outfit of Seymour, to the provocative dresses of Audrey, to the glitz of the do-wop girls.

Michael Laun has created a tight, fast-paced production that never fails to delight. “Little Shop of Horrors” is a lesson of what can happen when you wish for it all, get it and then have to deal with the consequences.

The Meaning of It All

“The Meaning of It All” is a first play for 50-something Davis playwright Robert Lautz, who has been working on this play for five to six years. What opened on Friday night was version 11.4 (he says) of the idea he first pitched to California Stage director Ray Tatar many years ago.

This final version came about with help from dramaturg Rick Foster, and with Franco Renosto adding Italian translation of some of the script to make the actors sound authentically Italian.

California Stage’s small Wilkerson Theater was the perfect venue for this intimate comedy, and the beautiful set of Kurt Kurtis was so inviting that members of the audience were stepping onto it to have their pictures taken by friends in the audience before the show started. This, despite the presence of alchemist Calvino Mezzo Zucco (Brennan Villados) doing busy work to set the scene for the play that was about to begin.

“The Meaning of It All” takes place in Pisa in the early 1500s. The plot involves romance, comedy and alchemy. Calvino, an inventor and part-time alchemist, is about to be married to Alonza (Chelsea Barone). Alonza’s father believes Calvino has invented a process for turning lead into gold and the young chemist is scrambling to make it happen so his chances of marrying Alonza are not ruined. In the meantime, he accidentally discovers a universal solvent that dissolves anything, and he thinks this may solve all his problems.

At the same time, Calvino’s brother Savio (Tony Hutto) was fired from the University of Pisa and is moving into Calvino’s barn until he can figure out what he is going to do with his life.

When Savio’s friend Luca (Arturo Gonzales) shows up, depressed about the disappearance of his girlfriend Mona (Katie Dahl), Savio invites him, too, to join him in the barn.

Alberto Domenici (Mahlon Hall), the son of a wealthy merchant, has come to be a wedding guest, but he has heard about Calvino’s formula to turn lead into gold and is determined to have it for himself.

While this is not a rollicking comedy, it does have its chuckle moments. There are nice relationships among the couples and between Calvino and his brother. Alberto is the villain you love to hiss.

The play itself may have needed to go to version 12. There are things that work beautifully and things that don’t. Characters Luca and Mona seem to serve no real purpose, other than Mona being the cause of jealousy at one point. The actors are fine (especially Dahl), but their story doesn’t add much to the plot, except perhaps to muddy it a bit.

Villados does a wonderful job as Calvino, though he was sabotaged by a terrible wig that didn’t fit well, looked like it hadn’t been washed in months, and kept falling in his face so he was forced throughout the entire play to keep pushing it back almost constantly. (You’d think an alchemist who works with fire and dangerous chemicals would know better than to let his hair grow so long!)

Brother Savio fared better and was not forced to wear a wig at all, which allowed us to concentrate on his character rather than his hair, and actor Hutto gave an engaging performance.

Barone was a perfect spitfire of an Italian wife. The couple’s fight on their wedding night was one of the funnier scenes in the play. The double entendres and downright blatant sexual comments had the audience howling.

Hall’s Alberto Rossinio Domenici looks as if he had been born sneering. He is the aristocrat who is used to having his own way, and isn’t above a little breaking and entering, and a lot of threats and blackmail, to get it.

Aside from the wigs, Jenny Plummer’s costumes were lovely and reflected her years working with Renaissance fairs.

“The Meaning of It All” is a promising start. I hope it’s not another five years before we see more from Lautz.

13

It’s fairly safe to say that the musical “13″ with book and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown is never going to become a beloved classic that is brought back time and time again.

