tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52518675041099020762024-02-20T07:34:22.646-08:00 Theatre EddysGuyDadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06225290125508992039noreply@blogger.comBlogger699125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251867504109902076.post-46751760834429943032019-11-16T10:11:00.003-08:002019-11-16T10:11:58.299-08:00"Bull in a China Shop"
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Bull in a China
Shop</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Bryna
Turner</span></div>
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<a href="https://auroratheatre.org/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">AuroraTheatre</span></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stacy Ross & Leontyne Mbele-Mbong</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Mary
Emma Woolley (1863-1947) was the first female to attend Brown University, a women’s
suffrage advocate, a peace activist, and the president of Mount Holyoke College
(MHC) from 1900 to 1937.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was also in
a secret relationship with a former student who became an English professor at
MHC during the years Woolley was there, Jeanette Marks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Recently, MHC hosted a digital exhibition on
their lives and the letters they wrote to each other over their near-forty-year
relationship -- a story that MHC graduate and playwright Bryna Turner has taken
and transformed into a play now in its Bay Area premiere at Aurora
Theatre.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Bull in a China
Shop </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">is
steeped in the events of history that surrounded these women’s lives – the
fight for women’s voting rights, the transformation of women’s education from
preparing proper housewives to creating professionals in their own right, and the
bold leadership of women like these two in the social and political movements
of the times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But at its heart, the play
as penned by Bryna Turner and directed by Dawn Monique Williams is an engaging story
of two women’s up and down romance over four decades along with all the drama <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and</i> comedy entailed during a period when
such love was kept as secret as possible, was shunned by most if suspected, and
was of course, illegal.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leontyne Mbele-Mbong & Stacy Ross </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Over
twenty scenes of those decades play out in the eighty-five minutes during which
we as an audience actually spend a good portion of our time laughing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bryna Turner’s script is sharp and brilliant in
its humor, wit, and satire. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dawn Monique
Williams guides her exceptionally talented cast through moments of tease and
tension, quest and quarrel, love and lust – moments that may take place in the
early twentieth century, post-Victorian age but appear and sound current in the
language the women speak and in the situations they find themselves as they maneuver
through relationship, career, and moral challenges.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">There
is much face validity to Stacy Ross’s portrayal of Mary Woolley, so natural she
is in portraying a woman whose first words we hear are “Listen, I’m a bull in a
china shop.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In practicing for an interview
to be president of Mount Holyoke, she is like a tornado twirling around the
room, declaring as if talking to the school’s hiring committee, “You want a training
ground for good pious women?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fuck that.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her Mary gains further steam as if about to walk
into the ring for a round of fisticuffs as she asserts, “So you’re afraid they
won’t find husbands? … If a man is interested in headless women, send him to France.”
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stacy Ross & Leontyne Mbele-Mbong</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Throughout,
Stacy Ross keeps her head down and her eyes peeled for opportunities for her Woolley
not just to lead a revolution, but in her words, “I am a revolution.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But when she becomes president, her passion
for change and to rebuild the institution “from the ground up” is no less than
the passion she so vividly shows when near the woman of her life, Jeanette
Marks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scenes of the two together are at
times as steamy and erotic and yet also as natural as any love scenes one might
have ever seen on the stage. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their
pawing, nibbling, and general love-play is all the more fun when we consider
the fact that as they undress each other, they are pulling off the boots and unbuttoning
the skirts and blouses of an era we often associate holding the most prudish of
moralities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtEm_LfVm-KqdWll7FgcPqDjeMhZYQG4nFLO-qrKWGZWdrXu17KVHKo1Va6e6c9Bs0bWWjzUbLrSF83RagDt1LTXdufZOmdxjfx3WhtIfc_HwOX50muxJ5Mcfd42Nzt9QceXRTS5YYtiid/s1600/file-11857-file.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1274" data-original-width="1600" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtEm_LfVm-KqdWll7FgcPqDjeMhZYQG4nFLO-qrKWGZWdrXu17KVHKo1Va6e6c9Bs0bWWjzUbLrSF83RagDt1LTXdufZOmdxjfx3WhtIfc_HwOX50muxJ5Mcfd42Nzt9QceXRTS5YYtiid/s400/file-11857-file.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stacy Ross & Leontyne Mbele-Mbong</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">For
all her romantic come-ons to her younger companion, Stacy Ross’s Woolley is not
hesitant suddenly to unleash knife-sharp remarks to snap her younger lover back
into the reality she as the older so clearly sees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Marks complains, “You promised me a
castle and you gave me a dorm” because they have yet to live in a house befitting
a college president, Woolley dryly but with a bite replies, “Drink some water,
take your aspirin, and grow up.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">As
Marks, Leontyne Mbele-Mbong is equally powerful in her portrayal of a woman
determined not to be the “wife” (even though she has moved to Holyoke specifically
to be near Woolley), but instead to be her own powerhouse center of independent
thought and action while creating her own means for young women’s “find[ing] greater
access to their minds.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her Marks does
not mind also breaking some china along the way as she is openly disdainful of department
meetings and sees nothing wrong smoking cigarettes with her students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With an aspiration to be a great writer, she
announces with dramatic flair of a Shakespearean thespian, “I’m going to kill myself”
when a review of her first published paper calls it “self-important gibberish.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While clearly delighted in Woolley’s moves to
get her into bed, she is also left hungry for attention when the president’s
duties and/or the college’s financial restraints do not meet all her needs for
attention or for living somewhere other than in a faculty dormitory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In those moments, her twitching and restlessness
takes over, and her eyes wander.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Both
actors rock the small Aurora setting with their dynamic portrayals of two
headstrong women who have goals for social, educational, and political reform both
similar and singular that sometimes are in synch and sometimes sorely
clash.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rollercoaster ride of their
relationship through the years stays on track even after major wrecks along the
way because of a love that is so visceral in those moments when each longs for
the absent other – noted maybe as in a slightly quivering lip, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>word said with some slight hesitation, or a
look frozen in a faraway horizon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">And
while the story of their on-and-off love plays out, the two each lead forth in
taking stands for the increased rights of women – be it Woolley’s moves to replace
a male-dominated faculty with half that is female, Mark’s determination to
start a playwrighting class for the women students against the wishes of a Dean
who sees such a profession as not one for women, or their paired crusade (after
Woolley’s initial hesitation) to take public stands in favor of women’s
suffrage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in those and other
revolutions pursued, each actor moves as a force not to be upended by a
traditional dean; by a lover who is feeling dismissed; or by her own temporary hesitation,
distrust, or feeling of inadequacy.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifh-CjwqNM9ILDO3YivDmRrvADphNZNzcyR-88eI83JFB7OqtEtEkBM-vsjqx3xM_2qVKFMcR2f1MLoZZhYAzomvvPGPv3RvSaLh8nqI03d1UFCJkkfSvWIpxvGymypPSLIwt6ivqNspI8/s1600/file-11852-file.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1070" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifh-CjwqNM9ILDO3YivDmRrvADphNZNzcyR-88eI83JFB7OqtEtEkBM-vsjqx3xM_2qVKFMcR2f1MLoZZhYAzomvvPGPv3RvSaLh8nqI03d1UFCJkkfSvWIpxvGymypPSLIwt6ivqNspI8/s320/file-11852-file.jpg" width="214" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stacy Ross & Mia Tagano</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Mia
Tagano is the tow-the-line, tight-lipped Dean Welsh who yet garners the reluctant
courage at times to give in to the shifts and changes that both President Woolley
and Professor Marks want to undertake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
protests to Woolley, “You’re making the school too political,” and suggests, “You
might be trying to upend the concept of womanhood,” only to be a wonderful
mixture of stone-faced, shocked and maybe just a bit satisfied in hearing from
Wooley that she is correct on both counts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">A
further, excellent performance is provided by Rebecca Schweitzer as philosophy
professor, Felicity, who is a big-hearted friend and oft-jolly housemate of Marks
and who turns into her own model of firebrand and mover/shaker when it comes to
the fight for suffrage. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a
communication bridge between the two during one of their periodic breakdowns,
her Felicity is hilarious as she conveys messages from the downstairs to the upstairs.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMCaD4EEuX7VTJMwxb75yyy2NCSE0QDMKoXApoudJGVITZJz1ZCZoWombQwAIuLomBX52TE6aWwIUW4y5u1o4sYUSUmVC8fOLLM5gbi_CFSk7evCu6Q9zXM4u_PBsm-I9Fui8ehyphenhyphenFEt-o3/s1600/file-11855-file.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1130" data-original-width="1600" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMCaD4EEuX7VTJMwxb75yyy2NCSE0QDMKoXApoudJGVITZJz1ZCZoWombQwAIuLomBX52TE6aWwIUW4y5u1o4sYUSUmVC8fOLLM5gbi_CFSk7evCu6Q9zXM4u_PBsm-I9Fui8ehyphenhyphenFEt-o3/s400/file-11855-file.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leontyne Mbele-Mbong & Jasmine Milan Williams</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Jasmine
Milan Williams places herself on the ballot for ‘best featured actress’ as she delightfully,
devilishly plays undergrad Pearl who has proclaimed herself president of a fan
club of a few young women at Holyoke who are rooting for the success and
continuation of the relationship they see between Woolley and Marks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a work-study student who is assigned linens
in the faculty dorm, she has discovered letters under Marks’ sheets that have led
to their secret society and to her own vividly portrayed, puppy-love infatuation of Marks herself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Ulises
Alcala has dressed our principals in clothes both of the time and ahead of the
time but in keeping with their vision for women and for themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Culottes or ties for the president?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure, why not?) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The exquisite scenic design of Nina Ball
suggests ivy-covered walls and the interior of a college’s chapel while quickly
opening panels and drawers in the wooden wall to allow the interiors of offices
and bedrooms to appear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The lighting of
Kurt Landisman brings the dappled shadows of a tree-filled campus to mind while
also sharpening the focus on moments of individual crisis or wrapping in warm
hues a couple’s passion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lana Palmer’s
sound design adds touches like low, background booms warning of impending quarrels
and the playful signs of a young girl’s rocks hitting her professor’s/would-be-lover’s
window.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Aurora
Theatre’s staging of Bryna Turner’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bull
in a China Shop</i> is fun, inspiring, educational, and sexy all at the same
time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But even more, the play reminds
all of us whatever our sex or age or profession that having the odds supposedly
stacked against us is no reason not to plow ahead if the vision of where we
want to go and what we want to accomplish rings true in our soul and heart – be
it a vision of social/political change, of love, or of both.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Rating:
5 E</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Bull in a China
Shop</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">
continues through December 8, 2019 at Aurora Theatre, 2018 Addison Street,
Berkeley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tickets are available online
at <a href="https://auroratheatre.org/">https://auroratheatre.org/</a> or by
calling the box office at 510-843-4822.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Photo
Credits: David Allen</span></div>
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</style>GuyDadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06225290125508992039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251867504109902076.post-13529437643225461132019-11-14T22:52:00.000-08:002019-11-15T06:16:12.260-08:00"Miss Saigon"<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Miss Saigon</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Claude-Michel Schönberg (Music); Richard
Maltby, Jr. & Alain Boublil (Lyrics); Alain Boublil (Adaptation from
Original French Text)</span></div>
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<a href="http://broadwaysanjose.com/"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">BroadwaySan Jose</span></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI3YEk6aO5zHIY0Hfh-Sh9p1cZpN560x6imYpQIBbyCcgdTczWj2vUsfNIdOPBM1jX-parZcWy3tGiMnDfrhkB5JLz0R-X3FkWR0GwMd2E4gvNDXOIlzgmDQAWsJGULU_Tf_p2B5Sff3LS/s1600/04.MISS_SAIGON_TOUR_9_21_18_5357%252Br%252Bphoto%252Bby%252BMatthew%252BMurphy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI3YEk6aO5zHIY0Hfh-Sh9p1cZpN560x6imYpQIBbyCcgdTczWj2vUsfNIdOPBM1jX-parZcWy3tGiMnDfrhkB5JLz0R-X3FkWR0GwMd2E4gvNDXOIlzgmDQAWsJGULU_Tf_p2B5Sff3LS/s400/04.MISS_SAIGON_TOUR_9_21_18_5357%252Br%252Bphoto%252Bby%252BMatthew%252BMurphy.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anthony Festa and Emily Bautista</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The story originating from Puccini’s
much-beloved opera <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Madame Butterfly</i>
is well enough known that most audience members arrive – as they might for
Shakespeare’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Romeo and </i>Juliet – anticipating
the tragic ending to its ill-fated love story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Decade-long runs both in London and New York in the 1990s as well as
continual, packed-house tours worldwide these past twenty years also mean that
many will have seen an earlier version of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Miss
Saigon</i>, the multi-award-winning hit of Claude-Michel Schönberg (music) and
Richard Maltby, Jr. and Alain Boublil (lyrics).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">As the years have passed since its
premiere, an array of voices from critics, scholars, and musical-theatre lovers
have mounted against a musical in which Asian women are portrayed as
prostitutes sexually assaulted on stage by American GIs, where the heroine of
color commits suicide so her son of mixed race can be raised by his white
father and lily-white wife, and where negative stereotypes of Asians are
wrapped up in one viperous character audience members try their best not to
like due to his cunning and cheeky side conversations with them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And yet as witnessed by the sold-out, delayed
opening at San Jose’s Center for the Performing Arts (the previous night
cancelled due to the scenery stuck on the highway mid-route) and by the
sustained applause and standing ovation at the evening’s end, </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Miss Saigon</span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> still has adoring audiences who either do
not see, ignore as irrelevant, or see as ‘historical reality’ the disturbing
aspects of this Vietnam War era story.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">A white soldier (Chris) falls unexpectedly
heads over heels in love with a first-night call girl (Kim) just arrived from a
war-ravaged, Vietnamese village.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their
mutual, genuine attraction is surrounded by a collapsing Saigon in the closing
days of the Vietnam War, 1975.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their few
days of love-making retreat are peppered uninvitingly by her pimp (aka The
Engineer) who wants to use their love as his ticket to America, by Chris’s
friend (John) who sees nothing but upcoming disaster in this hot romance of the
moment, and by Kim’s Communist betrothed (Thuy) who shows up wanting to whisk
her away from the Yankee scum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Missed
connections between the two lovers in the final hours of America’s
panic-stricken retreat from Saigon mean the soldier heads home, leaving a
bride-in-name -- if not on legal paper -- with a son soon to be born.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Three years pass while Kim faithfully
awaits Chris’ return, barely surviving the new regime’s cruelty or her terrifying
escape with her son, once again to find herself on sex-trade streets, this time
in Bangkok with a baby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plagued with nightly
dreams of the woman he left behind, the ex-solider after a year remarries and
tries to move on with his life in the U.S.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But his friend’s discovery of the whereabouts of the survived girl and
the existence of a son send the man and his now-wife to an ill-starred
rendezvous and the tragic ending all audience expect but are still often tear-filled
to witness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">We meet Kim standing frozen in fright as
around her on this her first evening as a woman of the night are her half-naked
sisters-of-the-trade being assaulted – spread eagle by humping, drunken
GIs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With a voice not of a diva but of a
young, still-developing girl not ready yet for the forced womanhood she faces,
Emily Bautista as Kim sings in soft tones “The Movie in My Mind” as sustained
notes denote her desperate hope to escape to a world far away from this Saigon
hellhole.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her youthful innocence shines
through both in vocals and in a face that lights up in belief of love’s promise
as she joins with her just-met soldier love, Chris, in “Sun and Moon” – a duet
whose temperature rises as they caress and sing, eye-to-eye and
inches apart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8vIA7CwIlf3pxCEnNMWwivZl08l_z9y7iLZo9Tfm1l-6JsTcrwpP_5hIpgXlmeoOTuznD2aqNMB5_BG6GYbpT7joFalC17lSkRoXr6RQ-WQ6yps7EPQsSD108IBbUZrEgxQBaqU4Bv86q/s1600/01.MISS_SAIGON_TOUR_9_20_18_2126%252Br%252Bphoto%252Bby%252BMatthew%252BMurphy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8vIA7CwIlf3pxCEnNMWwivZl08l_z9y7iLZo9Tfm1l-6JsTcrwpP_5hIpgXlmeoOTuznD2aqNMB5_BG6GYbpT7joFalC17lSkRoXr6RQ-WQ6yps7EPQsSD108IBbUZrEgxQBaqU4Bv86q/s400/01.MISS_SAIGON_TOUR_9_20_18_2126%252Br%252Bphoto%252Bby%252BMatthew%252BMurphy.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Emily Bautista and Anthony Festa </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">In his opening “Why God Why?” Anthony
Festa as Chris slides beautifully from note to note as his tenor-voice searches
to understand how fate has surprisingly introduced this young girl Kim to him
just as the world around him is disintegrating and he is about to head home to
America.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His Chris and Emily Bautista’s
Kim magically, even erotically bond, lending the same face validity to their instantaneous
attraction audiences have awarded Shakespeare’s lovers for centuries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Three years later, Chris sings through
tears in “The Confrontation” as he admits to his now-wife of a romance of his
past.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is soon afterwards with his final cry of
heart-stopping anguish as he holds a dying Kim in his arms that we as audience
know that the memory of Kim and that first night have never really left him – no
matter how much he has tried to convince himself, his friend John, or his wife
Ellen. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Both
Emily Bautista and Anthony Festa have many moments of vocal brilliance
throughout the evening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, there
are a number of times when they (along with other soloists) fall into the trap
of blasting notes in trumpeting volumes every time they sing anything in the
upper ranges of the musical scale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each
has a tendency to give us the big, Broadway-stage voice with too-much-expanded
vowels when more restraint and more variance of volume and tone would
communicate so much more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is
especially glaring at one point when Kim sings to the toddler son in her arms </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">“I’d
Give My Live for You” with an intensity and volume that smack of a diva on
center stage rather than a mother cuddling her son sitting on the ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTr9lS64pyxBoxcLhvIvK-KA-UNhQFpHrJuv4meqfoT3JmASTbE4LT66ceZud8J8_3i5kx1K_9Okpmb-jh2j1_HMmGdj2X2NJdqkxJPUAV7dibw2fh8nFrm5Zv7pPNStbnivjklTlBmX0F/s1600/02.MISS_SAIGON_TOUR_2549.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1371" data-original-width="1600" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTr9lS64pyxBoxcLhvIvK-KA-UNhQFpHrJuv4meqfoT3JmASTbE4LT66ceZud8J8_3i5kx1K_9Okpmb-jh2j1_HMmGdj2X2NJdqkxJPUAV7dibw2fh8nFrm5Zv7pPNStbnivjklTlBmX0F/s320/02.MISS_SAIGON_TOUR_2549.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red Concepción</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Red
Concepción plays The Engineer, </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">the unsavory, self-centered owner of
“Dreamland” in 1975 Saigon who lures in Yanks to relish among his scantily clad
girls offering drinks, drugs, and delights of the flesh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He sings with the voice of a sleazy serpent
in “The Transaction” and draws our contempt as he physically and verbally
abuses novice Kim to do his will with the GIs pawing her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But his Engineer strives to win over our
sympathy along the way, doing all he can to remind us of our mixed emotions for
other musical theatre favorites such as the seedy but seductive M.C. of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cabaret </i>or</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">the
creepy but clownish Fagin of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Oliver</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The musical’s creators want us to see The
Engineer as a warped, but very real Every Immigrant – that person who just
wants to make it to America to find what is sure to be gold-studded streets where
money grows green in trees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mr. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Concepción’s
devilish and at times clownish antics tempt us to like him and sympathize with
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We laugh at and even with him as we
witness “The American Dream” where he imagines himself among a stage full of
feathered Vegas dancers while riding atop a Cadillac with champagne bottle in
hand (just one of several, huge, elaborate, and immensely impressive
productions conceived by Director Laurence Connor and executed by Choreographer
Bob Avian).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, as an audience in
MeToo 2019, The Engineer is particularly a difficult character to award much
sympathy, particularly as staged in this production with the difficult-to-watch
abuses and treatment of women in the Saigon and Bangkok scenes of brothel-based
bars.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">J.
Daughtry plays Chris’s loyal friend, John; and in doing so he brings the
night’s richest, most impressive set of vocals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">His powerful voice trembles with
evangelical conviction in Act Two’s opening “Bui Doi” where he preaches in song
to a solemn group of former soldiers, “We will not forget who they are, all our
children ... conceived in hell and born in strife.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The scene is moving not only because of his
preaching prowess or even for the full harmony of the men’s choral responses
but particularly for the accompanying projections of the faces of forgotten,
abandoned children who were in truth left in crowded camps of squalor after the
Vietnam War.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Other noteworthy performances of the
evening include Jinwoo Jung as Thuy and Christine Bunuan as Gigi. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thuy is a Viet Cong soldier turned Communist
official who is promised in hand to his cousin Kim and then shunned away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mr. Jung’s strong voice rings forth with a
sharp, piercing intensity that sends chills down one’s back as he pronounces to
the rejecting Kim, “Saigon is doomed and so are you ... This is your
curse!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">As a streetwise call girl, Christine Bunuan
as Gigi sings “The Movie in My Mind” with a voice echoing its haunting
predictions what will eventually happen to her, Kim, and the other girls of the
night. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later, she shows heart and soul
as she leads the same girls in a beautiful “The Wedding Ceremony” as Kim and
Chris are blessed in cultural style to begin their short life together.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGMCfwQjiLlN_uscJiCrggnX1yFfWQhPwMXnx05Z7VZZubCeOu1fVgbvCnFI2RC5wGOdi0pvD5BBzqXObb2K6q_XT7zmWYH9xltI6Lh7_-I7bQ8mC8IejCWSUEKQ-mDRPU9gPEhyphenhyphenIefYOO/s1600/05.MISS%252BSAIGON.%252BCompany.%252BPhoto%252BMatthew%252BMurphy%252Band%252BJohan%252BPersson%252B%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="809" data-original-width="1600" height="321" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGMCfwQjiLlN_uscJiCrggnX1yFfWQhPwMXnx05Z7VZZubCeOu1fVgbvCnFI2RC5wGOdi0pvD5BBzqXObb2K6q_XT7zmWYH9xltI6Lh7_-I7bQ8mC8IejCWSUEKQ-mDRPU9gPEhyphenhyphenIefYOO/s640/05.MISS%252BSAIGON.%252BCompany.%252BPhoto%252BMatthew%252BMurphy%252Band%252BJohan%252BPersson%252B%25282%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Fall of Saigon</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The
most impressive moments of this traveling production tend to occur when
many-to-most of the thirty-five-plus cast are on stage in elaborately conceived
numbers that depict everything from busy street scenes of rushing passers-by to
a propaganda-like depiction of the New Vietnam with its marching, ribbon-waving
patriots to the nightmarish escape of the final GIs on a helicopter hovering
dangerously overhead while hoards scream behind locked fences to be rescued.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many kudos to all the creative team whose
combined efforts make this show on the road have all the appearances, sound,
and eye-popping effects of a show on the Great White Way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(That said, the night I attended, there was
an unexplained glitch that delayed the show twice – once for over a half-hour
near the end of Act One and then again for an additional ten-or-so minutes to
the intermission.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Seeing
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Miss Saigon</i> for at least my fourth or
fifth time, I am now more torn than ever whether to render much-deserved praise
for its soaring music, for this production’s many positive aspects, and for
performances overall first-class or to join a growing chorus of voices who are
declaring that the days of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Miss Saigon</i>
as a viable entry on a company’s theatrical season should come to an end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am still very much on the fence because I
do love the music, because I am of an age I remember watching on TV those
harrowing scenes of a collapsing Saigon, and because I always tear up as Kim
sing’s her final breath and Chris screams his anguish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the same time, I conclude that I probably
never need nor want to see another <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Miss
Saigon</i>, given its scenes of the mistreatment of women and its underlying
but maybe unintended message that white is better than non-white and that a
son’s growing up in America with a white father is worth an Asian mother’s
life.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Rating: 3 E</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Miss Saigon </span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">continues through
November 17, 2019, as part of Broadway San Jose’s offerings at San Jose Center
for the Performing Arts, 255 South Almaden Boulevard, San Jose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tickets are available online at </span><a href="http://broadwaysanjose.com/"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">http://broadwaysanjose.com</span></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Photo
Credits:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Matthew Murphy</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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</style>GuyDadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06225290125508992039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251867504109902076.post-30026623345853522702019-11-11T08:58:00.001-08:002019-11-11T09:09:57.785-08:00Gypsy: A Musical Fable<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gypsy: A Musical Fable</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Arthur Laurents (Book); Julie Styne (Music); Stephen
Sondheim (Lyrics)</div>
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<a href="https://www.bamsf.org/">Bay Area Musicals</a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxtTnWUfsLncVrxTpKoQJiwHkh4EXhgSUw4XP7ZLESjasDxIUZqsy2svGOIrKIZ1aSJvH7ybXYNtQqOBciLJ-MRbmqCKQQwkMyo7gFcNsXkkXu1WfrvtNFyWyhS8duOc4S8KqwXSWPx-7x/s1600/g475wC4w.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxtTnWUfsLncVrxTpKoQJiwHkh4EXhgSUw4XP7ZLESjasDxIUZqsy2svGOIrKIZ1aSJvH7ybXYNtQqOBciLJ-MRbmqCKQQwkMyo7gFcNsXkkXu1WfrvtNFyWyhS8duOc4S8KqwXSWPx-7x/s400/g475wC4w.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kayla Lee, Dakota Colussi, Ariela Morgenstern,<br />
Emma Berman & Amber Lee Wunderlich</td></tr>
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The show that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New York
Times </i>revered and feared theatre critic Ben Brantley has referred to as
“what may be the greatest of all American musicals” and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Times </i>essayist/columnist Frank Hart Rich Jr. once called
“Broadway’s own brassy, unlikely answer to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">King
Lear, Gypsy: A Musical Fable </i>in the end is nothing without a Rose who can
join a long line of divas of a certain age to try and live up to the original
Rose, the incomparable Ethel Merman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After all, there are plenty of big shoes, bigger mouths, and biggest
personalities that have preceded any Rose who steps on stage to sing those
first few notes of “Some People.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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With the likes of Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Bernadette
Peters, Patti LuPone, and Imelda Staunton all having tried to outdo each other
in the past, what a daunting task for any casting director to undertake to find
a show’s Rose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fortunately for Bay Area
Musicals, the search by Artistic Director Matthew McCoy did not have to go far
to land Ariela Morgenstern – a San Francisco native with New York credentials –
to take her place in that line-up of past Roses and to bring her full acting
gusto, gigantic stage presence, and big-voiced singing bravado into the fabled
role. </div>
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Any doubts about this Rose<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>are quickly erased when she stomps down the theatre’s aisle
demanding with a bullying scream, “Sing out, Louise” or when in her opening
song she first belts with true clarity and charisma, “I have a dream, a
wonderful dream, Papa.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, Arthur
Laurents (book), Jule Styne (music), and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics) would
surely all approve with satisfied smiles that BAM’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gypsy</i> is headlined by a Rose who will once again knock the socks
off her audience with her beautiful bellows of blast as have so many of her
predecessors.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk6LLO0npy2k7s9z-KUhf43y5Ct1EMM02d_DdQT21NJTFThrl-w3rSGgox9EnV4wsfr2EnhjeVGZwvlWX0W2ZUjZeVuLn7d18lcNyCCZiBdwzebY12kWPr5LI6GM6fJ7kwGz-n8GaeJMOA/s1600/Vn16o6iQ.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk6LLO0npy2k7s9z-KUhf43y5Ct1EMM02d_DdQT21NJTFThrl-w3rSGgox9EnV4wsfr2EnhjeVGZwvlWX0W2ZUjZeVuLn7d18lcNyCCZiBdwzebY12kWPr5LI6GM6fJ7kwGz-n8GaeJMOA/s400/Vn16o6iQ.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Emma Berman, Chloe Fong & Ariela Morgenstern</td></tr>
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As the musical progresses through its vaudeville and
burlesque stages, Ariela Morgenstern only gets better and ever-more convincing
in her portrayal of this most infamous of pushy – some would say monstrous –
backstage mothers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her Rose is a fierce
steamroller ready to plow over anyone who gets in her way of making her two
girls, June and Louise, big-time stars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Always in constant motion often in places where directors and her
daughters do not want her, she hustles and bustles simultaneously in a
half-dozen different directions to scheme, to push aside, and to boss in order
to get their names on a marquee’s lights -- even in the end if only on those of
a seedy strip joint.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With a voice that
can thunder forth like Gabriel’s trumpet before reverberating as if echoing
into the Grand Canyon, Ariela Morgenstern commands in song in ways no one can
ignore Rose’s wishes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ariela Morgenstern & DC Scarpelli</td></tr>
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But for all her bulldozing, stage-mother faults, her Rose can
at times melt our hearts. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A prime
example is when she sings in duet with her patiently loyal paramour and the
devoted booking agent of her kids’ act, Herbie, as the two play off each other
in fine and flirty fashion in “Small World.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Later, when they dance as two lovers in “You’ll Never Get Away from Me,”
they both admit in harmony, “I couldn’t get away from you, even I wanted to;”
and Rose almost convinces us (and Herbie) that she has a soft enough spot in
her heart to let love take over and overrule her “Mommie Dearest”
tendencies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the ever-hopeful,
mild-mannered Herbie, DC Scarpelli brings a debonair, delightful set of vocals
along with a charming, captivating demeanor with twinkles in his eyes for
Rose’s daughters and resignation in his shoulders for Rose’s delayed ‘yes’ to
his ongoing proposals for marriage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ariela Morgenstern</td></tr>
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When in the end her prized and adored blonde starlet-in-the-making,
Baby June, has abandoned her to star in movies and her terribly shy and
second-fiddle Louise has somehow become known for her bare-skin beauty as the
rich and famous stripper, Gypsy Rose Lee, Ariela Morgenstern with magnificently
arresting voice and big-stepping swagger of a Broadway-worthy star does what
all those Roses have done before her:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She takes the spotlight for herself with her own name finally emblazoned
in lights all around her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At that
moment, she declares in a vocal volume that rings loud and true to every
corner, “Everything is coming up roses, this time for me<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>... For me!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>... For me!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And at that moment, we
and her daughter Gypsy easily forgive her for all those years of marching like
Sherman over the burning fields of others’ dreams in order only to fulfill her
own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Gypsy says in the end, “It’s OK,
momma!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>OK, Rose!”</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj25yPb8yo6gv8jylrjZTu6WN7VzN3rQAp-OR8YjNWSTP7femk2jkZhzbybYsgurtXGHGizid6io4Wg7L1Ydn2HVihio7gl-ifshk0RhIkUDpvWXN2l1soKcpTRHaEAxMaxekG-CdpV_N-A/s1600/usVQiF0g.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj25yPb8yo6gv8jylrjZTu6WN7VzN3rQAp-OR8YjNWSTP7femk2jkZhzbybYsgurtXGHGizid6io4Wg7L1Ydn2HVihio7gl-ifshk0RhIkUDpvWXN2l1soKcpTRHaEAxMaxekG-CdpV_N-A/s400/usVQiF0g.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Emma Berman & Chloe Fong</td></tr>
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Rose’s young daughters, June and Louise, bring their songs
full of squeaks, squeals and silly stage antics to the spotlight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Emma Berman is delightful as the high-voiced,
somersaulting Baby June in a wig of Shirley Temple curls and layers of
petticoats who ends every song with an impressive, full-legged split.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She duets with the equally wonderful,
stumbling-over-her-own-feet, barely-opening-her-mouth Baby Louise (Chloe Fong)
in “May We Entertain You.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The two are
joined by three, soprano-happy ‘boys’ (young girls Amber Lee Wunderlich, Dakota
Colussi, and Kayla Yee), all capable of also tapping their toes in a cute “Baby
Jane and Her Newsboys.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Through clever staging, the sisters and Newsboys eventually
transform before our eyes into gangly teenagers who Rose insists on dressing,
treating, and selling in auditions as no more than nine-year-olds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tia Konsur is Dainty Jane who must continue to
sing like she is going on ten when she is actually seventeen, must screech in
the highest register possible the required “Hello, Everybody ... My name is
June ... What’s yours?” and must end every night with a clumsily twirled baton with patriotic red, white, and blue all around her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1WDxDd9Jhbtz7wry_lg8LOSGlb2BHdEO1H9oEC5x7ggMCDBhxellrpDxSNy-OhzP9cN1mFg1xzpsFKFmP9l2pVHWkrbvKrScYxCapzKCsii3CsHxeVWZCvMw2cS-WfkzL44Jxr6HYA0vI/s1600/FJhAh7Sw.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1WDxDd9Jhbtz7wry_lg8LOSGlb2BHdEO1H9oEC5x7ggMCDBhxellrpDxSNy-OhzP9cN1mFg1xzpsFKFmP9l2pVHWkrbvKrScYxCapzKCsii3CsHxeVWZCvMw2cS-WfkzL44Jxr6HYA0vI/s400/FJhAh7Sw.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jade Shojaee</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Louise is the unselfish sister who endures Rose’s ignoring
her (while always doting on June) and making her don a humiliating cow costume
with bulging eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the same, Louise
is quick to be the first one to defend and protect Rose whenever anyone,
including June, speaks against her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jade
Shojaee serves up a pleasingly sweet voice full of innocence and loneliness in
“Little Lamb” while cooing as a birthday teen over her only childhood friends,
her stuffed animals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She joins June in a
fun, sister-bonding “If Momma Was Married” and wins our hearts as she looks
longingly in silent, teenage puppy-love gazes at one of the boys of their
troupe, Tulsa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As she watches him
practice a dance routine and begins to mirror his moves on the sideline, Jean-Paul
Jones as Tulsa wows the audience with his alluring voice and a display of dance
moves that begins as a few teasing tap-and-soft-shoe moves and then erupts into
a full-stage display with convincing hints of Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire as he
sings “All I Need Is the Girl.”</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jade Shojaee</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Once she becomes Gypsy Rose Lee, Louise is Momma’s dream in
ways Rose at first sees as a nightmare and then comes to admire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jade Shojaee’s Gypsy has her big diva moments
in various stages of elegant dress and undress as she finally leaves timid,
no-talent Louise behind to bring a full, mature, and invigorating voice to “Let
Me Entertain You.”</div>
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In any production of Gypsy, there is one number that always
brings some of the biggest howls from the audience and a chance for the costume
designer to go wild with over-the-top comic surprises.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When a trumpet-tooting stripper named Mazeppa
(Olivia Cabera) begins to place her instrument in the strangest of positions as
she instructs novice-stripper Louise how “You Gotta Get a Gimmick,” the
audience just gets warmed up before her sisters-in-the-trade join her – both a
winged, wobbly ballerina named Tessie Tura (Elaine Jennings) and an Electra
(Glenna Murillo) whose skimpy costume lights us in revealing places.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While the members of the thrusting trio in
this production sing with impressive lungs, I found the overall effect of their
act to be less imaginative in costume, special effect, and comic technique that
those I have seen in the past and thus, at least for me, a bit of a let-down.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jean-Paul Jones</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The bare, back-stage, brick-wall setting designed by Matthew
McCoy is transformed to a dozen or so road-trip locations mostly through a
series of spot-lit billboards on either side of the stage, with some minimal
set pieces hinting at dressing rooms and various apartment, restaurant, hotel
settings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His lighting design is more successful
in establishing the moods of burlesque backrooms, tawdry Vaudeville settings,
and the glitzy Minsky’s of New York.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Little girls in stage ribbons and frills, dancing newsboys and farm
boys, a silly stage cow, washed-up strippers, and of course the much-renowned
Gypsy herself are all costumed with fun and flair and sometimes elegance by Brooke
Jennings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The silly steps and splits of
kids on stage, the comic dance antics of trios and duos, and the wonderfully
sophisticated solo of Tulsa are all choreographed by the many-faceted Matthew
Coy, who also directs the cast of twenty-one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Finally, well-deserved kudos goes to Music Director Jon Gallo and his
nine fellow musicians who serve up Jule Styne’s score with big-orchestra sound
from their on-stage presence, especially impressive as they set the mood of the
entire evening during the extended “Overture.”</div>
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For many reasons but all topped by Ariela Morgenstern as Rose
herself, Bay Area Musical’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gypsy: A
Musical Fable</i> is a sure-bet to send toes-tapping, voices humming, and big
smiles repeatedly grinning as the company does full justice and more to this
musical giant among the Great American Musicals of all time.</div>
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Rating: 4 E</div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gypsy: A Musical Fable</i>
continues through December 8, 2019 as a production by Bay Area Musicals at the
Alcazar Theatre at 650 Geary Street, San Francisco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tickets are available online at <a href="http://www.bamsf.org/assassins/">http://www.bamsf.org/assassins/</a> for
performances Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; and Sundays, 2 p.m.</div>
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Photo Credits: Ben Krantz Studio</div>
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</style>GuyDadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06225290125508992039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251867504109902076.post-36469089053990020262019-11-09T14:37:00.004-08:002019-11-09T15:01:35.412-08:00"A Midsummer's Night Dream"<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Midsummer Night’s
Dream</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
William Shakespeare</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://arabianshakespearefestival.org/">Arabian Shakespeare Festival</a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJHMKLDP10eHOJX377KedQpl2Vjv4pGyMK6JxhlLC6K0lmCD7thdlaQdvQ8qVkBlmntewiIG9zJLd1Zsc9D4i1nPiUXMCvXZdCOpiw9dJax4UaLQrrHDTuZ5tNsIoTqJQee37JqaJ9fUqz/s1600/thumbnail-3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="864" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJHMKLDP10eHOJX377KedQpl2Vjv4pGyMK6JxhlLC6K0lmCD7thdlaQdvQ8qVkBlmntewiIG9zJLd1Zsc9D4i1nPiUXMCvXZdCOpiw9dJax4UaLQrrHDTuZ5tNsIoTqJQee37JqaJ9fUqz/s400/thumbnail-3.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-db9e423a-7fff-be98-6dff-971d177ee027" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Norman Gee, Jennifer Le Blanc & John R. Lewis</span></b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Coming off recently winning four Theatre Bay Area Awards for
this past year’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Twelfth Night</i>,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>the Arabian Shakespeare Festival opens <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Midsummer Night’s Dream</i> that should also
be a top prospect for both production and acting awards in the coming
year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shakespeare’s oft-performed,
much-loved comedy of love spats and mishaps; fairy shenanigans; and a hilarious
play within the play performed by six hapless, lovable working blokes is normally
performed by large casts on grand stages – often outdoors – with spectacular
scenic effects and whimsical costumes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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The trademark of the Arabian Shakespeare Festival is to do
just the opposite and still to create a production that – in this case as in
past ones – literally sparkles, titillates, and thoroughly does The Bard mighty
proud.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With a cast of six who each play
three parts, on a stage bare save some movable blocks of wood, and with
character identifications depending on singular elements like a leather cap, a
pair of black glasses, or a flinging pink scarf, ASF stages a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dream</i> that matches and sometimes exceeds
the funny, fantastical, forested worlds of much-bigger productions. </div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTP3j-oap6VsXjvfzo9gCZRsHPZcLRi0mt-SvVjA6QcnZhCk7eqTmyO71h7CDgVv5ItAxgHJOR2EXGrShMmzC5paxYLSIiaMCx9Jd4XP9VI4ktzViC_htv8Owe3h2WNnjAeuj2sECfQ01s/s1600/thumbnail-2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="864" data-original-width="1080" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTP3j-oap6VsXjvfzo9gCZRsHPZcLRi0mt-SvVjA6QcnZhCk7eqTmyO71h7CDgVv5ItAxgHJOR2EXGrShMmzC5paxYLSIiaMCx9Jd4XP9VI4ktzViC_htv8Owe3h2WNnjAeuj2sECfQ01s/s320/thumbnail-2.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-4d7c6d57-7fff-aec9-95ca-1428e24a2d30" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lindsey Marie Schmeltzer & Maeron Yeshiwas</span></b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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For someone who has not attended quite as many productions
as have I, let me provide a quick summary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Duke Theseus of Athens is about to marry the Amazon queen,
Hippolyta.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As they prepare for their
wedding, Hermia, who is secretly about to be engaged to Lysander, resists her
father’s insistence that she instead marry Demetrius who just broke up with her
best friend, Helena, because he loves Hermia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Helena, on the other hand, only has eyes for Demetrius, who wants
nothing of her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Hermia’s father is enraged and insists the Duke force his
daughter to marry his choice of Demetrius or condemn his daughter to death, as is
an ancient, Athenian law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Duke
suggests a nunnery instead, leading Hermia to plan a late-night escape with her
intended Lysander.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She tells Helena her
plans, who decides to betray her best friend to Demetrius, hoping foolishly
that he may repay her with more attention and maybe even love.</div>
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<br /></div>
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As all hell is about to break loose when the four mixed-up
lovers head to the forest, in the heavens above Oberon, King of the Fairies, voices
his frustration with his estranged wife, Titania, who is planning on attending
the Duke and Queen’s wedding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oberon
plans with his trickster sidekick, Puck, a way to punish his wife by using a
flower’s potion to cause her to fall in love with the first beast of the forest
she sees after waking from a night of slumber.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Oberon wants to help the two couples roaming in the forest straighten
out their love issues and sends Puck on a mission also to remedy that situation,
which of course he will unwittingly only make worse. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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In the third parallel story, six common laborers begin a
bumbling rehearsal of a play they hope to stage the night of the Duke’s
wedding. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their choice is an ill-fated
love story by Ovid, described by the tawdry troupe’s organizer, Quince, as “the
most lamentable comedy and the most terrible death of Pyramus and Thisbe.” </div>
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<br /></div>
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In any production of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A
Midsummer Night’s Dream</i>, there is much hilarity to come as Puck uses the
love flower potion to cause Lysander (not Demetrius) to fall in mad love with
Helena (leaving poor Hermia with no one), as Titania ends up falling in love
with an ass (one of the laborers, Bottom, given the head of a donkey by a
devilish Puck), and as our thespians lead up to their big world premiere in
front of the Duke and his bride.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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But as easy as Shakespeare makes it for any reputable
company to glean hilarity from one of his best-written comedies, this ASF
production has found through its inspired casting a way to push the boundaries
even farther into sheer, slapstick silliness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Through clever, comic switches of roles by often gender-bending players,
actors take on persona opposite in nature in a variety of dimensions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The mighty in power become in a second role the
most humble member of society while then transforming to maybe a fairy in
forested flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And all we can do is
laugh and enjoy while – thanks to William J. Brown III’s excellent,
tongue-in-cheek direction – never being confused even for a second as to who is
who.</div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidgLP-A1WuzMRTXVOirh0dYOmjayavN9GiW5e0PYFNi6ul5Uu2KukrjNKgGMJw7DL7tf2UjNA1pHAsd3sxOp4tL7CcoGJ-gdbxKKUqbSTYxzKxLmgwDxWp2ml5hRx1dFqyOWAfS86-8I57/s1600/thumbnail-5.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="864" data-original-width="1080" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidgLP-A1WuzMRTXVOirh0dYOmjayavN9GiW5e0PYFNi6ul5Uu2KukrjNKgGMJw7DL7tf2UjNA1pHAsd3sxOp4tL7CcoGJ-gdbxKKUqbSTYxzKxLmgwDxWp2ml5hRx1dFqyOWAfS86-8I57/s320/thumbnail-5.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-4d7c6d57-7fff-aec9-95ca-1428e24a2d30" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maeron Yeshiwas & John R. Lewis</span></b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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John R. Lewis is the Duke Theseus, a man with aristocratic
airs speaking in bombastic bursts of consonants to his subjects who have come
to talk about their love problems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is
most interested in giving his stroking, tongue-licking attention to his bride-to-be
(Hippolyta) while also adjusting his huge, leather cod piece that is
hilariously wont to shift and fall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mr.