An older couple talked to me before the show about how much they had loved the previous production of “South Pacific” and hoped that this show would be as good. I wondered what they were thinking as the opening number of “13″ began:

Who’d have guessed Dad would meet a stewardess?
Mom’s depressed and her lawyers are mean
Now I’m stressed, life is a disaster
And I’m cracking from the strain, going totally insane

The plot centers on Evan, a 12-year-old New York Jewish kid about to have his bar mitzvah and looking forward to the party. When he learns his parents are divorcing and that he must move with his mother to Appleton, Ind., he feels his life is over. The show centers on Evan trying to make friends so he can have the big party. Themes include modern teen interest (a lot of emphasis on “kissing with tongue”):

Guys, Kendra’s a good girl. I can’t just hit on her like whack-a-mole.
I do that, I will never get the tongue. Incoming! Kendra, 3 o’clock!

You get the idea.

While this may be the thinnest of plots, what makes it work is a strong cast, and Woodland has that. With a cast whose average age is about 14, it’s not surprising that there is a range of quality and that some voices are not quite up to the songs they have to sing, but overall, they handle the material well and director Amy Shuman has done an excellent job with her cast.

Seventeen-year-old Tony Cellucci, as Evan, is in almost every scene and has seven songs, a huge task for even seasoned performers. Happily, Cellucci carries it like a pro. He is likeable, he takes command of the stage, sings well, and he dominates any scene in which he appears. He is particularly wonderful in “Evan’s Haftorah.”

Devin DeGeyter is Archie, Evan’s disabled pal. So convincing is DeGeyter dragging himself around the stage on his crutches that it was almost a surprise to see him walk on stage for the final bows. He has more of a New York attitude than a mid-west attitude but he is a great, memorable character.

Abby Miles is Patrice, Evan’s new next-door neighbor. We never find out why exactly she is disliked by everyone else in the high school but she is a wonderful best friend, and very poignant in songs like “Good Enough.”

Not surprisingly, the most popular guy in school is Brett, the football star (Peter DeBello), who is the guy who is determined to kiss Kendra with tongue. He is obsessed with tongue. DeBello gives a solid performance

McKinley Carlisle is Lucy, Patrice’s best friend. Carlisle, making her opera house debut, has 13 years of theater under her belt and it shows in her comfort on stage. At 18, she is one of the oldest in the cast.
Emma Black plays Kendra and is the perfect high-pitched teenage girl, whose innocence is a great part of her character.

Some of the smaller roles, Emily Miller as Cassie and Devon Hayakawa as Charlotte give outstanding performances in some of the ensemble numbers.

Sets moved on and off stage are almost nonexistent, but set designer John Bowles makes use of projections on the back wall, which is very effective.

Rodgers and Hammerstein this ain’t, but for the right audience, “13″ is an enjoyable show. When the show opened in Jerusalem, it became an overnight sensation. There were certainly a lot of very excited young people whooping and hollering on opening night.

Robert Lautz (feature story)

 It will be a proud day when Robert Lautz’s play, “The Meaning of it All” makes its world premiere at California Stage’s Wilkerson Theater on Friday, April 27. Directed by Ray Tatar, this 20th presentation for California Stage is set in the Italian Renaissance and deals with love, intrigue and alchemy.

It is also a debut play for Lautz, who has spent the past six years polishing his skills as a playwright. What the audience will see is his 11th version of this story, which he has been thinking about for most of his life.
This now 50-something-year-old did not start out to be a playwright; he wanted to be a jazz musician. Lautz had played music all his life and went to the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston as a drummer, but found that didn’t really meet his needs.

“When you’re a drummer, they give you a pad and put you in a room and tell you to keep banging on it,” he said.

Looking for more interaction, after making friends with jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton (who went on to become vice president of Berklee, before his retirement), Lautz took up the vibraphone and became a composition major (“a natural for a percussionist,” he says).

After graduation, he “borrowed” the family car (his father never got it back) and drove across the country to return to his native California. He had grown up in the Bay Area and after his return, settled in Santa Cruz.
“I got there in April and the car still had snow tires on it,” he recalls.

He became a street musician, playing on the streets and in malls and gigs up and down the California coast, whenever he could find work, supporting himself for some 20 years.

It was after his wife, whom he met in Santa Cruz, became pregnant that he decided that “this jazz musician thing may not work out financially.”