Lewis is also the street-smart, jiving, smooth-moving Puck who delights us with
his bigger-than-life-size personality and a body form much more gigantic than
the Pucks often playing the part.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Among
the “mechanics,” he becomes a childishly eager, always clapping with
encouragement Starveling, playing a big-smiling, Southern-drawling Man in the
Moon who has trouble rising at the right time.</div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3xCMLd-7WQDBFpPvX0Oc6yGwAP8JvCDZ3vX4p5wIS9nCu6HNX8sjOgReI2iGW73XUvZtjYm03nQ0TRYs-vFmqrzNXajDIJP5cMASgqNZP0sbk0gSfzG_AyKXpzKW2QS_kwxz58FPG4_WX/s1600/thumbnail.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="864" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3xCMLd-7WQDBFpPvX0Oc6yGwAP8JvCDZ3vX4p5wIS9nCu6HNX8sjOgReI2iGW73XUvZtjYm03nQ0TRYs-vFmqrzNXajDIJP5cMASgqNZP0sbk0gSfzG_AyKXpzKW2QS_kwxz58FPG4_WX/s400/thumbnail.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Annamarie MacLeod</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The Duke’s intended, Hippolyta, puffs on a metal pointer that
serves as her always-present cigarette as she puts on upper-class airs in her
Russian duchess accent, cooing and clawing her soon-husband every chance she
can get.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it is in her other two
roles that make Annamarie MacLeod a solid candidate for future, acting-award
nominations. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a pink-scarfed Helena
who is initially spurned by her adored Demetrius, she is plucky and pouty,
animated and anxious, ready to rant and quick to give a middle-finger
response.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her spread-eagle temptations
to a non-interested Demetrius and her over-the-top emotional responses become
ever more exaggerated and laugh-producing as mix-ups in the forest multiply. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But incredibly, Ms. MacLeod is even more
hilarious in her third role as Bottom, a stage-hogging troupe member who tries
to play all parts but who ends up starring inadvertently as the braying donkey
that is loved by Hippolyta and catered to by her fairies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The role of her hillbilly-talking Bottom alone
is reason enough to shower much praise on Ms. MacLeod’s performance.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Maeron Yeshiwas has plenty of opportunity also to take
center stage in her role as Hermia, especially as she becomes like a chasing,
attack dog with barks of biting insults when she believes Helena, Demetrius,
and Lysander are all making fun of her love since Lysander is now supposedly heads
over heels in love with her and not his intended Helena, thanks to Puck’s
misfired prank.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She also is the fairy
Cobweb and the acting troupe’s director, Quince.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Some of the funniest, best-directed moments of the evening
occur as Lindsey Marie Schmeltzer switches between a leather coat and a pair of
black glasses to play both of the lovers who end up loving Helena, Lysander and
Demetrius.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The quick transformations of
personality and affections are masterfully coordinated, with other actors like
Puck stepping in at times to hold either the glasses or the coat so both
lover-boys can be in the same scene.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When she is not running around as one of the lost lovers, Ms. Schmeltzer
is the fairyland Flute, who renders a beautiful lullaby to lure Titania to
sleep.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Jennifer Le Blanc and Norman Gee switch sexes to play
respectively the Fairy King Oberon and his Queen, Titania.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oberon is a kind of Midwestern, twenty-something
good ol’ boy, wearing an air of self-defined coolness and moving with just the
right subtle swivels and shakes to ensure that everyone knows that he is
hip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His Titania speaks the Bard’s words
with an elegant, deep voice that adds to the impressive display of comic
acting, in wonderful contrast to Norman Gee’s angry and stubborn Egeus
(Hermia’s father) and his snorting, rough-speaking Snout who rules in his role
as the Wall that separates the lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jennifer Le Blanc is also the bookworm Snug
who studies diligently for his role as a not-too-ferocious Lion and is a
bearded Philostrate with thick and funny Irish brogue.</div>
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<br /></div>
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How many times are actors warned and yet ignore about being
on stage with kids and animals? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once again,
one of the evening’s best moments is thanks to Beatrice, a dog playing duo
roles as a winged fairy and as the Moon’s (Starveling) pet. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Beatrice suddenly employs her tongue to bring
the audience almost into tears with their laughter.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lisa Claybaugh’s simple but highly effective mixture of
single-colored costumes along with the uses of Beatrice Page’s props are huge aids
in helping us as audience keep the constantly changing roles separate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Joanna Hobb’s lighting with split-second
changes brings the magic of the forest to full life, even with no other scenic
aids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their efforts combined with an incredibly creative director and a highly skilled cast that
is clearly having a blast all add up to an evening at Arabian Shakespeare
Festival’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Midsummer Night’s Dream</i>
that is not to be missed.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rating: 5 E</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Midsummer Night’s
Dream </i>continues through November 24, 2019 by the Arabian Shakespeare
Festival at the Royce Gallery, 2901 Mariposa Street, San Francisco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tickets are available online at <a href="http://www.aragiashakes.org/">www.aragiashakes.org</a> or by calling
408-499-0017.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Photo Credits: Gregg Le Blanc/Cumulus Light Photography</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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</style>GuyDadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06225290125508992039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251867504109902076.post-85666847939808377592019-11-08T14:54:00.000-08:002019-11-08T14:57:35.392-08:00Amaluna<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Amaluna</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Guy Laliberté (Creative Guide): Gilles Ste-Croix (Artistic
Guide); Fernand Rainville (Director of Creation)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/">Cirque du Soleil</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEuz4FCpKRgk8-EUKEkR3Q5CM-iDm0GbOBE2yBtg137A3v977xDDYY0HzGu40o83WqhbHz1y4kwt3SZynpk7plh7RcKmnq6nfm9x228hEWCW5a6pSNNTK4JeruhjwAIYocVIm0SPZ011Z_/s1600/amaluna-act-uneven-bars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1280" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEuz4FCpKRgk8-EUKEkR3Q5CM-iDm0GbOBE2yBtg137A3v977xDDYY0HzGu40o83WqhbHz1y4kwt3SZynpk7plh7RcKmnq6nfm9x228hEWCW5a6pSNNTK4JeruhjwAIYocVIm0SPZ011Z_/s400/amaluna-act-uneven-bars.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Uneven Bars Performers</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With seventy per cent of the forty-eight-member cast and all
of the musicians and singers being women, Cirque du Soleil’s nineteenth and
latest show touring the world – <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Amaluna –
</i>is a tour de force of female power and prowess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In an evening where the reverberating voices,
the gasp-producing athleticism, and the eye-popping pageantry of women reign
supreme, no better segment demonstrates the awesome displays of female circus
and performance skills than the finale of Act One when eight women representing
six nationalities wow the audience as their bodies take off in synchronized
flight using uneven bars as their launch pads.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Their Amazon warrior depictions match the sheer strength displayed as
their bodies swing, flip, and fly – often barely missing each other in mid-air
before landing with grace and surety.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And that is just one of the eleven, main acts during the
two-hour, ten-minute show (plus a twenty-five-minute intermission) that
together tell a story of mystical romance where two lovers discover each other
and must endure many tests and trials before their union is assured.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With a storyline that loosely resembles
Shakespeare’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Tempest</i>, the
setting is a mysterious, magic-infused island named Amaluna (translated “Moon
Mother”) where goddesses both earthly and of the moon govern life of the mostly
female inhabitants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtdanvvZkhRnZN5mqs6IghkScNegf52sIHAkNEK4Me8uGEa2iEP-0XRQRPltNRQuR23MN0unfgXX7fp04R4p12etPj3osLTHszZ-t1juLkw86oPCieCDzGMOB2xdIO3Jmf7xnLv50khrE6/s1600/Cirquedusoleil_Amaluna_17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtdanvvZkhRnZN5mqs6IghkScNegf52sIHAkNEK4Me8uGEa2iEP-0XRQRPltNRQuR23MN0unfgXX7fp04R4p12etPj3osLTHszZ-t1juLkw86oPCieCDzGMOB2xdIO3Jmf7xnLv50khrE6/s400/Cirquedusoleil_Amaluna_17.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Sakaino Sisters</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the story’s beginning, Queen Prospera announces her
daughter Miranda’s coming of age, followed by a grand celebration of circling
dancers and two, eye-popping peacocks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Two unicyclists arrive wearing golden-wired skirts as Japanese sisters,
Satomi and Yuka Sakaino, perform a daring dance on their single-wheeled
chariots.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Racing to the circular stage’s
very edge before converging at speeds seemingly disastrous for a twirling
meeting in the middle, the two set the pace for an audience-impressing evening.</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8iL_8gxYm47sLBT1-55OSG9M1acbgHD6Rs0LzrRfVeJbALqoIUW7Y3dmXZ3ZbvFqVj1xt7L0EN6hRZFIo3dF9MozDYI_5RcF5ZLjGcHqgQX5t2mhMO2wchyp4Lh6HfiSCE8Vz-aFnmZWd/s1600/Cirquedusoleil_Amaluna_19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8iL_8gxYm47sLBT1-55OSG9M1acbgHD6Rs0LzrRfVeJbALqoIUW7Y3dmXZ3ZbvFqVj1xt7L0EN6hRZFIo3dF9MozDYI_5RcF5ZLjGcHqgQX5t2mhMO2wchyp4Lh6HfiSCE8Vz-aFnmZWd/s400/Cirquedusoleil_Amaluna_19.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Trio of Aerialists </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Prospera stirs the heavens to create a thunder-and-lightening
storm that engulfs the massive, big-top arena.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The storm’s fury is highlighted by three women (Russian Kristina
Ivanova, American Mei-Mei Bouchard, and Brazilian Lais Gomes da Silva) as they
take flight on aerial straps than send them bulleting across the dark-blue sky
at high velocities that astound.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each
woman is the epitome of precise timing and physical power as she shoots in all
dimensions up, down, and around the vast arena, often missing mid-air
collisions with the other two by just a hair.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The storm delivers a netted group of shipwrecked men onto
the isle’s shore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Emerging is one named
(what else?) Romeo, who of course immediately meets Miranda, with their locked
eyes announcing their love to us all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But a slinking reptile – a half-man, half-lizard named Cali whom we have
already seen scamper both high and low – arrives to whisk away Miranda in both
protection and because of his own secret love for her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now begins the journey of tests and trials
before the two lovers are in each others’ arms again.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQRUEJTy2iajMk5mfc4s98lo6TN1QWOuM4EJDVvr4xOdiIoICuWxtQ1vmZ-S82zPFtrcL9bHL6TMkrgXpOeyZeyxF6zIrTxy_r7DUFJONI0koUx6JK_ah9JVq1XfsZUz1sVIjNiWijTvg3/s1600/Cirquedusoleil_Amaluna_Aerial-hoop-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQRUEJTy2iajMk5mfc4s98lo6TN1QWOuM4EJDVvr4xOdiIoICuWxtQ1vmZ-S82zPFtrcL9bHL6TMkrgXpOeyZeyxF6zIrTxy_r7DUFJONI0koUx6JK_ah9JVq1XfsZUz1sVIjNiWijTvg3/s400/Cirquedusoleil_Amaluna_Aerial-hoop-3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sabrina Againer</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As he roams the island now lost, Romeo meets the Peacock
Goddess (Eira Glover) who mesmerizes him with a dance where her limber body
appears to have no restrictions in its abilities to enfold upon itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even more impressive is the appearance from
the heavens of the Moon Goddess as Sabrina Againer bestows her blessings on the
prospective, earthly couple through an aerial display of artistry and skill on
a cerceau (a wire hoop), with her body at times seemingly barely hanging on as
the hoop swings, twirls, and dives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
is joined on the surface of a large water bowl by Miranda (Anna Ivaseva), who
hand-balances on poles attached to the pool’s sides in a fabulous array of
seemingly impossible moves before she dives into the water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her erotic dips in and out of the pool of
course catch the attention of a certain Romeo who ventures close for a first
kiss.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWFePq99mnn6prMJZ-uqR9T_pvYS9YcdxXICp0AgJq36c-AV0xPOrJf9u95tZMJuocmhvSunTRT6ab773VBeHUsjytatJCSP_rBm44ARjRPt4BaVAuayUZAJheVM30Aq5cBVfGkSLsj3Kj/s1600/amaluna-act-teeterboard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1280" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWFePq99mnn6prMJZ-uqR9T_pvYS9YcdxXICp0AgJq36c-AV0xPOrJf9u95tZMJuocmhvSunTRT6ab773VBeHUsjytatJCSP_rBm44ARjRPt4BaVAuayUZAJheVM30Aq5cBVfGkSLsj3Kj/s400/amaluna-act-teeterboard.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Teeterboard Boys</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But their union is not to be as of yet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The captured young men who floundered onto
Amaluna’s shores with Romeo first must assist the Amazonian athletes in their
uneven bar fetes before six of the buff guys (including Danny Vrijsen as Romeo)
uses a giant teeterboard to launch each other twenty or so feet into the
air.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From those heights, they perform
twists, flips, and somersaults with three-to-four gyrations before landing back
on earth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The distances covered, the
landings on another’s awaiting body, and the sheer beauty of their half-naked
bodies in flight is yet one more memorable highlight of the evening.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Romeo himself solos on a Chinese pole where he literally
comes within inches of hitting the ground as he plunges upside down on the pole
from high above, using his legs to grab the pole at the last possible
split-second to avoid a sure broken neck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFJFezWEfpEK5xCfzP_zkzCFUi-lteH-7Yl9ZgFkTMkZr5guXoMyJmNlcHjYdIa12wTJvUAtT1Ewo93j1tXZp-1VRaSx7f5p_7ksEs6cvDXSYibo_G-2I39QIWPQV5XzHpqOb7iLjs-5wS/s1600/Cirquedusoleil_Amaluna_06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFJFezWEfpEK5xCfzP_zkzCFUi-lteH-7Yl9ZgFkTMkZr5guXoMyJmNlcHjYdIa12wTJvUAtT1Ewo93j1tXZp-1VRaSx7f5p_7ksEs6cvDXSYibo_G-2I39QIWPQV5XzHpqOb7iLjs-5wS/s400/Cirquedusoleil_Amaluna_06.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lili CIao</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But prior to his trial of courage and strength, Lili Ciao of
Switzerland creates a work of art in what might very well be the evening’s feat
most remembered by the hushed audience who watch her in stunned silence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Using only her toes, the Balance Goddess
picks up with movements incredibly slow and deliberate increasingly longer and
heavier palm leaf ribs, adding each to the last to form a giant swirling mobile
– one held together merely by its balance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The thunderous applause is deafening as the completed work of art swings
on the tip of one last, giant rib that stands erect only because of the overall
balance with the mobile itself.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In one last desperate move to keep Miranda from her Romeo,
the reptilian Cali (Vladimir Pestov) takes center stage in an act of juggling
as he imprisons below him Romeo in the water bowl.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no part of Cali’s body that does not
participate in the catching and bouncing of the balls; but as the numbers of
balls continues to increase up to an amazing seven, the heights and patterns
their flights take on are even more phenomenal.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7UwTHBOa3BthyZyD1_1VjN00syC1JGtqSQ-LbhXz_y26-scK4OI958U-a_v22Gf9ztZ_evKFT7rNqLXuIjA45l41DBSboUDMyWsNbLfSDgu8Llu-U67TPYbkPapyzFlyZVyZsgsLMmc-n/s1600/Cirquedusoleil_Amaluna_Moellenberg_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7UwTHBOa3BthyZyD1_1VjN00syC1JGtqSQ-LbhXz_y26-scK4OI958U-a_v22Gf9ztZ_evKFT7rNqLXuIjA45l41DBSboUDMyWsNbLfSDgu8Llu-U67TPYbkPapyzFlyZVyZsgsLMmc-n/s400/Cirquedusoleil_Amaluna_Moellenberg_3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Banquine</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As the inevitable victory of the lovers is reached, the
entire island arrives to celebrate, with ten men and two women performing
acrobatics in a banquine, using only locked hands and arms as launching and
landing platforms for bodies flying in all directions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The aerial tricks include trapeze-like feats
where the swings are human-formed and towers of bodies serve as diving and
landing boards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXljoskaRpbSqr2C-5F42gjM5eRLKnHyDQnm_DvbHAC41yVNQqIh4aNxk4BsDLNDiEOLi5YIBUVq-aiuaRngnDYH4KIoyQW8rGoHNsTOzwW4Ec_wQ3DE5zUHCgNCOgYrwrfN5LmPAOVnLy/s1600/Cirquedusoleil_Amaluna_Clown_Act3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXljoskaRpbSqr2C-5F42gjM5eRLKnHyDQnm_DvbHAC41yVNQqIh4aNxk4BsDLNDiEOLi5YIBUVq-aiuaRngnDYH4KIoyQW8rGoHNsTOzwW4Ec_wQ3DE5zUHCgNCOgYrwrfN5LmPAOVnLy/s400/Cirquedusoleil_Amaluna_Clown_Act3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thiago Andreuccetti & Kelsey Custard</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Throughout the evening, a parallel story of love-seeking
occurs as the evening’s clowns, American Kelsey Custard and Brazilian Thiago
Andreuccetti meet, flirt, and delight each other and the audience while both
wandering around the aisles of the arena and performing center stage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their comic antics are many; their charm,
bursting at the seams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As is true for most Cirque du Soleil shows, there is a much
more going on than just on the center stage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Broadway, West End, and opera-stage experienced Diane Paulus directs <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Amaluna</i>’s central story with a clarity
and cohesiveness that is not lost amidst all the circus performances while also
populating a number of platforms and stages with fabulously costumed actors,
dancers, and singers who provide their own mystic wonder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Original music by musical directors Bob and
Bill is performed by the all-female band under direction of Anne Charbonneau
and sung by lead singer Jennifer Aubry of Canada.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The music helps establish the mood of
tropical and mythic mystery but is somewhat monotonous and non-memorable over
time, even though always performed well.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Scott Pask’s set design creates a feeling of tropical magic
and beauty with swirling, bamboo-like branches that sparkle and swing in the
skies above, coming to life in all sorts of glitter and color as just a small
portion of Mattheiu Larivée’s lighting design.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Of course much of the eye-popping, breath-taking aspects of the evening
are due to the costumes designed by Mérédith Caron who creates wispy gowns for
goddesses, fierce-looking wear for Amazon warriors, and a ever-moving tail for
a man-lizard.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For anyone who has now seen a number of Cirque du Soleil
shows, certainly <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Amaluna </i>looks and
feels like many of the others, even with its own unique storyline and its
female-focused cast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The acts are in
many ways familiar; the massive staging effects, similar; and the music, pretty
much like we have heard in the past.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet
that does not mean that an annual visit to the latest Cirque du Soleil is not a
must for anyone who enjoys the artistry of a circus that in many ways is not
unlike an evening at the theatre or opera.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There is an opulence of sensual stimulation that cannot help but bring
big smiles as well as physical feats that cannot help but once again send
chills down one’s spine and looks of awed wonder into one’s eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, it is time to buy that annual ticket,
this time to an island in a parking lot in San Francisco that will amaze anyone
from toddlers to centenarians. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rating: 4 E </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Amaluna</i> continues
through January 22, 2020 under the Big Top at Oracle Park, San Francisco before
moving to Sacramento to perform at Raley Field January 22 - February 23.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tickets are available at <a href="http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/amaluna">www.cirquedusoleil.com/amaluna</a>
or by calling 1-877-924-7783.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Photo Credits: Cirque du Soleil</div>
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</style>GuyDadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06225290125508992039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251867504109902076.post-25997255778807622132019-11-07T15:48:00.000-08:002019-11-07T15:48:06.639-08:00"Testmatch"
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Testmatch</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kate Attwell</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.act-sf.org/">American Conservatory Theater</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKiDRsrr__FFeJ9a9y7CkEnAUE4_B-W17VYkk1w91hT_DHsRd-ZTx3m6kAsr9fisUHN4fxeP4qtP2cmqV6SveXGjrTojz72whTSEDaNaLhAphFITDPbOjsDiCgunQPo-QHZbVOcGVmm8Th/s1600/TST_198.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKiDRsrr__FFeJ9a9y7CkEnAUE4_B-W17VYkk1w91hT_DHsRd-ZTx3m6kAsr9fisUHN4fxeP4qtP2cmqV6SveXGjrTojz72whTSEDaNaLhAphFITDPbOjsDiCgunQPo-QHZbVOcGVmm8Th/s400/TST_198.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Arwen Anderson & Millie Brooks</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Cricket – a sport created by England and played today mostly
by the mother country and countries of her former Empire – becomes the backdrop
for Kate Attwell’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Testmatch</i>, now in
its time-traveling, gender-bending, hard-reality-and-parody-prolific world
premiere at American Conservatory Theater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A Pandora’s Box of issues bursts open in the course of the
ninety-minutes, including colonialism and its horrific initial and long-lasting
effects, racial tensions and profiling, disparities between professional men’s
and women’s sports, the lure of money and resultant cheating in professional
sports, and hard-hitting issues for LGBTQ people in the public eye. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So many issues spring at us that it is easy to begin feeling
shell-shocked and confused.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While humor embedded
in both the script and in the choices of Director Pam Mackinnon plays a big
role in unearthing and stirring these topics, parody eventually takes over so
outrageously that the method of presentation becomes too much the focus and
muddles rather than sharpens the issues raised.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The first-half present-day portion of the no-intermission evening is both
hard-hitting and funny as well as overall entertaining and effective; but when
the scene goes back in time, exaggeration to the point of near absurdity
lessens the play’s overall impact.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3OlibihQjXa2o-50PJSh-9JrvBJaJw0cnDo0KHumAta2iQ6l7XJMQGcGRQ139ph6la303iJEv3ZyBn5p8qzNGyjv25rf4cZ1589CaFFwNXdtIEv2LT3wa-srR6hT30fP9pBnT_owbsIUP/s1600/TST_073.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3OlibihQjXa2o-50PJSh-9JrvBJaJw0cnDo0KHumAta2iQ6l7XJMQGcGRQ139ph6la303iJEv3ZyBn5p8qzNGyjv25rf4cZ1589CaFFwNXdtIEv2LT3wa-srR6hT30fP9pBnT_owbsIUP/s400/TST_073.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Millie Brooks, Arwen Anderson, Lipica Shaw, Meera Rohit Kumbhani & Avanthika Srinivasan</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The play opens in a locker room in Britain as a women’s
World Cup cricket match between the Brits and India has been delayed due to a
field-soaking rain, a match that India is so far winning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We meet the captains and two players from
each team – all identified in the program only as 1, 2, and 3 for each
nationality, something I found confusing and meaningless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our fly-on-the-wall perspective allows us to
listen in on the chitchat, the braggadocio, and the juicier parts of the locker
room talk among these professional players of two nationalities as they speak
in heavy, native accents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We laugh with
them as they argue in those accents about the correct phrasing of “a little too
late” and when India 1 (Meera Rohit Kumbhani) remarks that the pouring rain
“makes the whole of western history make more sense,” noting (in a paraphrased
version), “If I lived here, I would escape, too.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV0XgiSO6S9vzARPARU4ys2SFsZjGIMlFDpttR33KVTnikxo5z2UZ7N6Q_d9CVxDVbdmFZ0mFcGU44IsdUCUgFpvx67OHdrp9i5GtqdfSDGF9XswzztYLp9X9SqghNpk-_fXkSAAdWqtLc/s1600/TST_120.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV0XgiSO6S9vzARPARU4ys2SFsZjGIMlFDpttR33KVTnikxo5z2UZ7N6Q_d9CVxDVbdmFZ0mFcGU44IsdUCUgFpvx67OHdrp9i5GtqdfSDGF9XswzztYLp9X9SqghNpk-_fXkSAAdWqtLc/s400/TST_120.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Meera Rohit Kumbhani,</span> Avanthika Srinivasan & Arwen Anderson</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
England 2 (an exceptionally powerful Arwen Anderson) is
hyped up about the differences between male cricket and rugby players as
potential bedmates, jumping around to list a number of XXX-descriptive, f-word-filled
ways why the rugby guys are better sex partners than cricketeers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A young, somewhat under-sized India 3 (Avanthika
Srinivasan) is pumped that “we’re playing against England” and keeps reminding
anyone who will listen that this is the “biggest game” ever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Everyone is frustrated about the rain, but the English
captain and the world’s Number One batsman in women’s cricket (England 1 played
by Madeline Wise) is the most sullen, tense, and pissed about the rain, taking
it seemingly personal – so much so that she suddenly erupts into a bat-smashing
fury. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Immediately, the room shifts from
locker-room chitchat into a whole new realm of implied and explicit racial/national
insults, intra-and inter-team confrontations, and surprising revelations and
threats.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And thus opens the Pandora’s
Box referenced above, with issues spilling all over the concrete floor of the
locker room.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMeTCVlAcat4zqxXBk66Nl01GTGkk2CI5vmUPTKr0LZMETeHezSReaKhZyKA0WYFLdmYM7ED-UQknef0utv9tNnOUurTqtmfrqiyTMzcOR4ebPmPjVZZwaTIwiEHIfovG956dV09XQr_E4/s1600/TST_171.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1065" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMeTCVlAcat4zqxXBk66Nl01GTGkk2CI5vmUPTKr0LZMETeHezSReaKhZyKA0WYFLdmYM7ED-UQknef0utv9tNnOUurTqtmfrqiyTMzcOR4ebPmPjVZZwaTIwiEHIfovG956dV09XQr_E4/s320/TST_171.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Millie Brooks & Arwen Anderson </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But just as things have heated up with everything from
cheating temptations to blackmail now on the table, our modern-day players
begin changing costumes and putting on new make-up as the scene abruptly
transitions to inside a walled compound of the British-owned, East India
Company of the early 1800s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>England 2
and 3 (Arwen Anderson and Millie Brooks) have become a ridiculous-looking pair
of EIC officials that are a cross between two Humpty Dumpties and Twiddle
Dee/Twiddle Dum (their bulging white outfits with powdered wigs whose bands
clearly show being only part of the evening’s costume creations by Beaver
Bauer).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The two speak in highly
exaggerated English accents, move about with cartoonish flairs, and freeze in
facial expressions that pull their features to rubbery extremes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2yP-wYVoAFAIxpIWN8bLsx6_N9qigDFQBF9Cnd4P-7EvgyITbaWNYDr_DTE2WjBYLz8lajnpCMCN9XAN8xcjSv_2UH3xDs7E8vIECS8eaF2b0Pq4YIhpeJM9rezQaqpAd897piU3epy3n/s1600/TST_278.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2yP-wYVoAFAIxpIWN8bLsx6_N9qigDFQBF9Cnd4P-7EvgyITbaWNYDr_DTE2WjBYLz8lajnpCMCN9XAN8xcjSv_2UH3xDs7E8vIECS8eaF2b0Pq4YIhpeJM9rezQaqpAd897piU3epy3n/s400/TST_278.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Millie Brooks, Arwen Anderson & Meera Rohit Kumbhani</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The English clowns are trying to solidify the ‘ruuuuules” (so
they say) of cricket before England 2 leaves India for home with his pockets
stuffed with money gained through the illicit dealings of him and his mirrored
partner in crime.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Taking notes while
responding to barked commands is a uniformed, mustached Abhi (Lipica Shah,
formerly India 2) whose eyes grow to stunned, black saucers as the Indian
official listens incredibly to the boorish banter of the two.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A little girl named Daayna (Avanthika
Srinivasan) scales the wall in order to bring her cricket expertise and skill
to the scene (with the two Brits stuttering over the very idea of girls playing
cricket). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, it is a Messenger (Meera
Rohit Kumbhani) from Bangalore who brings vivid descriptions of a dire famine outside
the compounds walls and across the country that shifts the focus. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cricket takes a backseat to a situation the
EIC has created by inducing/forcing Indian farmers to forego rice grown for a
nation’s food to more grow poppies for the EIC’s opium trade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Suddenly the two clowns are no longer that
funny.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Along with the game of cricket, the hunger for money that
leads to cheating in the first half of the play and the hunger for big profits
at the expense of a starving nation in the second half link the bookending
scenes of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Testmatch.</i> Kate Attwell’s new
work has intriguing lure in its unique approaches to raising awareness and
questions about the historical origins of current difficult and important
issues. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the same time, the world
premiere at American Conservatory Theatre feels like a work still in progress </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
as the playwright and this production explore how far to
push to the extreme caricature and lampoon in exposing those many, different
issues.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rating: 3 E</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Testmatch</i>
continues through December 8, 2019 at American Conservatory Theater’s Strand
Theater, 1127 Market Street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tickets are
available in person at the Geary Theatre Box Office, 405 Geary Street Monday –
Friday 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. and 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday or at the
Strand Box Office Monday – Friday 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. (or curtain).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tickets are also available at 415-749-2228
and online at <a href="http://www.act-sf.org/">www.act-sf.org</a>. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 333.0pt;">
Photos by Kevin Berne</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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</style>GuyDadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06225290125508992039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251867504109902076.post-90011220812045594632019-11-04T15:50:00.003-08:002019-11-04T15:50:46.542-08:00"Anne of the Thousand Days"
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Anne of the Thousand
Days</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Maxwell Anderson</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.dragonproductions.net/">Dragon Productions</a></div>
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<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSq0mtFxL5jsWKXEZMNX2K48DnHh5T44MdaiBm6EyROD4JOEBZFHH0Em_BQLK4ZU-g6xq6ZVWiTk0-oq8EDaWHEZBINJRENvuY9XYrjsmATs7Dzp7ujlx9lUYoy409i70MgQqMS2WXKtua/s1600/75418223_3577474552266538_5752998836318502912_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="631" data-original-width="649" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSq0mtFxL5jsWKXEZMNX2K48DnHh5T44MdaiBm6EyROD4JOEBZFHH0Em_BQLK4ZU-g6xq6ZVWiTk0-oq8EDaWHEZBINJRENvuY9XYrjsmATs7Dzp7ujlx9lUYoy409i70MgQqMS2WXKtua/s320/75418223_3577474552266538_5752998836318502912_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="-moz-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(43, 43, 43); color: #2b2b2b; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">April Culver and Ivette Duncan</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To produce <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Anne of the
Thousand Days</i> on the stage is a huge undertaking, given the breadth of
events and the number of players with names familiar both to history and
Shakespeare buffs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dragon Productions
has taken up the challenge of presenting on its intimate stage with a cast of
eight this sweeping drama involving twenty named characters and a number of other
servants and singers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately for
a number of reasons that range from casting to directing to performances to
creative treatment, the daring undertaking is not successful.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To read my full review on the San Jose/Silicon Valley section of <i>Talkin' Broadway</i>, please link to <a href="https://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/regional/sanjose/sj183.html">https://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/regional/sanjose/sj183.html</a>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rating: 1.5 E</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Anne of the Thousand
Days </i>continues through November 24, 2019 at Dragon Productions, 2120
Broadway Street, Redwood City, CA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Tickets are available at <a href="https://dragonproductions.net/">https://dragonproductions.net</a>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Photo Credit: Lance Huntley</div>
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</style>GuyDadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06225290125508992039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251867504109902076.post-11837187706867463472019-11-03T12:57:00.003-08:002019-11-03T12:57:43.702-08:00"The Cake"
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cake</i></div>
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Bekah Brunstetter</div>
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<a href="http://www.nctcsf.org/">New Conservatory Theatre Center</a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Aq8cJW1cPjs8O0aFB-lZRKA0Z7N_30YPjQ9yDF4yhh-7Cr5XA_gGq1MHT3Mpcemh9BOPCCrJn9UXNmWn397k3zJAyBoq_LyL3ZbRUbsGARKJ1zK7474qUkv8X8awAjyT1_scp0bUz9Kd/s1600/NCT+Cake+prod+036+10_19+hi+res.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="1600" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Aq8cJW1cPjs8O0aFB-lZRKA0Z7N_30YPjQ9yDF4yhh-7Cr5XA_gGq1MHT3Mpcemh9BOPCCrJn9UXNmWn397k3zJAyBoq_LyL3ZbRUbsGARKJ1zK7474qUkv8X8awAjyT1_scp0bUz9Kd/s400/NCT+Cake+prod+036+10_19+hi+res.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">J.J. Van Name</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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“If cake were free for everybody, there would be a lot less
problems in the world.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, or at
least so goes Della’s thinking, invite the leaders of ISIS into her cakery –
Della’s Sweets in Winston, North Carolina – and a few bites of her butter cream
icing might just improve their dispositions for good! </div>
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<br /></div>
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As soon as we meet Della in Bekah Brunstetter’s play, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cake</i>, it is almost impossible not to
fall immediately in love with her, especially when Della is played with such
glowing Southern smile, hospitality, and personality by J. J. Van Name in the
current New Conservatory Theatre Center production.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As she welcomes a note-taking writer named
Macy into her gingerbread-house-like shop, Della babbles like a bubbling brook
about cooking only from scratch, about always following a recipe’s directions, and
about not worrying if her ingredients are organic or if her eggs “were ever
caged or ever been to the movies.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFJIr6-yDwoi0SU3cSfZ4Lprk7_obLx0qA1W4ISCbSucMPRzh94_usSHygLekJol2mcHfWn_LDdedqSaCw8Vzx44hqbOHhkpQUf1sLBNKXgitOjIbE7C_hfit7v-7HxOz5-RHEU8LUfwdu/s1600/NCT+Cake+prod+016+10_19+low+res.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1001" data-original-width="1400" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFJIr6-yDwoi0SU3cSfZ4Lprk7_obLx0qA1W4ISCbSucMPRzh94_usSHygLekJol2mcHfWn_LDdedqSaCw8Vzx44hqbOHhkpQUf1sLBNKXgitOjIbE7C_hfit7v-7HxOz5-RHEU8LUfwdu/s400/NCT+Cake+prod+016+10_19+low+res.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">J.J. Van Name</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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For both Macy and us, it becomes easy to believe Della’s
confession as she pauses to catch her breath and reflect, “Sometimes when I
talk about my cakes, I think I leave my body.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Macy may be a scowling skeptic of the attractiveness of Della’s
pink-lemonade cake as she tells Della she that does not do sugar or gluten and
certainly does not eat cake (to which Della replies, “Then where do you get
your pleasure from?”) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, for the
rest of us, J.J. Van Name’s Della is already a delicious morsel that we just
want to continue to savor even after just a few bites of her Southern,
kitchen-based philosophies on life.</div>
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<br /></div>
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And that is one of the key ingredients of the playwright’s
script: Upfront we get to see and know a side of Della that makes us wish we
could walk into her shop and have a piece of her foot-high cakes while whiling
away the day with her. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are ready to
cheer her on as a selected contestant in CBS’s upcoming Great American Baking
Show, hoping she will win the first prize of $20,000 “and a really big
biscuit”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We may understand the
skepticism that Macy voices about all the current, anti-sugar research; but how
can anyone resist Della and her scrumptious-looking cakes?</div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuLqgDIP2K6NhcNVJ3FWzUygvXeV88sSRmwSbe2zQhq2fOWZpcmKRIrGMx5QkiBNscfuO5KwEy8u0rwBWYOWoUGLbkAN2-eQstdbtDT6HgNcqNYs7B0-_3WBGktVc_1sxIDnRQmOYJLw1G/s1600/NCT+Cake+prod+078+10_19+low+res.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1001" data-original-width="1400" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuLqgDIP2K6NhcNVJ3FWzUygvXeV88sSRmwSbe2zQhq2fOWZpcmKRIrGMx5QkiBNscfuO5KwEy8u0rwBWYOWoUGLbkAN2-eQstdbtDT6HgNcqNYs7B0-_3WBGktVc_1sxIDnRQmOYJLw1G/s400/NCT+Cake+prod+078+10_19+low+res.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">J.J. Van Name, Jensen Power & Asia Jackson</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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But there is another side of Della we are about to see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Jen enters to Della’s shrieks of joy,
all at first seems hunky-dory as the two have a big-hug reunion – Jen (“Jenny
Penny” to Della) being the daughter of Della’s best, now-deceased friend,
Debra, and a twenty-something who grew up in Winston with Della being like
family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jen is now in New York and has
come home (just as her momma would have wanted) to get married and to ask Della
to make her a wedding cake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Della is
ecstatic until African-American and female Macy – who has been standing in the
corner largely ignored by both Della and Jen – announces to Della there is no
‘he’ as the groom-to-be, only herself as the ‘she’ who will be marrying Jen.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Suddenly Bekah Brunstetter’s tightly written, fast-paced,
ninety-minute play steps from Southern comedy into current headlines involving
LGBTQ equality, so-called religious rights, and the Supreme Court.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As much as she loves her Jen, Della’s
immediate reaction to Macy’s announcement – after Della’s shocked, open, silent
mouth finally closes – is to look with nervous fumbles at her calendar and to
tell Jen what Jen is already sure is coming: Her schedule is booked for the
entire month, and there is no way she can bake the wedding cake of the girl who
is almost like her daughter.</div>
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<br /></div>
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For Della, Jen, and Macy, that decision spurs a series of
internal and external events that begin to spin out-of-control.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For many of us from this ultra-liberal city
of San Francisco sitting in a theatre renowned for its LGBTQ programming, we are
ready now to judge Della in the harshest of terms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also may even side with Macy who wants to
leave with Jen from what she sees as a clearly bigoted town and head somewhere
else for their wedding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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But Bekah Brunstetter – a playwright whom herself grew up in
the South and faced her own family rejections for her sexual orientation<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> – </i>has other intentions for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>is
going to ensure that we sit awhile longer in the mess just created, explore
other sides of each character, and witness their struggles while we ask
ourselves, “Must all issues today always only be black and white in nature?”</div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4VruZmVINO8QwNBziIBennpXFhQea_kFm1gqBaoX1zmlpYxPKsK_jAt3DrKfrkeWs2wrpFTr5uvERb8SDKesjd3-CqidjxeoaEc3EiuPqSw78l7q477vdtbhFOkN01aZKh8UpNBXcWjeM/s1600/NCT+Cake+prod+102+10_19+hi+res.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="1600" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4VruZmVINO8QwNBziIBennpXFhQea_kFm1gqBaoX1zmlpYxPKsK_jAt3DrKfrkeWs2wrpFTr5uvERb8SDKesjd3-CqidjxeoaEc3EiuPqSw78l7q477vdtbhFOkN01aZKh8UpNBXcWjeM/s400/NCT+Cake+prod+102+10_19+hi+res.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jensen Power & Asia Jackson</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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While J.J. Van Name as Della is hands-down the focal star of
the show, the other three members each are stellar in their own ways. As Jen,
Jensen Power gives us a first impression of a young woman who is still almost a
girl in her cheerleader-like enthusiasm, her high-pitched voice with its soft
drawl, and her generally starry-eyed nature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If it is true opposites attract, then Asia Jackson’s Macy must be surely
her intended; for Macy is at first glance reserved; realistic to the point of
almost harshness; and clearly feeling out of place in the so-white,
so-Southern, too-sweet atmosphere of Della’s shop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Put the two together, and we believe the
sparks of physical attraction and their stated love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the other hand, we also see that the
Southern heritage that Jen still loves and maybe even longs for up there in New
York is raising alarms for both her and Macy and putting new strains on them as
a couple once Della says she cannot bake their cake.</div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_uMarCmUo5ZDXLCxnq5vRVDUosBdhnH75LxbprnqB263q2VDPxu-Uo0yJyMycLgxgn-581hX7kEdXtfK-6k2p4caInm14nBN2WQ-wQW9HqembzLBj2tn9sHg9qFOGK8UHLUVSBjaASO7q/s1600/NCT+Cake+prod+097+10_19+low+res.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1001" data-original-width="1400" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_uMarCmUo5ZDXLCxnq5vRVDUosBdhnH75LxbprnqB263q2VDPxu-Uo0yJyMycLgxgn-581hX7kEdXtfK-6k2p4caInm14nBN2WQ-wQW9HqembzLBj2tn9sHg9qFOGK8UHLUVSBjaASO7q/s400/NCT+Cake+prod+097+10_19+low+res.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">J.J. Van Name & Dixon Phillips</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Completing the cast and serving as part of Della’s own
relationship tremors is Dixon Phillips as Della’s plumber husband, Tim – a man
of few words but strong surety of what is right and natural when it comes to
God, marriage, and a man/woman relationship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As Della wrestles with her decision not to bake based on her Bible-based
beliefs, things she is missing in her own life become much clearer; and they
involve the husband she adores.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tim too
has unspoken doubts, shames, and fears that center on himself but have big
implications for Della and what she wants and needs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Somehow, a decision not to bake a cake causes
the long-ignored pot on the stove of their lives to boil over for both him and
her.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Along with the playwright’s script, Tracy Ward’s direction
of this fine cast does not let us smugly dismiss opinions with which we may
disagree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are forced to see each of
these people as individuals who may be more like us and like each other in ways
none of us or them want to admit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
also realize that resolution of strongly felt differences cannot come just by
dictation of the Bible, the Court, the Congress, or our own deeply held set of
morals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The director ensures we are
drawn enough into these characters’ struggles that we cannot make snap
decisions of who is totally right and who is totally wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Carlos Aceves has designed a cake shop its own icing that
drips with a Southern lady’s touches. The heart-shaped counter full of
confectionaries and the cute, cafe booth both turn to become the bedrooms of