In 1995, he ended up on the California Arts Council, a move that would bring him to Davis. By this time he had two daughters, ages 4 and 2, and real estate agents took him all over Sacramento looking for a house.
“Then I drove out to Davis, first getting lost on Olive Drive. But we fell in love with the town. It was a great place to raise our daughters,” he said.

Friends in Sacramento warned him that Davis was where the liberals were, “but we came from Santa Cruz!” he added, laughing.

“I’d always liked writing,” Lautz said, when asked about his play. Built while concentrating on his music, he’d never written anything officially. He had an idea floating around in his head about what would happen if someone invented a “universal solvent” that dissolves anything (kind of a variation on the King Midas touch).
He approached California Stage’s Ray Tatar with his idea.

“I was so naive,” he said. “He probably gets hundreds of play ideas pitched to him.”

Tatar, however, was intrigued enough to let Lautz know he would be willing to read his script once it was written, and if it was good enough, he would produce it.

Realizing that Lautz had no experience writing a play, Tatar suggested he connect with Rich Foster, the dramaturg for California Stage.
“He lives in Sonora and is a wonde
rful playwright and writer and volunteers his time to help aspiring writers,” Lautz explained. “Without him, I would not know how to write a play.”

Over the next five to six years, Lautz worked on his play, and Foster gave constructive criticism.

“I remember the first draft I sent him. He just tore it apart. He’s been wonderfully honest. After his criticism, I asked lots of questions. He said ‘bravo to your wonderful response to my savagery.’ ”

Lautz discovered that when one plot point doesn’t work, it sometimes requires making massive changes. His cast, for example, doubled in size, from three to six.

“Writing is a struggle. You lock yourself in a room and ask ‘why am I even attempting this?’ Rick would have ideas different from mine, but it made me realize he was right,” Lautz said.

“Sometimes you have dialog working so well but then you realize that in order to introduce a new idea you have to tear apart something and then mend it. I might be in love with a line that works well and realize I had to throw it out to get better perspective about what the story is all about.”

One of the ideas that had to go was the play’s setting. Lautz explained that originally he had scenes all over the place, including one on top of the leaning tower of Pisa, until he realized that, economically, he needed to find a way to set the whole thing in one room.

There will be incidental music throughout the play, from the time before the play starts to exit music. Lautz did a lot of research on music of the period which, he explained, tends to be mostly sacred vocal music music.

“I wanted small instrumental ensembles and I’ve found some really wonderful, charming and even goofy music,” he said.

Lautz also sought help from Franco Renosto, a retired UC Davis faclty member who is perhaps better known as a youth soccer coach, for translating some of the script into Italian, to give the play an authentic sound.

“When the characters get angry, they are more likely to speak rapidly in Italian,” he said.

After a long labor process, “The Meaning of It All” is about to be born, and there will be no prouder first-time papa than Lautz. The show opens April 27 and runs weekends through May 27. On Sunday, April 29, the playwright and his translator will hold a talk-back with the audience.

Million Dollar Quartet

There’s a whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on over at the Sacramento Community Center. A lot of grey haired people are dancin’ and clappin, whoopin’ and hollerin’ like it’s 1956.

And, in fact, it is. On stage, that is.

“Million Dollar Quartet” recreates a famous night shortly before Christmas in 1956 when Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley gathered at Sun Recording studio in Memphis, Tenn., where three had launched their careers and Lewis was about to do so. The group, the only time the four ever performed together, held an impromptu jam session, about which a reporter who was present at the time wrote, “this quartet could sell a million.”

Now there is a juke box type musical about that momentous event (which the screen on stage before the show proclaims “made rock and roll history”), written by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux and directed by Eric Schaffer.

This could be a ho-hum, just like every other juke box musical, but it has an outstanding cast as the quartet – Martin Kaye as Jerry Lee Lewis,  Lee Ferris as Carl Perkins, Derek Keeling as Johnny Cash and Cody Slaughter as Elvis Presley. Unlike the cast of “Jersey Boys,” the men are all gifted musicians and don’t just play the roles, they play the music as well. (So important is this that even the understudies get their photos and bios in the program)

Christopher Ryan Grant is Sam Phillips, the visionary owner of Sun Records, who saw potential in these poor boys who showed up at his studio with a new idea about music.