our two couples.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tom O’Brien has outdone
himself as props designer in creating cakes that one wants to sample and at
least one that is real enough to become part of a baker’s worst dilemma.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Della is delightfully covered in everything
from cupcakes to huge blossoms, thanks to just a portion of Joanne Martin’s
costume designs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Molly Stewart-Cohn’s
lighting and Kalon Thibodeaux’s sound designs are especially effective in
turning Della’s dreams about being in the TV baking contest increasingly into
nightmares – the result being funny to us but not at all for poor Della.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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This regional premiere of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cake</i> at New Conservatory Theatre Center is not just an offering
of sugary fluff and fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bekah
Brunstetter serves us a main course that is thoughtful and touching, heartbreaking
and heart-warming, alluring and awakening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Come ready not only to be entertained but also to be challenged and to leave
maybe a bit changed when it comes to viewing people who have beliefs and
practices different from ourselves.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Rating: 5 E</div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cake</i> continues
through December 1, 2019 on the Walker Stage of <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">of The New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness Avenue
at Market Street, San Francisco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tickets
are available online at </span><a href="http://www.nctcsf.org/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">http://www.nctcsf.org</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> or by calling the box office at
415-861-8972.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Photos
by Lois Tema</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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</style>GuyDadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06225290125508992039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251867504109902076.post-71784826551329976012019-10-28T13:22:00.002-07:002019-10-28T15:25:51.460-07:00"Elevada"<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elevada</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sheila Callaghan</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.shotgunplayers.org/">Shotgun Players</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR_IB7Qu47tGAA476VdOXLW6VUZZ5hkVjIxPyKx1Lop9J7p0Z2dI7UvV5l3Lw-ayC05MGdpntjFejW4-puqqdFcozNpd6xerSELNe4yp3cR_FBrQNzJIcUtgvXlvE-qfDdrrHwhBBuQWcI/s1600/73169587_10158979558369606_7242210340262379520_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR_IB7Qu47tGAA476VdOXLW6VUZZ5hkVjIxPyKx1Lop9J7p0Z2dI7UvV5l3Lw-ayC05MGdpntjFejW4-puqqdFcozNpd6xerSELNe4yp3cR_FBrQNzJIcUtgvXlvE-qfDdrrHwhBBuQWcI/s400/73169587_10158979558369606_7242210340262379520_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wes Gabrillo & Sango Tajima</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He is a self-proclaimed “online agitator” with four-to-five
million followers who rarely leaves his apartment or takes a shower and has
never been on a blind date.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is on
her eighth, online-generated, first-date in the past three weeks (alas, no
second dates yet).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has signed a
contract with a megacorporation to sell his identity and cease to exist as a
person for the next three months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On
this their first date, she shows him her implanted, chemo port and tells him
she is dying of cancer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For Sheila Callaghan, all the perfect elements now exist for
a wonderfully funny, totally heart-warming, and extremely intriguing romantic
comedy that explores how totally awkward, disrupting, and risky it is to fall
ecstatically in love .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shotgun Players premieres
the third-round update of Sheila Callaghan’s newest play, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elevada</i> – a production packed with twists and turns, mystery,
stop-action dreams, magical moments, and (why not) a stage full of dancing
tango dancers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a word, this is an
intelligent, edgy, hilarious rom-com that is nothing short of a “must-see.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As Ramona quietly sips her wine, Khalil is on a non-stop,
no-breath roll telling her about his online crusade to increase his fame and
fortune as he tests the extent of the Supreme Court’s ruling that corporations
have 14<sup>th</sup> Amendment rights as individuals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is doing so by allowing one corporation to
become him – in name, voice, online presence, etc. – while he disappears for
three months, which he believes will be “kinda liberating.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As he continues in a near rant as if standing
on a soap-box on the street corner, Ramona periodically injects “This is my
first wine in six months” and “I have a charismatic digestive system” while
also noting to him that <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“[you] have a
very attractive neck” and “[are an] adorable guy who scratches his head a
lot.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Somehow that is all enough for
these two misfits to begin to fit quite well together – that is until the
“C-word” is dropped by Ramona.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjstvwcPZAow50Lst5TvS8dmAUtiuKPg_OdmnqFR106OaTt1-UOx7ltivwrF519vesnkmnuPCLMwMTrERdjxCET1pItgLzbT7AK0nuG_Tzr37QgWsQ9hioXIwxnuZqIh-Lruv_Fn2Hxg4tf/s1600/73036939_10158979558534606_90330837341437952_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjstvwcPZAow50Lst5TvS8dmAUtiuKPg_OdmnqFR106OaTt1-UOx7ltivwrF519vesnkmnuPCLMwMTrERdjxCET1pItgLzbT7AK0nuG_Tzr37QgWsQ9hioXIwxnuZqIh-Lruv_Fn2Hxg4tf/s400/73036939_10158979558534606_90330837341437952_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wes Gabrillo & Sango Tajima</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But a first for both, that second date does occur, this time
in a skating rink.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now the
back-and-forth comes easier in conversation as neither seems too worried about
the fact that the other may not be around for long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Ramona notes, “You and me are both liminal
... We’re both not quite here and not quite gone ... Magical things happen in
the in-between.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Watching both Sango Tajima and Wes Gabrillo as their Ramona
and Khalil find their ways through an uncertain maze toward a first kiss is
seeing two incredibly talented actors draw us in in order to be an intimate
part of their unlikeliest of romantic pairings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That first kiss comes after he tells her what doubtfully few preceding
Romeos have ever used as their come-on line, “You have the sweetest little
feet;” but for Ramona, that is all it takes for her to surprise him with that
smacker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Off they go with a plan to hail
a taxi and use funny accents to continue a date that has sent them both into the
land of obvious lovey-dovey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything
is now suddenly possible when as a couple they seem quite ready – as Ramona
later suggests – to “do something that will probably humiliate us.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For his best friend and her older sister, this is not at all
what the two want for either Khalil or Ramona.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Owen demands that Khalil “get off that cancer girl’s to-do list” while
June is nonplused and not pleased when she first meets “the guy who is sending
all those shame-grenades” over the Internet.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But even as Ramona goes for her next cancer scan, she and
Khalil find crazy ways to be together (how about pole dancing?) and not to
worry about their tomorrows.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfOxQg8tUxszDPJWoPHBYjFtSky-8FqCN0vG9HzoVQwVt-V8OBL1mrvj1rQq6JAlnbuf0UnQVHsokC1qBuidDRuG-GGYJktGEWCF3R4zPToqzhT-tOxZCts37aBohuCiVo6UA6zGyESjXX/s1600/75231749_10158979558384606_2653284504587730944_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfOxQg8tUxszDPJWoPHBYjFtSky-8FqCN0vG9HzoVQwVt-V8OBL1mrvj1rQq6JAlnbuf0UnQVHsokC1qBuidDRuG-GGYJktGEWCF3R4zPToqzhT-tOxZCts37aBohuCiVo6UA6zGyESjXX/s320/75231749_10158979558384606_2653284504587730944_o.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Karen Offereins</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They also decide it is time that another of the most
unlikely of couples – June and Owen – should meet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>June (Karen Offereins) is a successful real
estate professional who dresses to kill in her heels and in stylish but always
dignified, New York best.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She speaks
with inbred authority, is always on a schedule, and yet at the same time,
clearly sees it is her duty to protect and watch over his much smaller and (in
her mind) weaker, little sister.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Oh, it
is also important to note that June has a notable collection of thongs in
colors from eggplant to radish.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5hbuWlTq3gC1iR6AFM9FYtdlTh0-n0sgng_ssQ0wls0nQKPlqk83eHEtWMxQw32TNASGTV3xvzyRFXr0HVmPhoTzHT8H2Itsrx0mqSGISLtazxhVaL0lvg-Wt4Cwur1v7P7nhZE124SIh/s1600/74602095_10158979558604606_542133097341124608_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="1200" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5hbuWlTq3gC1iR6AFM9FYtdlTh0-n0sgng_ssQ0wls0nQKPlqk83eHEtWMxQw32TNASGTV3xvzyRFXr0HVmPhoTzHT8H2Itsrx0mqSGISLtazxhVaL0lvg-Wt4Cwur1v7P7nhZE124SIh/s400/74602095_10158979558604606_542133097341124608_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wes Gabrillo & Soren Santos</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Owen (Soren Santos) on the other hand is a recovering drug
addict (you name it, he has done it) who collapses on the floor in tears whenever
the refrigerator no longer has any almond milk in it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has replaced his heroin habit with a flask
of whisky that is never too far from his reach; and he too worries a lot about
his best pal, Khalil, who has recently been “in a dark place” and is “the least
fun person I know.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That June and Owen are another perfect couple in the making
is quite a stretch; an initial barbecue with the four is not a picnic by
far.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(How is June to respond to Owen’s
initial hell-o of “I drink three glasses of wine with breakfast” or he to her
unbroken silence and looks of brood?)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But like the play’s title, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elevada</i> – a term described in the program as “a tango move where a
partner’s feet are elevated off the ground” – dancing and falling in love share
similar sequences: floating at times as if in a dream, suddenly stumbling
unexpectedly, feeling out of control as you are dipped the next, and then
rejoicing elated as you are finally elevated and on top of the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The problem with love, as we begin to see in
Sheila Callaghan’s brilliant and explosive script, is that we are never certain
in what sequence these events occur and which will be the final one – in the
air or in a pile on the floor.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFUFyp_BFV_it7fCd4bhzPpud3DD_5_0ZQNwgRqiXZbhR7ohZ73ZoUHf1uGWFUGxfiGr2emed19II1vJfdutctvrPKCVfwR7QbOwPfC0AZ3LWzq1fO9EiBh_jZsBUnUvauzsOI98x59AgA/s1600/72993552_10158979559264606_4783791791839117312_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="724" data-original-width="1200" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFUFyp_BFV_it7fCd4bhzPpud3DD_5_0ZQNwgRqiXZbhR7ohZ73ZoUHf1uGWFUGxfiGr2emed19II1vJfdutctvrPKCVfwR7QbOwPfC0AZ3LWzq1fO9EiBh_jZsBUnUvauzsOI98x59AgA/s400/72993552_10158979559264606_4783791791839117312_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wes Gabrillo & Shotgun Dancing Ensemble</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To go any further in what happens to these two couples would
be to reveal too much of the roller coaster ride they have all boarded, both
willfully and almost by accident.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like
in any good rom-com – well, maybe not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all</i>
rom-coms – there are some big-time lies to be discovered, some disappearances to
come, and some harsh accusations; and there are also over-the-fence invasions,
subway escapes, and dancing nightmares.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And that is only a piece of what happens before the happy endings that
we know are a requirement for the two-hour, thirty minute adventure since after
all, this <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> a romantic comedy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Each of these four principals gives an award-winning
performance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each has moments where we
want to ring their necks and then turn around and hug them with delight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We truly get to know each of them as an
individual while also each remains a bit of an intriguing and totally
interesting mystery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Under the
imaginative and insightful direction of Susannah Martin, their stories
individually and in all possible combinations of pairings develop, unravel, and
rearrange in unexpected ways. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mikiko Uesugi has designed a flexible, raised platform of
polished wood where scenic elements come and go through double doors that also
open to reveal new settings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those stage-commanding,
closed doors that hide unknowns until suddenly opened are a great metaphor for
what happens as these four people risk exposing more and more about themselves
to both those they best know and the one they are each learning to love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Projections on those white doors and on the entire stage
setting designed by Erin Gilley are cleverly used to be everything from a bar
where stools can be pulled up to straddle to scenes and places all around New
York where our couples go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Matt Stines’
sound design also helps establish those locations and send us on a subway ride
where, when combined with the projections, I found it necessary to hold on to
my arm rests to hang on for the ride.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Cassie Barnes’ lighting design helps us distinguish between scenes
taking place in reality and those in dreams or memory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>June would be sorely lacking in projecting
who she is without the costume designs of Alice Ruiz as would Ramona in
communicating the shifts and changes that she undergoes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are so many lines of Sheila Callaghan’s script that
will stay with me for a long time – none more than “You gotta sell out a little
part of yourself to let a little part of someone else in.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is much to enjoy, savor, and actually
learn from her <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elevada</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As has already been said but is worth
repeating, this Shotgun Players’ production is for so many reasons one not to
be missed, a true “must-see!”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rating: 5 E, ‘MUST-SEE”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Elevada</i> continues
through November 17, 2019 on the Ashby Stage of Shotgun Players, 1901 Ashby
Avenue, Berkeley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tickets are available
at <a href="https://shotgunplayers.org/">https://shotgunplayers.org/</a> or by
calling 510-841-6500.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Photos by Robbie Sweeny Photography</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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</style>GuyDadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06225290125508992039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251867504109902076.post-60097531568696410692019-10-28T09:09:00.000-07:002019-10-28T09:09:15.155-07:00"Urinetown"<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Urinetown the Musical</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mark Hollmann (Music & Lyrics); Greg Kotis (Book &
Lyrics)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sunnyvale Community Players</div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;"> </span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZkz6KiVnXE4zZ5Q44YTELf_UxVcagv4O5LdW5S8r3tqR-UN3oIRAawgNBHhr1ptDSX94GymwCKvudKVABv3JHGd2v8SpCcQLdD5oKoFwnl-8i9NUmN8thIexO6yg0PwvcwlSdG4CP4iS1/s1600/72764310_10159161432968986_1675954135058350080_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="611" data-original-width="1346" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZkz6KiVnXE4zZ5Q44YTELf_UxVcagv4O5LdW5S8r3tqR-UN3oIRAawgNBHhr1ptDSX94GymwCKvudKVABv3JHGd2v8SpCcQLdD5oKoFwnl-8i9NUmN8thIexO6yg0PwvcwlSdG4CP4iS1/s400/72764310_10159161432968986_1675954135058350080_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Cast</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">The Sunnyvale Players do everything possible to
make sure we laugh and enjoy a subject that generally does not make it on the
Great American Musical stage: peeing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Pun-packed, scattered with double entendre, and full of parodies that
both poke fun and honor many well-known, American musicals, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Urinetown the Musical </i>hardly gives us a
chance to catch our breaths in between constant chuckles and loud guffaws.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">For my complete review, please proceed to <i>Talkin' Broadway</i>: <a href="https://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/regional/sanjose/sj182.html">https://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/regional/sanjose/sj182.html.</a></span>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rating: 5 E</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Urinetown the Musical</i>
continues through November 10, 2019 in production by Sunnyvale Community
Players at the Sunnyvale Community Center, 550 East Remington Drive, Sunnyvale,
CA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tickets are available online at <a href="http://www.sunnyvale.org/">www.sunnyvale.org</a>. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Photo Credit: Christopher Berger</div>
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</style>GuyDadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06225290125508992039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251867504109902076.post-61700208393963604982019-10-26T16:20:00.001-07:002019-10-26T16:20:23.095-07:00"Monty Python's Spamalot"
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Monty Python’s
Spamalot</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eric Idle (Book & Lyrics); John Du Prez & Eric Idle
(Music)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://woodsidetheatre.com/">Woodside Community Theatre</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDGjhpNSvC-RZXIBDU0yiiTfEcFZmudFS4kN9of07GDAp3cSnd10evjucpr7aTvWc5jVIqPlyPvtQXnbZNkCGrPcQxlj7ULaYu2G4YuJIIomEXlllCQ15om3Jfr2nZ2r662Y_2OxNvaLp3/s1600/DSC_7125.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1411" data-original-width="1600" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDGjhpNSvC-RZXIBDU0yiiTfEcFZmudFS4kN9of07GDAp3cSnd10evjucpr7aTvWc5jVIqPlyPvtQXnbZNkCGrPcQxlj7ULaYu2G4YuJIIomEXlllCQ15om3Jfr2nZ2r662Y_2OxNvaLp3/s320/DSC_7125.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="-moz-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(43, 43, 43); color: #2b2b2b; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Michael Sacco and Joe Murphy</span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the joys of any <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Monty Python’s
Spamalot </i>production for all of us musical lovers are the obvious (sometimes painfully
so) parodies that Eric Idle and John Du Prez continually insert on other musicals such as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Les Miserables, Fiddler on the Roof</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Chorus Line, West Side Story</i>, and
anything by Andrew Lloyd Webber.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
addition, the show’s over-the-top stunts, eye-popping slapstick, and downright
silliness is a perfect escape from the current, daily news headlines of other
clownish acts in our own national scene that are not at all funny. When a full cast of characters parade forth in
high/low-comedic, caricature fashion bringing their foibles, follies, and (yes,
sorry) farts with them (as well as their delightful singing voices), then a production like that now running at Woodside Community
Theatre is nothing short of a ridiculously good time. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Please proceed to <i>Talkin' Broadway </i>for my full review: <a href="https://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/regional/sanjose/sj181.html">https://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/regional/sanjose/sj181.html</a>. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rating: 4.5 E</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Monty Python’s
Spamalot</i> continues Saturday, November 2 (2 and 7:30 p.m.) and Sunday, November
3 (2 p.m.) at Woodside High School Performing Arts Center, 199 Church,
Woodside, CA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tickets are available
online at <a href="http://www.woodsidetheatre.com/">www.woodsidetheatre.com</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Photo Credits: Steve Stubbs</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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</style>GuyDadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06225290125508992039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251867504109902076.post-17230443552746414352019-10-25T13:42:00.003-07:002019-10-25T14:02:26.781-07:00"The Daughters"<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Daughters</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Patricia Cotter</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.sfplayhouse.org/">San Francisco Playhouse</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeKaDUPwzuqoEkhVJuloyB5wqcfUhH0ybQ6TB9jFvWs474dFqvYMUp7CiMfvmr9VvjCsc1GMSahT1-rGvMUj3O2iNJJIJ50xtNodWmw_DedJm-bNUYPLusuSWvu9glfseVg8p_hwrRjhj9/s1600/048A0034-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1180" data-original-width="1600" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeKaDUPwzuqoEkhVJuloyB5wqcfUhH0ybQ6TB9jFvWs474dFqvYMUp7CiMfvmr9VvjCsc1GMSahT1-rGvMUj3O2iNJJIJ50xtNodWmw_DedJm-bNUYPLusuSWvu9glfseVg8p_hwrRjhj9/s400/048A0034-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Olivia Levine, Katie Rubin, Molly Shaiken & Erin Anderson</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In 1955 their meeting in a San Francisco apartment could
have resulted in all of them being arrested, losing their jobs, and being
shunned by family and friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 2015,
their having a special place in the City by the Bay to meet was deemed as no
longer needed (or financially viable).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In a matter of sixty years, was it time to declare
triumphantly, “Face it, we won!” as does Natalie the night that the last
lesbian bar, The Lexington Club, was closing in San Francisco on April 30,
2015?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Had the wildest dreams in fact
been met of that group who first met in 1955 to form the country’s first
lesbian civil/political organization, the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB)?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Patricia Cotter floats these and other timely
questions as she juxtapositions these two historical events as the two acts of
her highly captivating, wonderfully hilarious, and deeply touching new play, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Daughters</i>, now receiving its world
premiere as part of San Francisco Playhouse’s “Sandbox Series.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The stingers have been mixed; pigs-in-the-blanket are laid
out on the tray; and mixed nuts are heaped in the bowl on the coffee
table.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Crocheted doilies are looking perfect
on the easy chair’s arms as everything is ready for the guests to arrive – including
the especially neatly stacked, printed, and proposed bylaws.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One twenty-two-year-old girl, Evelyn, is already on her
second drink but looking nervous that no one else has come as hosts Peggy and
Mal try to reassure her that surely others are on their way to this first
meeting of the DOB.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just as Evelyn is
about to leave – saying she has 6:30 a.m. mass tomorrow because her mom says
that helps keep her good with God – there is a knock at the door. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In enter Shorty and Griff – both in short, cropped
off hair and both looking extremely non-feminine in their nicely pressed, masculine
outfits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mal is about to tell them this
is not that kind of social gathering for women dressed as men; but then she
notices Evelyn is now very much ready to stay as she makes eyes with Griff who
is wearing a pin-stripped suit, tie, and dressy, black shoes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG7iDIa0jWcp0QL-RSBEYQi-mCGPvDD0wNkP-Lt96edwlVzr3Js7QWzmsYi-ib_C0RLFtGo9W1u7R9GHRXMAQZTPtztBdwMbIisxKMwFpwa4bAKrd3rCls5Ez6nVFq6uqHn0sYFCpdzqrw/s1600/048A0238.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG7iDIa0jWcp0QL-RSBEYQi-mCGPvDD0wNkP-Lt96edwlVzr3Js7QWzmsYi-ib_C0RLFtGo9W1u7R9GHRXMAQZTPtztBdwMbIisxKMwFpwa4bAKrd3rCls5Ez6nVFq6uqHn0sYFCpdzqrw/s400/048A0238.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Molly Shaiken, Olivia Levine, Jeuneé Simon, Em Lee Reaves, Katie Rubin & Erin Anderson</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And thus begins what Mal has carefully planned to be a
“political” meeting and the beginning of a movement for change but what is
quickly turning into a party as Shorty pulls out more booze and as Griff flips
a Patti Page record onto the turntable and asks a googly-eyed Evelyn to
dance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Mal becomes more and more
frustrated trying to go over the rules of the DOB and to outline the purposes
and bylaws, even the sympathetic woman with whom she shares her bed and life,
Peggy, is having trouble not grinning and swinging her flowing, fifties skirt
to the music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tension is rising as more
drinks are also being poured until all come to a frozen halt when a loud,
persistent knocking is heard at the apartment’s door.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is 1955; and call it a meeting or a party, what these lesbians
are doing is completely illegal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
those are police at the door who have been tipped off about the evening, all of
them could be in great jeopardy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lucky
for them and to their open-mouthed, all-white surprises (it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is </i>1955), the intruder is a beautiful,
stylishly dressed black woman, who introduces herself as Vivian from New York
and who is looking for what she hopes is a “secret lesbian sorority.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In a time and a city where there was no easy or legal way
for lesbians (or gays) to gather – much less to cross-dress, dance, or behave
romantically – there is little wonder that the few who came to Peggy’s and
Mal’s that first evening had many mixed and conflicting agendas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Martha Brigham’s portrayal of the serious,
stiff-shouldered, and persistent-in-purpose Mal is nothing short of outstanding
in every respect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Doing all she can to
ignore the giggly, flirty behaviors of the other women, her Mal continues to try
to force the others into “an agenda, strategy and a lesbian political
movement.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As she admits over a secret
cig on the patio with Vivian, “It’s frustrating to want to change the world and
not know how.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She and the more easy-going, open-to-a-passing-flirt Peggy
(Erin Anderson) live together as a couple and represent the actual founders of
the DOB, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Together, they have a dream that Mal poses to the group: “Can you
imagine a world where we can truly be ourselves?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Vivian (Jeunée Simon) wants to support Mal but as a married
woman (o a closeted gay man, she is also looking for a girl who will love her
for who she really is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shorty (Em Lee
Reaves) is a constant and flippant jokester (“Girls, you can’t live with them,
and you can’t live <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">with</i> them”) who
keeps referring to Mal as “Boss,” much to everyone’s amusement except Mal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The young Evelyn (Olivia Levine) is ecstatic
to be in the room (“This is the first time I’ve ever been around girls like
me”), and she only wants to drink and dance and continue to “feel so
normal.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She and the handsome Griff (Molly
Shaiken) cannot take their eyes off each other and are first to jump at the
chance to play “Spin the Bottle.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The evening is turning out for Mal “very different from what
I imagined,” but Shorty tells her not to be so hard on herself: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“We’re just the ones who showed up.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as we watch, we as audience and
one-by-one each of them begins to realize that – agenda or no agenda being
followed – in their gathering on this fateful night, history is in fact in the
making.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs29GN9-RtXvBISYbe2dLM7PM8U9c8zFhmWC3ti_Tbr_vgv73CFylCry4X5rBk8FQZxvXpAvEZyMVZVh3UEJpV9lldP59I_m1tyHZrOqhaIiWvWotxNMq7RBSYR7gIgcp6aMVtZBi5tmK0/s1600/048A0707-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs29GN9-RtXvBISYbe2dLM7PM8U9c8zFhmWC3ti_Tbr_vgv73CFylCry4X5rBk8FQZxvXpAvEZyMVZVh3UEJpV9lldP59I_m1tyHZrOqhaIiWvWotxNMq7RBSYR7gIgcp6aMVtZBi5tmK0/s400/048A0707-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jeuneé Simon, Katie Rubin & Erin Anderson</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When in the second act the scene jumps from the homey
apartment to a Mission dive bar complete with graffiti-covered walls where
women leave their phone numbers and messages (all fantastically designed by
Randy Wong-Westbrooke and given authentic properties by Stephanie Dittbern), we
enter just as bar-tender Spike (Em Lee Reaves) is standing on the bar declaring
“the last call of the last night” of the last lesbian bar in San Francisco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Natalie (Erin Anderson) thinks maybe the
closing is just “part of our evolution” while her girlfriend Gina (Martha
Brigham) insists with stubborn passion that lesbian bars are still just as
essential as community centers and women’s health clinics for the continued
well-being of the lesbian community.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ani (Olivia Levine) is a twenty-something who has wandered
in from Walnut Creek just because this is the last night of a bar she has never
seen the need to go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, to her
the “lesbian thing” is “just nothing like awesome” and is “kinda quaint.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Under pressure from Gina whose temper is near
boiling, Ani says she generally goes by “gender queer,” sending Gina over the
top and into near spasms.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkvjafbRFUcGtBYrmXdCYc-qK7HuxE8On5VNNA-0NdR8gGS9VrbrRn2kP6U0k_0f2qSIgVh5JQ25HYBCPSeTk053Kl0H2hs0dnDcS0XpNGndHEJDkwGZts7xWvhSYHr7YrNQcP1vvdkrFY/s1600/048A0878.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkvjafbRFUcGtBYrmXdCYc-qK7HuxE8On5VNNA-0NdR8gGS9VrbrRn2kP6U0k_0f2qSIgVh5JQ25HYBCPSeTk053Kl0H2hs0dnDcS0XpNGndHEJDkwGZts7xWvhSYHr7YrNQcP1vvdkrFY/s400/048A0878.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jeuneé Simon</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Fem-friend Leslie (Jeuneé Simon) who came to the closing with
Gina and Natalie dressed to kill (thanks to the evening’s costume designer, Chanterelle
Grover) is just looking for a hot butch type and is getting upset because none
seems to come to the Lexington any more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>While she is drinking and looking and contemplating the wet t-shirt
contest, Gina continues to give the fifth degree to Ani, who is now in turn giving
eyes to Spike.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then walks in Gina’s
ex, Jen (Molly Shaiken) who in a smart suit lets it be known the name is now actually
“Jefferson.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And with that, the final
night of The Lexington really heats up for a climatic closing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Director Jessica Holt takes the tight script of Patricia
Cotter and maximizes its power and punch through exacting, clever, and often
funny touches (as well as a number of hot and sexy scenes).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The use of the six actors playing double
roles between Acts One and Two is an added bonus of the two one-act plays that
each have their own beginning, middle, and end and could easily exist
alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have the pleasure of seeing
actors take on somewhat likened characters in the two time periods and can
chuckle at the similarities while also admiring the differences. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And while the two acts could be their own plays, together
they offer a meaningful and important look at how a civil rights movement
begins in the most unlikely of ways and then asks the question of how long such
a movement is needed before giving way to entirely new thrusts for different and
maybe conflicting freedoms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Labels,
practices, and social norms that one generation sees as defining and
liberating, another generation views as confining, outdated, and
irrelevant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it outmoded and even
self-limiting to define oneself as a lesbian (or a gay or a bi or ...), or is
it short-sighted and dangerous not to see the necessity still to keep the
sisterhood alive, to provide safe places for a minority to gather away from the
majority, and to reject that full assimilation – and thus perhaps disappearance
– is the ultimate goal?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
These and many other questions begin to pop to the surface
as we watch both the beginning of a movement and the closing of one of its
beloved institutions once the movement has won many hard-fought victories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>San Francisco Playhouse provides the first,
full production in what will hopefully be many more follow-up stagings of
Patricia Cotter’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Daughters.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is much to be learned and much to
contemplate in seeing history played out so realistically, authentically, and
hilariously in front of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a
world premiere that deserves long legs in the future.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rating: 5 E</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Daughters </i>continues
through November 2, 2019 as part of the Sandbox Series of San Francisco
Playhouse at The Creativity Theatre, The Children’s Creativity Museum, 221 4<sup>th</sup>
Street, San Francisco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tickets are available at </span><a href="http://sfplayhouse.org/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">http://sfplayhouse.org/</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> or by calling the box office at
415-677-9596.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Photos
by Jessica Palopoli</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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</style>GuyDadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06225290125508992039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251867504109902076.post-66364907131226505852019-10-24T13:39:00.000-07:002019-10-24T13:50:31.507-07:00"The Rocky Horror Show"<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">The Rocky Horror Show</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Richard
O’Brien (Book, Music, Lyrics)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://rayoflighttheatre.com/">Ray of Light Theatre</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT7ftbAuy0CbhVY0MTczGmquI6uAHPal4lFG2GymKVIxLNWNI4gFLanZzni1I7CnPKL_8E17CAz4rJ6oSIV0z9PQfMgsnR63ugwnNJmzjYE4SQMQTQfi_7qMPt_uh-z6Lk0YYWMTbTWFns/s1600/thumbnail-4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1080" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT7ftbAuy0CbhVY0MTczGmquI6uAHPal4lFG2GymKVIxLNWNI4gFLanZzni1I7CnPKL_8E17CAz4rJ6oSIV0z9PQfMgsnR63ugwnNJmzjYE4SQMQTQfi_7qMPt_uh-z6Lk0YYWMTbTWFns/s400/thumbnail-4.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">D'Arcy Drollinger, Joseph Feldman & Cast</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Hot men
and women in sensuous, black corsets of torn lace and slicked leather who are
raised on high by heeled boots, all singing and dancing in rock numbers that
are precursors of later musicals like </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Grease</span><span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> or </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Hairspray</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> </span><span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">can
mean only one thing:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;">The Rocky Horror Show</span><span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> is yet once again in revival.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Generations of costumed, crazed audiences
around the world have sustained decades of infatuation for this 1973 West End
musical as they come dressed in hole-infested stockings and darkened make-up,
talk back to actors in unrehearsed unison, and dance to the well-known line
steps of “Time Warp.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">While
there is always some camp involved in any </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Rocky</span><span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> live staging or screen showing,
Ray of Light’s version of Richard O’Brien’s </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">The Rocky Horror Show</span><span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> has for the last five years always proven to be first-class
musical theatre.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bringing together a
stellar cast, eye-popping costumes, electric choreography, lighting and sound
exactness, and a group of musicians that play ‘70s-era rock like nobody’s
business, the Ray of Light’s fifth annual </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Rocky</span><span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>– and as announced, its final – proves once again to be a San Francisco
Halloween treat. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfUSWj08o7uQuFMRwHLP3GE8U2wJ4p2Glio0RRxQ4F9e3_E7GbauY8MfodyPBGooVQQCC0HjZKs3sNJsnEr4DJ3CUboau-VHDFy8gTktBMjkh82czrOq_DNQtDkjQq_uUuUyDL26YW4ap1/s1600/thumbnail-7.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1080" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfUSWj08o7uQuFMRwHLP3GE8U2wJ4p2Glio0RRxQ4F9e3_E7GbauY8MfodyPBGooVQQCC0HjZKs3sNJsnEr4DJ3CUboau-VHDFy8gTktBMjkh82czrOq_DNQtDkjQq_uUuUyDL26YW4ap1/s400/thumbnail-7.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Caleb Haven Draper & Courtney Merrell</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">On a dark
and stormy night along a lonely patch of road, just-engaged Brad Majors and
Janet Weiss, who look like they stepped out of a early 70s Young Republicans
meeting or an ad from a Sears and Roebuck catalogue, find themselves with a
flat tire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Flashing lights from a nearby
castle draw them nervously into shelter from the downpour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A blue-lipped, black-lashed butler named Riff
Raff and his sister Magenta, a frizzy-haired, wild-eyed and snarling maid,
greet their knock on the door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nervous,
Brad and Janet enter a house full of roaming, all-too-curious, scantily-clad
Phantoms of questionable gender.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
are soon introduced to a mad scientist in black net stockings and tight corset,
Frank-n-Furter, who describes himself as a “sweet transvestite from
Transsexual, Transylvania.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZq-exNjgLTYSBVFC5uFIm11n8wUmuQrRCV345MgyqLY7e-FJFoAOB8qQ-Pf9FlXy1Ye7qrwnlHXsJAk1jzBWIUHy6DXNmjdCPlDc_1R51sVGChO_00zqgpPf1V2MPjBDcGKM_iR8mzGVh/s1600/thumbnail.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZq-exNjgLTYSBVFC5uFIm11n8wUmuQrRCV345MgyqLY7e-FJFoAOB8qQ-Pf9FlXy1Ye7qrwnlHXsJAk1jzBWIUHy6DXNmjdCPlDc_1R51sVGChO_00zqgpPf1V2MPjBDcGKM_iR8mzGVh/s320/thumbnail.jpeg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">D'Arcy Drollinger & Joseph Feldman</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">As they
are stripped of wet clothes to their underwear by the grabby Phantoms, Janet
and Brad become swept up in a grizzly murder of Frank’s former lover Eddie
(already missing half his brain from an earlier operation by Frank) and the
laboratory birth of a muscularly perfect and oh-so tanned Rocky (conceived to
become Frank’s new beau).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The two are
then led to separate, upstairs bedrooms while Frank imagines his upcoming
nuptials with the biceps-popping, sexy, and already frisky Rocky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But night’s dreams are not going to play out
just in Janet’s and Brad’s sleeping heads but instead become live-sex fantasies
their former, straight-laced selves could never have imagined.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The night ahead will bring more surprises,
twists, and turns for all inhabitants, including Frank, in this other-worldly
mansion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">All of
these fantastical scenes – over-flowing with every sexual perversion and manner
of undress imaginable – are musically punctuated by rock numbers right off a 45
RPM record, close harmonies both eerie and beautiful and soaring solos that
moan and haunt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To complete the telling of
this space-warped tale are sexy, snappy, and highly coordinated dance numbers
by a chorus of pan-gendered honeys in sets of high-heeled boots and stilettos. Alex
Rodriguez terrifically and terrifyingly choreographs this cast of phantoms to resemble
a bizarre mixture of frenzied teens at a high school dance pumping with raging
hormones and of drugged and drunken revelers rambling through streets looking
for trouble.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Alex
Rodriguez doubles as also stage director, pulling every stop possible to
tantalize, fascinate, and excite an audience that is already buzzing with
excitement upon entering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Use of a
massive turntable ups the game for the director’s creativity of presenting
over-lapping scenes and ever-changing groupings in dance numbers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Scattered
among scenes that are XXX-rated with their graphic, shadow-play sex or their
crotch-and-breast grabbing antics are a director’s comic touches like ensemble
members becoming a car’s body and swishing windshield wiper or a castle’s
doorway with a cheeky doorbell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
stage of stairs dripping in flickering candles designed by Peet Cocke is
enhanced magnificently by John Bernard’s lighting surprises.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A storm’s thunder peals shake the arena
thanks to Jerry Girard’s sound design, with his expert attention to the quirky
Victoria Theatre’s acoustics paying off as the lyrics of the oft-fast-moving
songs are clearly understood, even amidst all the frenzy occurring on-stage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sounds of Steven Bolinger’s five-piece
band rock are superb, with Tom Shaw’s piano-plucking particularly standing out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this or any </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Rocky </span><span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">production is nothing without the required skimpy,
imaginative, and titillating costumes; Maggie Whitaker keeps that tradition
alive and more with costumes that are designed to be both silly and shocking.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhUrMvvfywNUO_PfailVbgY8ibRqjqVpJstjatCWYjoxXb3ldYmI2bZ-7BSO8M8l_befEvNfqblPzEy7LCc4tbMKAbUDdTpcSOn44SuC5qtvA6-uI0S-Qp6N0VtYEGQD6sbUVZ9dffefGr/s1600/thumbnail-3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1080" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhUrMvvfywNUO_PfailVbgY8ibRqjqVpJstjatCWYjoxXb3ldYmI2bZ-7BSO8M8l_befEvNfqblPzEy7LCc4tbMKAbUDdTpcSOn44SuC5qtvA6-uI0S-Qp6N0VtYEGQD6sbUVZ9dffefGr/s400/thumbnail-3.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">D'Arcy Drollinger & Cast</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Just as
he has for the past four years, D’Arcy Drollinger is the gender-blending,
horror-and-humor-mixing, and tongue-slurping Frank-n-Furter whose gigantic
presence on the stage reigns supreme.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>D’Arcy is both King and Queen (and everything in between) when it comes
to his drippy sultriness, provocative plunges and spasms, and sensuality that altogether
is both alarming and attractive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More
than ever, D’Arcy in this latest venture knows how to camp it up and go for the
laughs, particularly every time Frank-n-Furter attempts to ascend or descend
the many and steep steps of the set.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>With a voice that can belt with bombastic blasts (as in “Sweet
Transvestite”) or lure in its victim with dripping tones of perverted promise
(“I can make you a man” in “Charles Atlas”), this Frank-n-Furter is always
deservedly the star on stage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">His
castle cohorts are equally well-suited to shock and satisfy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Randy O’Hara as Riff Raff, Jocelyn Pickett as
Magenta, and Melinda Campero as Columbia all bring rock-star-worthy voices with
notes that cut with exacting clarity as they each lead the troupe in “Time
Warp.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the skimpiest of gold Spandex
shorts and with bulging crotch, super-toned Joseph Feldman literally shines as
the lab-manufactured Rocky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he
sings soon after his electrified birth “The Sword of Damocles” as he foresees
his own precarious future, his Rocky sings with a voice vibrant, exciting, and almost
as attention-grabbing as is his bare, hunky bod.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not to be out-done, the corpse half of whose
brain Rocky now shares – Eddie, former lover of both Rocky and Columbia – suddenly
makes a short-lived resurrection when John Flaw electrifies the audience with a
“Hot Patootie” as he totally convinces us, “Bless my soul, I really love that
rock and roll.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Later, John Flaw will
arrive at the castle in wheel chair as Brad and Janet’s former teacher, Dr.