Kelly Lamont has the thankless task of being Presley’s girlfriend. Her role is completely superfluous and though she gives a dynamite performance of “Fever” it seems like something stuck in just to get a woman into the cast.

Billy Shaffer and Chuck Zayas round out the cast, as back-up musicians. Zayas in particular twirls a mean bass.

This is a show that is all about the music. “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “See You Later, Alligator,” “Hound Dog” — as well as country songs and spirituals like “Peace in the Valley” and “Down by the Riverside.” There is a thin plot to give Phillips a chance to guide the piece, but really everyone is there to hear the music. And nobody will be disappointed.

In 1956, Presley’s star was on the rise (funniest line of the night, after complaining of his treatment in Las Vegas, Elvis says “I’ll never play Las Vegas again.” It got a big laugh from the audience.). He had just signed with RCA, Cash was about to sign with Capitol. Jerry Lee Lewis was about to burst on the music scene (and we all know how that went!)

While it may be thought that Presley would be the most memorable in this production, actually it is Kaye as Lewis who steals the show. He’s a brash young kid, convinced of his talent and determined to make people know how talented he is. Today he would be diagnosed as having ADD, as he can’t keep still, and can’t stop breaking into incredible piano riffs when he’s supposed to be filling in the background.

Keeling has the deep voice that we identify with the later in life Johnny Cash, though oddly enough the section of the real recording made in 1956 shows that booze and cigarettes had not yet affected the timbre of Cash’s voice at that time. Still, you want to wallow around in those great low notes that Keeling gives us.
Slaughter must grease his hip joints after every performance, so fluid is his body movement. Some of his poses are amazing.

By the end of the show, the whole audience was on its feet clapping and singing along and remembering when we were all part of the birth of rock and roll. I hadn’t seen my husband so happy at a musical in the 12 years of my time as critic!

Titanic

It was six years ago, on closing night of the Davis Musical Theatre Company’s production of “Titanic: the Musical” that director Steve Isaacson made the decision to repeat the show on the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the ship. He confided that he actually knocked off two weeks of rehearsal in order to make that happen.

Open a show of this magnitude with two weeks less rehearsal time? (And on Friday the 13th to boot!) It sounded like a recipe for a Titanic-sized disaster, especially recalling the good, if uneven, quality of the previous production. I crossed my fingers and hoped it would be good.

I needn’t have worried. This is a wonderful production, which went off, on opening night, without any of the glitches that befell the show last time.

There were plenty of things that could go wrong, but nothing did. The technical glitches from last time didn’t materialize, the things that hadn’t worked were eliminated. Everything else worked like clockwork (or if it didn’t, the audience wasn’t aware of problems).

With a cast of nearly 50, it’s inevitable that there will be performances that don’t live up to the really good ones, but with only two exceptions, everyone was, at best, outstanding, at “worst,” not quite on a level with the outstanding, but still good.

Among the outstanding performances was Dan Masden as Frederick Barrett, the stoker, who sends his proposal by telegraph home to his sweetheart. His “Barrett’s Song” was a highlight.

Likewise, Amber Jean Moore as Alice, a second-class passenger, wife of Edgar (Scott Griffith), is marvelous as a star-struck woman who longs to rub elbows with the likes of John Jacob Astor (Mark Deamer) or Benjamn Guggenheim (Rich Kulmann).

The always wonderful Marguerite Morris plays two roles, paired with Scott Minor both times, which is a little confusing. As a German couple, Morris and Minor are very moving in their duet “Still.”

A glance at the newspaper reproductions in the lobby will make it obvious that Joel Porter was a perfect choice to play Capt. E.J. Smith. Not only does he resemble him, but he sings the part very well.

Kyle Hadley brings the same life and enthusiasm to the character of Bandmaster Wallace Hartley as he did to Nicely Nicely Johnson in “Guys and Dolls.” His “Doing the Latest Rag” was lots of fun. Kudos to Jacob Montoya for the choreography.

Andy Hyun was wonderful as Charles Clark, headed off to America with his girlfriend (Rebecca Wilson), where they plan to be married.