Scott.)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiYs3cm8jc3PHTpQslPxpEFSot26BqnfA2KcU8md3MYAZpGRIqM_tTOzu_41ccTu7-cLPXdknfuCAx0Evp4EoS0C_RJZlSxd9f_MAribpN6GViBoQNHDKMGbzMjj8JgLIPLmka2I5NCIsE/s1600/thumbnail-6.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="721" data-original-width="1080" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiYs3cm8jc3PHTpQslPxpEFSot26BqnfA2KcU8md3MYAZpGRIqM_tTOzu_41ccTu7-cLPXdknfuCAx0Evp4EoS0C_RJZlSxd9f_MAribpN6GViBoQNHDKMGbzMjj8JgLIPLmka2I5NCIsE/s400/thumbnail-6.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Caleb Haven Draper & Courtney Merrell</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Caleb
Haven Draper and Courtney Merrell play with full aplomb the Brad-Janet
duo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From their well-sung “Damn-It Janet”
in which love is professed with youthful, emphatic sincerity to later numbers
where clothes and inhibitions are shed and tempos intensified, the two make us
believe their initial fears, their middle curiosities, and their later
hedonistic enjoyments. Janet particularly is spectacular each time she steps
forward to sing in a voice that pierces the air with its attractive clarity, as
in the steamy seduction of an excited Rocky in “Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch
Me.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Brad’s mournful, contemplative
“Once in a While” has moments of hitting the mark, but this Brad throughout the
night overall does not measure up to the rest of the cast, vocally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, in their characterizations of Brad
and Janet, both actors cross successfully through the evening many emotional thresholds
while still remaining true at the core to that naïve, small-town couple we meet
in the beginning. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Throughout
the evening, J. Conrad Frank appears as the oh-so-elegantly dressed Narrator,
looking in dress, hair, and pointy glasses like Dame Edna’s twin sister.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Narrator has an ongoing battle with
various audience members who anticipate in cat-calls her next lines with
questions and comments meant to egg her on; but the battle is all in good and
expected fun of being at a </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Rocky Horror
Show.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBUN309xHQl1WyNDg38oXglgSbN54kaYrIMAqhTfq7cnAXyUA1-DX0n0jEphyphenhyphen7X8ooLz_MOlGgorJtvmbogs0NGElenJZk32crYfoNQvO7jLdA1CSD0CqkdEfeUaG4TXeZhiuhEDLu9Qq3/s1600/thumbnail-2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1080" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBUN309xHQl1WyNDg38oXglgSbN54kaYrIMAqhTfq7cnAXyUA1-DX0n0jEphyphenhyphen7X8ooLz_MOlGgorJtvmbogs0NGElenJZk32crYfoNQvO7jLdA1CSD0CqkdEfeUaG4TXeZhiuhEDLu9Qq3/s400/thumbnail-2.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">D'Arcy Drollinger</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">The Second
Act of </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Rocky</span><span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> never seems to live up to the
First as story line always peters out a bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, just as the ROL cast and directors have done since the first
show five years ago, this production overcomes that built-in deficit with
well-paced and creative direction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
rousing and arousing “The Floor Show” features high-heeled soloists (Columbia,
Rocky, Janet, and Brad) in scanty pink and sparkling silver singing with
piercingly pleasing voices before Frank-n-Furter emerges to have an “Ursula”
moment with long tentacles of swirling silk emanating from the now-pink-haired
castle ruler.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later, Frank-n-Furter’s
desperate plea for a home among his earthly pleasures and playthings in “I’m
Going Home” provides D’Arcy a chance truly to prove his vocal prowess and power
as Frank-n-Futer sings an emotional “I’ve seen blue skies through the tears in
my eyes, and I realize I’m going home.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">For
anyone who is going to see </span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">The Rocky
Horror Show</span></i><span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> for the
first time, I suggest reading a plot synopsis ahead of time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of the story’s strange details get too
easily lost, especially when both the dialogue and the songs on stage are so
often interrupted by audience members’ taunts, questions, and comments that are
traditionally a part of a </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Rocky</span><span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> evening, making it somewhat
difficult for the first-timer to figure out just what is going on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">So with some
sadness but much appreciation, we say farewell to Ray of Light’s five-year run
of </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">T<i>he Rocky Horror Show.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">What better way to celebrate the Halloween season that to
catch one of the remaining shows before the spaceship takes off to Transsexual,
Transylvania for its final journey home in outer, outer space.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Rating: 4
E</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">The Rocky Horror Show</span><span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> continues through November 2,
2019 in production by Ray of Light Theatre at the Victoria Theatre, 2961 16<sup>th</sup>
Street, San Francisco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tickets are
available online at <a href="http://rayoflighttheatre.com/">http://rayoflighttheatre.com/</a>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Photos by
Nick Otto </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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</style>GuyDadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06225290125508992039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251867504109902076.post-35322398420409319912019-10-23T09:42:00.003-07:002019-10-23T09:42:28.842-07:00"Nine the Musical"
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nine the Musical</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Maury Yeston (Music & Lyrics); Arthur Kopit (Book)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Adapted from the Italian by Mario Fratti</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Based on Federico Fellini’s Film, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">8½</i> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://3belowtheaters.com/">3Below Theatres and Lounge</a></div>
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<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0otHPsvztQAApYFjF2lKzMj7bhSiGavYlk8cid6ykkJVvNIEU5huVvs3cwliBkqdSe5onZ6HIXs_y2ODUVKjSHRZKkN3ptDjApnI9grQznFuhNDaiMEedII54uvbIy-McUxFBjrM6MWFM/s1600/thumbnail.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="789" data-original-width="1080" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0otHPsvztQAApYFjF2lKzMj7bhSiGavYlk8cid6ykkJVvNIEU5huVvs3cwliBkqdSe5onZ6HIXs_y2ODUVKjSHRZKkN3ptDjApnI9grQznFuhNDaiMEedII54uvbIy-McUxFBjrM6MWFM/s400/thumbnail.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="-moz-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(43, 43, 43); color: #2b2b2b; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Amy Bouchard, Susan Gundunas,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Stephen Guggenheim & Becky Elizabeth Stout</span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">Nine</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;"> is
in many ways a unique musical in its structure, story, and songs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of the songs are not that memorable, but
each fits the mood of the moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some
seem strange and hardly needed to be included;
and even the title song is soon forgotten.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But with few exceptions, the 3Below cast takes what they are given and
sells, sells, sells each number.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
result is a rare opportunity to see an important entry in the Great American
Musical catalogue – one directed, performed, and designed with Great White Way
style and flair.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">For my full review, please continue to <i>Talkin' Broadway: <a href="https://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/regional/sanjose/sj180.html">https://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/regional/sanjose/sj180.html.</a></i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;"><i> </i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;"><i>
</i></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rating: 4 E</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nine </i>continues
through November 10, 2019 Thursdays through Sundays at 3 Below Theatres &
Lounge, 288 South Second Street, San Jose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Tickets are available online at <a href="https://3belowtheaters.com/">https://3belowtheaters.com/</a>.
</div>
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<br /></div>
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Photo by Guggenheim Entertainment</div>
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</style>GuyDadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06225290125508992039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251867504109902076.post-45636876349694927442019-10-20T21:08:00.003-07:002019-10-20T21:08:41.062-07:00"Othello"
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Othello</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
William Shakespeare</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.african-americanshakes.org/">African-American Shakespeare Company</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzqI-OdXqlWH_fTQK9WcAwVjxRbWgNQUtf-0yaWzT-Hu-v3FQUYqfJniGnJGRBaAoA_AQXMJRuD_DlCv0jPCGSsFMlhUgaBe1fu57tE66KJTv1scJzCOzRCCORAMMaMxqNhbtTav9nMT-A/s1600/othello_3378-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzqI-OdXqlWH_fTQK9WcAwVjxRbWgNQUtf-0yaWzT-Hu-v3FQUYqfJniGnJGRBaAoA_AQXMJRuD_DlCv0jPCGSsFMlhUgaBe1fu57tE66KJTv1scJzCOzRCCORAMMaMxqNhbtTav9nMT-A/s400/othello_3378-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Isabel
Siragusa & L. Peter Callender</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While there are no American flags flying and no “U.S. Army”
or “U.S. Navy” stitching on the military uniforms worn, the intentions of
Director Carl Jordan could hardly be clearer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There is no way for him to camouflage that this opening production of
the African-American Shakespeare Company’s twenty-fifth season of William
Shakespeare’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Othello </i>involves
American troops stationed in yet another Middle Eastern country, this time
Cyprus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The director ensures from the
opening scene that this oft-produced tragic tale takes on the immediate
relevance of headlines we are reading every day.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A second, brilliant decision in terms of casting by the
director also makes this <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Othello</i> as
current as this morning’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Huffpost</i>
headline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While most productions of the
classic only cast the Moor Othello himself as a man of color, Carl Jordan has
somewhat removed race as the core difference between Othello and his compatriot
soldiers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this production, blacks and
whites abound working, living, and even coupled together (e.g., Iago’s wife,
Emilia, is black).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this director’s
vision, when the most reviled of all Shakespeare’s villains, Iago, says
point-blankly and unashamedly, “I hate the Moor,” we cannot help but draw
comparisons to the online pictures and videos we see of everyday Americans (and
even top leaders) showing their hate of those of not born in this country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apart from the themes of jealousy and
misjudgment that center on Othello himself, this African-American Shakespeare
Company’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Othello</i> is a stark,
unsettling reflection of the doubts and mistrusts that can quickly multiply
when a respected source like Iago begins to spread rumors and outright lies
about “the other” among us – about that person who is a different nationality
(in this case, African), has foreign speech patterns (Othello has a distinctly
different accent), and show mannerisms that make him stand out from those who
look and act like ‘us.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What makes this <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Othello
</i>particularly startling is that Iago could be any one of a hundred people
most of us in the audience knows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the
outside and at first meeting, he is nice-looking, wears a Zuckerberg-like
hoodie, and is quick to buddy up to whomever he meets around the base<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>– the kind of guy who grew up next door to
the majority of today’s Americans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After
all, everyone – and of course especially his superior officer, Othello --
refers to Iago as “honest,” “good,” a man of “trust.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1JG1UIbvVUlokgDSb3UVoxdBqx5bxviWM8iiuuWRtS7eXa4gWhJE2YQ_wLa-I5DKciCsMkdwTRIPJqr27RMibdzNT3C-5Vt52ddUHprObGXu2bTIAtd-Q30fItETrpoLmAa-FbQQxAoaI/s1600/othello_3225-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1JG1UIbvVUlokgDSb3UVoxdBqx5bxviWM8iiuuWRtS7eXa4gWhJE2YQ_wLa-I5DKciCsMkdwTRIPJqr27RMibdzNT3C-5Vt52ddUHprObGXu2bTIAtd-Q30fItETrpoLmAa-FbQQxAoaI/s400/othello_3225-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MIchael Ray Wisely & L. Peter Callender</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But what also makes this Iago unfortunately so currently familiar
is that he is quick to talk and spread rumors about the foreigner among them,
this Moor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What sends chills down one’s
spine is how time and again Michael Ray Wisely as Iago turns to address the
audience directly in such a manner as if to say, “You understand ... You know
how these foreigners are among us.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
openly shares with us his ideas-in-the-making and finally explicitly tells us
his demonic plan to take down Othello, not hiding any motive or detail of how
he will convince Othello that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio (the
lieutenant who was promoted over Iago).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We can see that he thinks that naturally we too have the same dislike as
he of this outsider Othello.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The assumptions Iago makes with his tone and looks -- one
almost expects him to wink at us to let us know he ‘knows’ we agree – rattles
to the core and leads one to think of a certain president whose tweets and
video clips make the same types of assumptions as he too often asserts criminals
are infiltrating the U.S. through the Mexican border.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Michael Ray Wisely is a modern-day, American
Everyman who is fed up with those foreigners who are invading our institutions,
making decisions to take jobs away from us, and who are even marrying our
women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As such, he is scary and all too
real.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And though there are frequent mentions of the script’s
Venice and still plenty of early seventeenth century phrases and language
amongst some updated phrases and four-letter epitaphs, peppering the story’s
unveiling are also the sounds of overhead helicopters and jets, piped in
snippets of a TV reporter, and the buzzers and bells of a modern military
compound.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Together, director and
creative team continue to reinforce that this <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Othello</i> is happening right now, all around us.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtzrgPP46jRIm-SxaaFStttUAWvSKDp4ncSMymjjVjfgqpFOVK4Kfovgu00rohk7dN1ZrYLMy0OeCJdA2KmWrYOCSBbFRVSe46hpfb0wEOYusUte7J6jV9Ub8nRhMcbnv8Qrk7CHded-NV/s1600/othello_2950-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtzrgPP46jRIm-SxaaFStttUAWvSKDp4ncSMymjjVjfgqpFOVK4Kfovgu00rohk7dN1ZrYLMy0OeCJdA2KmWrYOCSBbFRVSe46hpfb0wEOYusUte7J6jV9Ub8nRhMcbnv8Qrk7CHded-NV/s400/othello_2950-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Isabel
Siragusa & L. Peter Callender</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The military hero, Othello -- who in this case has evidently
immigrated from somewhere in Muslim Africa to rise to hero-status in the
military – is charming in his exacting accent and manner, is well-spoken and
clearly of exceptional intelligence, and is full of amiable confidence when we
first meet him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>L. Peter Callender
provides few, if any, early hints of the emotional, mental, and psychological
breakdown that is soon to occur.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With
his new bride, Desdemona, he is passionately and unashamedly demonstrative of
his love for her, picking her up while repeatedly kissing her in front of his
gathered troops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With his comrades, he
is jovial and familiar as well as quick to joke and even to hug.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
His eventual metamorphosis into a full-fledge monster is all
the more horrific because Mr. Callender is able at first to make us believe
that maybe this particular Othello will not be taken in by Iago’s outlandish
insinuations and will in fact continue to love his beautiful, young bride who
so clearly adores him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he laughs
off Iago’s initial insinuations of Desdemona’s infidelity, we hope that the
“green-eyed monster” of jealousy will this time pass him by; but we have also
just heard his Othello say with eerie prediction as his wife exits, “But I do
love her, and when I am out of love, chaos will come again.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When Othello does transform, rarely has there been any more
violent outbursts by a physically scary Othello than the one on this
stage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mr. Callendar’s increasing bouts
of rage and fury are shattering to behold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His rants become animal-like howls; his eyes almost pop out of his head;
he beats his chest in one moment and collapses on the ground in the next –<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>sometimes screaming his anger, sometimes just
freezing his mouth open and in a look shocked and horrid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His entire being becomes so consumed with the
jealous disease that Iago has infected within him that he shakes uncontrollably
from head to toe; his voice shifts to that of a monster; and any sign of
logical, rational thinking totally leaves him. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His body literally shrinks, twists, and molds
into wrinkled forms different from that the noble man we met just barely an
hour prior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The performance is nothing
short of magnificent and horrifying at the same time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBzNO5h9tVUXDeB9e7NK76te3F4US5mSCENJontmowEnYKnWckDH85byQwy_FfbYPuBK8xJD4qa2f8-ZRNkcyQR5FMNHMKoQYSo8KvGmiEjDfHrKxmjxROS6ioOZaWZVmthUuSwyfMa_WS/s1600/othello_3261-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBzNO5h9tVUXDeB9e7NK76te3F4US5mSCENJontmowEnYKnWckDH85byQwy_FfbYPuBK8xJD4qa2f8-ZRNkcyQR5FMNHMKoQYSo8KvGmiEjDfHrKxmjxROS6ioOZaWZVmthUuSwyfMa_WS/s400/othello_3261-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Isabel
Siragusa</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Surrounding these two who together march others towards a
destiny of undeserved destruction are two wives and a comrade: Desdemona,
Emilia, and Cassio.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Desdemona (Isabel
Siragusa) appears barely past her teen years and obviously dedicated to her new
groom and heads-over-heals in love with him as a girl who has found her first
love. She exudes a sense of innocence and naivite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She shows no hesitation to be open about her
close friendship with Cassio and in fact does flirt a bit with him as any young
woman might do with a friend who is much closer to her age than her graying
husband.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is not about to stop
pestering her husband in a loving, playful, but ever-persistent mode to
reconsider a demotion he gives to Cassio (after a drunken brawl orchestrated by
Iago on the lightweight drinker, Cassio). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She also seems to miss all clues how much her
childish bantering is upsetting her newly wed husband.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Othello’s suspicions become more intense
and his anger begins to take over, Ms. Siragusa’s performance proportionately intensifies
in multiple dimensions to a climax where she succumbs in shocked disbelief
while still purporting her love for a husband who is about to kill her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The interpretation given to this Desdemona is
somewhat disturbing in that she shows few signs of her own personhood and
independence, but she also reminds us how easy it is for a young woman in our
society to fall into the sway and obedience of an attractive, publicly renowned
man who so dominates and powers over her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the MeToo era, her Desdemona is a warning signal of how this
seductive dominance can happen to almost anyone.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As Iago’s wife, Emilia (also a member of the military
troop), Champagne Hughes is often initially in the background, watching
intently but rarely saying much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is,
however, desperate to be noticed by her husband who seems to have a disdain for
her, and she is most certainly one more person who is hugely naïve as she
agrees to steal Desdemona’s handkerchief (a gift from Othello) in order to
please her husband.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the true nature
of her husband and his motives finally become known to her, the rage against
him and Othello (and husbands in general) and the despair she feels for
Desdemona add up to an astoundingly powerful performance for Ms. Hughes, her
final fifteen or so minutes being a memorable highlight in an evening already
full of incredible performances by her fellow actors.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As Cassio, Ariel Sandino is convincing as a nice, somewhat
shy, and incredibly handsome guy any one would immediately like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That he is duped by Iago is easy to believe
because Cassio is so good-natured and so clearly convinced that Iago is “my
honest friend.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAuvxGDIpZJ_cktZ7fBjz3harUTfDY2a32PvB1uF5wJtmocwvc3cD6sJJzZduw-s2MVIFHJvitOxt_mAkz8vDw9AwoF0GLMumC-FKFIXAMIoNXO0PeJcZtsEpUJDcPG2aMP4K3hATt-mQl/s1600/othello_2930-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAuvxGDIpZJ_cktZ7fBjz3harUTfDY2a32PvB1uF5wJtmocwvc3cD6sJJzZduw-s2MVIFHJvitOxt_mAkz8vDw9AwoF0GLMumC-FKFIXAMIoNXO0PeJcZtsEpUJDcPG2aMP4K3hATt-mQl/s400/othello_2930-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gabriel Ross & Michael Ray Wisely</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Contrasting in every way to him is Gabriel Ross as an
emotionally wild, almost clownish, and completely impulsive Roderigo – a
supposed friend of Iago’s who believes Desdemona should be his wife and who
becomes a too-easy puppet to Iago’ fiendish schemes, believing he can still win
her hand once Othello is out of the picture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But like Cassio, Roderigo’s naivite runs rapid through the veins of his awkwardly