Jenny Reuter was cute as one of the three Irish Kates headed to America to find jobs as ladies’ maids.
Adam Sartain as Bruce Ismay, the director of the White Star Line, spends the entire voyage angry that the ship isn’t going faster, convinced that there would never be a danger to the passengers. His barely controlled rage was at times a little over the top.

David Holmes is Thomas Andrews, the designer of the ship, so proud as his creation sails off into the North Atlantic, so frustrated when he stands on the tilting deck of the ship, wondering where it all went wrong.

All of the children give professional-quality performances.

It should be pointed out that this is not a plot show, but focuses on vignettes featuring one or two or three individuals at a time. We don’t get involved in anybody’s lives enough to worry about this or that person, but instead we care about all of the passengers.

I found myself quite emotional as the passengers boarded the ship, knowing what was to come. “Godspeed Titanic” is an incredibly moving number, as the ship begins to sail out to meet its fate.

I was also emotional at the closing tableau with half the cast saved and the other half about to die.

The sets, designed by Isaacson and Mark Deamer, are less elaborate than the 2006 production, but the missing elements were not missed and what is left is sufficient. The effect of the ship sinking is marvelous.
Jean Henderson’s costumes are always elegant, though I wish she had given Ismay a bit more believable mustache.

The program lists a 17-piece orchestra but the covered pit in which they play made it difficult for the audience to hear more than the piano, which is a shame.

While the ship Titanic may have sunk 100 years ago, DMTC’s “Titanic: The Musical” will sail effortlessly through the remaining days of its run.

Relapse

The Orpheus myth has been told and retold ever since the lyric poet was first mentioned in the sixth century B.C. Greeks venerated him as the greatest of all poets and musicians.

It was Virgil who introduced Eurydice, the wife of Orpheus, who dies in a fatal accident. Orpheus was so distraught that he travels to the underworld to bargain for her return to life.

As the story goes, he played such a sad song for the gods that their hearts were moved and they allowed Eurydice to return with Orpheus to the upper world, on condition that Orpheus walk out without looking back to make sure she is following him.

Being human (and this being a story with a moral), Orpheus succumbs to temptation, looks back, and Eurydice vanishes forever.

Many variations of the story have been presented in the modern day. There have been at least 30 films using the Orpheus theme. “Black Orpheus,” for example, was the Brazilian movie made by Marcel Camus, which sets the story in modern-day Rio de Janeiro during Carnaval.

Sarah Ruhl’s “Eurydice” (recently presented by Acme Theatre Company in Davis) tells the story from the woman’s point of view, where we learn that in the underworld she is reunited with her father, whose love for his daughter is so strong she chooses to remain with him rather than follow her husband back to the upper world.

Now the Davis Shakespeare Ensemble takes a new look at the story, giving it a fresh new twist with “Relapse, a Retelling of the Orpheus Myth with Shakespeare’s Sonnets” now being presented at the Natsoulas Gallery.

In a memorable performance by Gia Batistta and Bob Salas, the focus is once again on the story from the point of view of Eurydice and the action is based on the movement (by movement director Gabby Battista), which is both mechanical and fluid, the dialog coming from the sonnets of Shakespeare.

We see Eurydice as a vibrant woman, mesmerized by an opening in the floor that seems to be giving her some sort of energy or revitalization. Her movement is disrupted by the abrupt entrance of Orpheus, whose movements are much more sharp and serious.

She exits and he brings in a box, which he places right on top of the space that Eurydice was just playing with. He then exits and she discovers he has ruined her source of energy/self-empowerment.

We watch Orpheus vacillate between his love for his wife, his muse, whom he puts on a pedestal, so dependent is he on her inspiration for his creativity. The pedestal has the effect of keeping her tied to the writer and squelching her own freedom.

The result of her inhibition is the ultimate death of Eurydice. In a beautiful and moving moment, we watch the woman singing a beautiful song as she slowly begins to walk into the underworld, while Orpheus bemoans her death.

As in the myth, Orpheus travels to the underworld to bring her back and ultimately, as the pair begin to return, Eurydice speaks to Orpheus, causing him to turn around, and Eurydice regains her freedom.

Battista and Salas have beautiful chemistry and create, once again, a moving portrait of the star-crossed lovers and the tragedy that results from a lopsided love where one strives to dominate the other, to the detriment of both.

As Battista sees her role, “I felt inspired to call attention to the gender problems in this story, and really bring out how much Eurydice is objectified by Orpheus as he ultimately uses her up — leading to her death, solely for his own benefit.

“I also wanted to explore the idea that he is not going to the underworld to save her, but to save himself. I wanted to bring out the idea that Eurydice is strong enough to make her own decision of her fate as she chooses to stay in the underworld and does not need to be rescued, because she has found new peace and freedom with herself.”

Barrymore

John Barrymore was born to perform. He was a member of a theatrical dynasty, which included his father, Maurice Barrymore, a dashing leading man, his mother, Georgiana Drew, an accomplished comedienne, and his uncle, John Drew, the “First Gentleman of the American Stage.” His siblings were Lionel and Ethel and he is, of course, the grandfather of young Drew Barrymore.

In his early career he was noted for light comedy, but after a few more substantial roles, which proved his ability to play tragedy as well as comedy, he made theater history in March 1920 when opened in Shakespeare’s “Richard III.” His was described as “the most inspired performance this generation has ever seen.” Critics hailed the production as “the beginning of a new era for Shakespeare on the American stage.”

Barrymore later went on to portray “one of the greatest Hamlets ever seen in New York.” Of that role, Laurence Olivier recalled that “Everything about him was exciting. He was athletic, he had charisma, and, to my young mind, he played the part to perfection.”

Financial problems, largely due to the demands of his many ex-wives, however, brought him to a more lucrative career in Hollywood and many roles in silent films, and then talking pictures. By the 1930s, his skills and memory were on the decline, due to the effects of hard living, hard drinking and possible early Alzheimer’s. Unable to remember his lines, he was forced to read from blackboards just out of camera range, and he began to be offered second-rate, rather than starring roles.

“Barrymore,” a play by William Luce, now at Sacramento Theatre Company’s Pollock Stage under the direction of Greg Alexander, is set close to the end of the actor’s life.

Barrymore has rented an old theater and he is there to run lines for “Richard III” in the hopes of appealing to backers so he can once again bring Richard III to Broadway.

The role of John Barrymore is the role of a lifetime and Gregory North tackles the challenge and comes up winner. He has the stature, the profile and the panache for the role. He is resplendent in either a double-breasted suit or a Richard III costume (nice job by costumer McKayla Butym).

The two acts of the play are quite different from each other. Act 1 is the jumble of an old theater, filled with set pieces, props and audience seats (people are invited to sit on the stage, if they desire). Scenic designer Mims Mattair’s carefully arranged clutter lends the perfect atmosphere.

The disarray mirrors the jumble of Barrymore himself, whose dialog is filled with a verbal avalanche of memories, off-color jokes, observations and brief scenes from plays in which he has appeared (and even a recitation of the poem “The Hound of Heaven,” which sounds quite Shakespearean, in context).

His prompter, the off-stage voice of Elly Award winner Sean Patrick Nill, tries to keep him at the task of running Richard III lines, mostly unsuccessfully. When Barrymore tries to stick with the script, his frustration at not remembering the lines leads him off in another direction time and time again, his distraction not at all helped by the amount of liquor he ingests throughout the act.

In Act 2, dressed as Richard the III, we get a better sense of the fear within the man as he struggles mightily to remember his lines. It is obvious he will never play this role again.

Playwright Luce plays loose with the dialog, occasionally using expressions that seem more contemporary than reflecting the era in which Barrymore lived. There is also a point in Act 2, following an attack of trembling hands, where the prompter asks the actor if he has thought of going to AA. But Barrymore died in 1942 and Alcoholics Anonymous was not founded until 1957. It was a glaring error.

Those points aside, this is a powerful show and will send you to Google to get further information on a man who was once one of the most respected members of the illustrious Barrymore family.