jerky body; his too-easily-given trust leads to a demise that involves them
both.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Helping round out this fine cast is Samira Mariama as a
business-like, no b-s Duke who says as much with her non-verbal smirks as she
does with the words the Bard provides her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She returns later in the play as a gaudily dressed Bianca, the openly
sexy, loud-mouthed, bedtime diversion of Cassio who becomes yet another
instrument in Iago’s evil plan to undo Othello via Cassio.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Gene Thompson is the very white, probably racist father of
Desdemona, Brabantio, who scornfully opposes the marriage of his daughter to
the foreign-born (and black) Othello.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When he goes to make his case to the black Duke who clearly sees right
through his obvious prejudices, one cannot help but laugh at his stupidity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Durand Garcia, Stephen Dietz, and Tyri
Ballard complete the ensemble, each having their own singularly notable moments
as Gratino, Lodovico, and Montano, respectively.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqWOSuAzUHPi4qeBF2p9apW3kHJUBsEGHWr-RStt5rNiSEb5e_XnZcoHbX13c_afmDPniF0ioVENNSqYfTJE6YuyIVRC6PWEhceeUmb2jzl_g8j8mWOPuMSlrxvzm6jvweVNuJLkOIrzje/s1600/othello_3463-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqWOSuAzUHPi4qeBF2p9apW3kHJUBsEGHWr-RStt5rNiSEb5e_XnZcoHbX13c_afmDPniF0ioVENNSqYfTJE6YuyIVRC6PWEhceeUmb2jzl_g8j8mWOPuMSlrxvzm6jvweVNuJLkOIrzje/s400/othello_3463-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">L. Peter Callender</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Cayla Ray-Perry’s set design of skeletal wooden and metal
buildings quickly tell us how unstable the relations are of those who reside
inside while her background, brilliantly colored cutouts of a Cyprus village
call upon us to remember how foreign the American troops themselves are in this
far-off land of ancient customs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kevin Myrick’s
lighting design highlights the brightness of a seashore country as well as the
dark shadows of brewing, diabolical plans and events while he and sound
designer Larry Tasse collaborate to bring the flashes and sounds of war into
our presence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Durand Garcia’s fight
instructions prove to be excellent in the realism of pounding, physical
altercations, especially leading to an abhorrent climax as Othello assaults his
wife on her death bed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally, costume
designer Keri Fitch keeps us constantly aware that these are surely American
military on foreign assignment while she also clothes Desdemona in
rose-filtered innocence and Bianca in bold-striped sauciness.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Even if one has seen <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Othello</i>
a dozen times, the current production of the Shakespeare classic by
African-American Shakespeare Company is one not to be missed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its timeliness, innovation of casting, and
sheer acting prowess makes this <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Othello</i>
one to be long remembered and discussed by its audiences.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rating: 5 E</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Othello </i>concludes its
short run of only six performances next weekend, October 26 and 27, 2019 in
production by the African-American Shakespeare Company at Marines’ Memorial
Auditorium, 609 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tickets are available online at <a href="http://www.african-americanshakes.org/">www.african-americanshakes.org</a>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Photo Credits: Joseph Giammarco</div>
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</style>GuyDadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06225290125508992039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251867504109902076.post-38490659184665995182019-10-19T16:26:00.002-07:002019-10-20T08:05:39.750-07:00"Nabucco"<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nabucco</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Giuseppe Verdi, Composer</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Temistocle Solera, Librettist</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.wbopera.org/">West Bay Opera</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaWSpLCxgXW-E3nT7LT6nj5-h2rgn_5tNYsjReHMPAVgQg1dTR1eRIrCb6RyKfMFBfvp4YWo9lyBRztn8GwWUif3GZpiF1I7nHMjXt67iYJkq7fGjhpKkhTDqNZZG0Xgh9-5nEkXLqbO_A/s1600/Nabucco-Head-on-Blue-png.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaWSpLCxgXW-E3nT7LT6nj5-h2rgn_5tNYsjReHMPAVgQg1dTR1eRIrCb6RyKfMFBfvp4YWo9lyBRztn8GwWUif3GZpiF1I7nHMjXt67iYJkq7fGjhpKkhTDqNZZG0Xgh9-5nEkXLqbO_A/s320/Nabucco-Head-on-Blue-png.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
How relevant can a near one-hundred-eighty-year opera be to
modern audiences when there is an autocratic, egotistic ruler who subjugates
people of a different ethnicity and nationality to imprisonment and relocation
from their homeland and who begins to act and think of himself as a god?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately in 2019, a story that
originates in biblical times and is the subject of Giuseppe Verdi’s first
break-through opera, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nabucco</i>, is perhaps
more apropos than ever before, with examples of such leaders currently
over-populating the globe, both near and far.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But what sets this historical tale’s ruler apart from most
modern day despots is that this king, Nabucco (known in English as Nebuchadnezzar
II), actually comes to grips with his own ego-inflated wrong-doings and
completely transforms, in the end restoring to those he harms their nation,
their lives, and their dignity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If only
it were possible to sit a few of today’s presidents, premiers, and princes in
the audience of West Bay Opera’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nabucco
– </i>the company’s opening production of its sixty-fourth season – in order
for them to be as inspired and emotionally moved as was the opening night
audience.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nabucco</i>, partly
based on the books of Jeremiah and Daniel from the Hebrew Haftorah, relates the
destruction of the Israelite’s Temple in Jerusalem by the invading Babylonian
army in 587 BCE and of the subsequent deportation of the Jews to the victors’
homeland. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There, they are threatened with
certain annihilation by the jealous, power-hungry daughter of the king,
Abigaile, who seizes power from her father after he suddenly goes mad, his having
been struck into babbling hysteria when declaring himself to be not king, but God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Abigaile is actually a former slave
raised by Nabucco as his daughter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His
real daughter, Fenena, is a captive of the Israelites and has both fallen in
love with the King of Jerusalem’s nephew, Ismaele, and has converted to his
Jewish faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Abigaile herself has passion for Ismaele, who rejects her
offer of his and his people’s release if he will now love her instead of Fenena.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her resultant tantrum against him and her
sister explodes, eventually to include her father and leading to her fiery decree
for all of their demises.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only a divine
re-awakening by the fallen, shaken, former king and a plea by him for God’s forgiveness
can save himself, his daughter, and his newly adopted people, the Israelites.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the intimate Lucie Stern stage, West Bay Opera begins Verdi’s
epic story with a stage-filling chorus of thirty-three who – with outstretched
hands – sing the moving harmonies of a prayer to their God: “Do not let thy
children fall prey to a madman who scorns your everlasting right.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Especially when the women roll their voices
in waves of supplication is this initial exposure impressively moving for a
chorus that Verdi will give ample opportunities to be heard during the
two-hour, forty minute (with two intermissions) evening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While the chorus under direction of Bruce
Olstad sometimes lacks a totally solid, male foundation, overall the efforts
made as a total ensemble are impressive the entire evening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is especially true when the full group
sings – first with subdued, then with harmonically moving and organ-like tones –
Verdi’s most famous choral piece, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Va,
pensiero, sull’ali dorate”</i> (“Fly, thought, on golden wings”). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After the Israelite’s initial prayer, Zaccaria, the High
Priest of the Jews, rises forth to assure his gathered flock in a fatherly,
soothing bass that “on the shores of Egypt, He saved the life of Moses” and
thus will save them, too, from the approaching enemy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the arm-outreached High Priest, Benjamin
Brady time and again uses a deep-welled voice teeming in impressive richness to
comfort Zaccaria’s people, even when the worst seems imminent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each time they begin to panic, his resounding
voice rises to engulf them with renewed belief in God’s care and promised
protection. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even in their direst
moments, Benjamin Brady’s glorious voice rises in the confidence his Zaccaria
has of God’s power to overcome the greatest of odds, inspiring as in Scene 2,
Act 4 an unsure Israel to echo their own re-found faith in twirling harmonies
that surround his deeply voiced surety.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As Nabucco’s daughter Fenena, Clauda Chapa’s mezzo-soprano
voice beautifully resonates an inner strength, courage, and resolve that will continue
to grow in the course of the story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fenena
declares boldly her new faith and her love for a man who is called enemy by her
own father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She will particularly shine when
Fenena believes she is about to die at the hands of her diabolical sister, with
Ms. Chapa bringing radiant clarity in notes round and full as she sings with
full conviction, “My soul escapes already and flies to heaven.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As Fenena’s lover and her defender even in the face of his
own people’s wrath, John Kun Park’s Ismaele sings with a tenor voice that
floats its high notes with ease and emotional fervor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His voice intertwines in love and reverence
with Fenena’s equally adoring tones as they recall how they first fell in love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A highlight of the entire evening is when the
two of them join near the end of Act One with the jealous Abigaile in a trio
that is the one time Verdi gives us a heart-pounding glimpse of the depths of
emotions welling within each in this triangle of love.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When she enters Jerusalem disguised as a soldier, Abigaile
immediately sends chills down one’s spine as she uplifts a fearful voice to
sing, “The thunderbolt of my revenge already hangs suspended over your
heads.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Christina Major is nothing short
of astounding in this extremely demanding soprano role – one in which she
meteorically goes in a mere split second from a frightful-sounding low to a
heaven-touching high, with a voice overflowing with Abigaile’s felt destiny to
rule.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At times, notes fall in caressing waterfall
fashion down a scale that seems to be octaves in length.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Her Act Two aria begins with rolling torrents of sustained
notes as she declares, “You will see my fury fall upon everyone.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her cries of purposeful revenge pierce the
air in their soprano heights before suddenly collapsing to a depth most
sopranos rarely travel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But when she
reflects of how she once spoke of “holy love” and “wept at others’ tears” –
remembering her unfulfilled affection for Ismaele – Ms. Major transforms her
vocals to a soft trembling as she holds note after note long enough for each to
attach to the next in a loving embrace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is no wonder that at the end of this aria, Christina Major receives
on opening night the loudest ‘bravas’ and the longest applause.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If there were any other of her many brilliant moments that
perhaps one-upped this extraordinary aria, it is as her Abigaile stumbles and
falls near the opera’s end to a self-inflicted death of poison.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Singing crumpled on the ground with a lovely English horn accompaniment (Meave Cox), she sends a whispered prayer to God of “Let me not be
damned.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Clearly, if for no other
reason, Christina Major’s performance of Abigaile is a sure reason (among many)
to secure a ticket to WBO’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nabucco.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Normally, a review of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nabucco</i>
would focus on the lead character himself, whose developmental and spiritual
journey is in many ways Verdi’s raison d’être for the opera.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, the baritone who will star in
this role the rest of the run, Jason Duika, was unavailable opening night due
to an allergy attack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With only one
day’s notice, Roy Stevens stepped into the role; and he deserves not only the
voiced appreciation Artistic Director José Luis Moscovich gave him at the
evening’s close, but also the admiration of all of us who attended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was clear, however, from his opening notes
and appearance that the accomplished performer was under some strain and
insecurity, undertaking the last-minute stand-in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To his well-deserved credit, his confidence
and the projection of his baritone vocals progressively grew stronger over the
course of the evening, with his Act Four, Scene One prayer of forgiveness to
the Hebrew God touching our hearts as well as surely the Almighty’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he then declares to all Israel his love
of God and his intention to rebuild the destroyed Temple, his Nabucco triumphs
in a final, reverberating magnificence that leads into one of the chorus’ most
exultant moments as they sing in full, a cappella harmony, “Great Jehovah.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Layna Chianakas directs with great skill the comings and
goings of such a large cast (forty-plus) on a relatively compact stage, one
built with various levels of steps and platforms along with a great, stone wall
of Babylon protruding from stage right as part of JF Revon’s set design.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Projections by JF Revon and Frédéric O.
Boulay are mixed in their success in portraying the ancient Temple, Babylonia,
and natural surroundings (with a projected sandstorm of sorts becoming a
distraction in the build-up to Nabucco’s first appearance in Jerusalem).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much more wowing are the array of Israelite
and Babylonian costumes created by perennially award-winning costume designer
Abra Berman, with her royal designs for Abigaile being particularly impressive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Steve Mannshardt brings his normal genius to a lighting
design that often trembles and dances in its shadow play over the steps of
Temple, river shores, and a city’s famed hanging gardens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Giselle Lee’s sound design assures proper
balance among the wide assemblage of singers with the multi-level orchestra
(located in the pit and on two levels of the stage’s both sides).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>José Luis Moscovich conducts the
twenty-five-plus orchestra with both exuberance and sensitivity, with the strings
and winds especially time and again playing in manners guaranteed to impress
and inspire.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To be able to enjoy an opera of as grand a scale as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nabucco</i> by a company as accomplished as
West Bay Opera in a setting as intimate as Lucie Stern Theatre is indeed a
blessing for Silicon Valley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether a
regular attendee of operas on stages much larger and in halls much grander or a
first-timer to opera altogether, one cannot go wrong securing a ticket to West
Bay Opera’s wonderfully executed, beautifully resounding <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nabucco</i> – especially when given the gift of reveling in a Abigaile
that surely rivals any that has ever played the role.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rating: 4.5 E</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nabucco</i> continues
October 20, 26 and 27, 2019 in production by West Bay Opera at the Lucie Stern
Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Tickets are available online at <a href="http://www.wbopera.org/">www.wbopera.org</a>,
by calling the box office at 650- 424-9999, or by stopping by the West Bay
Opera box office, 221 Lambert Avenue, Palo Alto.</div>
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<br /></div>
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</style>GuyDadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06225290125508992039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251867504109902076.post-27325171073548696552019-10-17T13:09:00.000-07:002019-10-17T15:24:25.102-07:00"The Chinese Lady"<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Chinese Lady</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lloyd Suh</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.magictheatre.org/">Magic Theatre</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh78jWDK4JDF6ZWHiY-4V0LGr_NzD3VSpYxQDR8lJOFxcOF3M2UBVIDtipHQuxwY-1V2BxqGMd-QrXVOGkrBvHJl7M0yOndBzMla9gKuEKEhIXVJXGU8xX4KCXUo8s_pc5ng8Bk3e16563_/s1600/ZXrmfhk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1106" data-original-width="1600" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh78jWDK4JDF6ZWHiY-4V0LGr_NzD3VSpYxQDR8lJOFxcOF3M2UBVIDtipHQuxwY-1V2BxqGMd-QrXVOGkrBvHJl7M0yOndBzMla9gKuEKEhIXVJXGU8xX4KCXUo8s_pc5ng8Bk3e16563_/s400/ZXrmfhk.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Will Dao & Rinabeth Apostol</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
“What is happening is a
performance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For my entire life is a
performance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These words that you hear
are not my own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These clothes I wear are
not my own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This body that I occupy is
not my own.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In 1834, two traders of Far East Oriental imports to New
York arranged for a Chinese girl of fourteen and of the wealthy class to come
to the United States for two years in order to promote their business,
appearing at Peale’s Museum for the “education and entertainment” of audiences
who had never seen an Asian woman before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They had not seen such a person because Afong Moy was the first Chinese
woman to set foot on American soil; and as such, she became quite a hit and a
sensation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But after a few years, she
went from near royalty to a sideshow freak as her uniqueness wore off, leaving
no accounting of how her life continued or ended nor whether it ended here or
back in her homeland of China.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0lgGFOyRz6Pqf1mkWwSJUIup5GkGu1e-Iaop2GHqApMM8xCpa3Sueegu6ox1t8NVBx7MBQBzNz3dE7wtBkN5x1QWcjx4GQz3H2Bu5HPJcXmqQYczUam08UtorxUsqLkqNzKlt4VNHoa6m/s1600/lVPe9mU.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1215" data-original-width="1600" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0lgGFOyRz6Pqf1mkWwSJUIup5GkGu1e-Iaop2GHqApMM8xCpa3Sueegu6ox1t8NVBx7MBQBzNz3dE7wtBkN5x1QWcjx4GQz3H2Bu5HPJcXmqQYczUam08UtorxUsqLkqNzKlt4VNHoa6m/s400/lVPe9mU.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Will Dao & Rinabeth Apostol</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Both the fascinating known and the mysterious unknown parts
of Afong’s life and times in the U.S. become rich fodder for Lloyd Suh’s play, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Chinese Lady</i>, now in its enticing,
educating Bay Area premiere at Magic Theatre.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>With the pull of a rope, a richly elaborate curtain glowing in Chinese
artistry opens to reveal on a circular stage a young girl in a beautiful purple
and orange wardrobe delicately decorated with flowers, her hair done in a bun
with flowers red and white peeking out (costumes designed by Abra Berman).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She sits in a small room bedecked with
Asian-Museum-worthy artifacts, prints, and tapestries (Jacquelyn Scott, scenic
design), all lit with a brushed softness to give an exotic air (Wen-Ling Liao,
lighting) and periodically peppered with tunes ancient and Chinese (Sara
Huddleston, sound design).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Afong proceeds with a mixture of reserved eloquence and
youthful enthusiasm to introduce herself, why she is here before us, and some
history about herself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With big smiles
and twinkling eyes, she gives an excruciatingly detailed description of how –
starting at the age of four – the arches in her feet were bent and bound and
her bones repeatedly broken in order to follow the Chinese tradition of
acquiring dainty-sized feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She then
proudly walks around the room, raising a foot from time to time to display the
final product to us as audience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As part
of her performance, she also eats rice and shrimp with chopsticks and drinks
tea while telling us its history and significance in her country.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOG8q7VDCofXcB3Ce92Mfl3tU5P16llndCIhY9HUT9RYjmUYYrQoYeJSHan456XJ590j6fuCZIu0An57MkrctW2gGTtrKXTHK6QQ-5CPJB7zI9bWm4YLLzU4_O3fvykzEn-4-S8fxdCMNh/s1600/6kbqmhS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOG8q7VDCofXcB3Ce92Mfl3tU5P16llndCIhY9HUT9RYjmUYYrQoYeJSHan456XJ590j6fuCZIu0An57MkrctW2gGTtrKXTHK6QQ-5CPJB7zI9bWm4YLLzU4_O3fvykzEn-4-S8fxdCMNh/s320/6kbqmhS.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rinabeth Apostol</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Walking, eating, and drinking become the three pillars of
Afong’s repeated appearances as we watch the years and her age advance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rinabeth Apostol is remarkable in her ability
to begin as a teenager who already has the grace and charm of someone much
older and slowly to age into a more seasoned performer and conversationalist
who still carries much youthful passion and fascination about things like
possible travel to places like Boston, Baltimore, and Philadelphia – the last
about which she waxes on in eagerness to see the cracked Liberty Bell.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But all along the way, her interactions often have a
perfunctory quality (“I will eat, and you will watch me”), reminding us that
what we are seeing and who we are watching is totally made up for our
entertainment as we represent those audiences long ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are not here to get to know her or to see
her as a person; we are here out of curiosity of the exotic, strange, and
foreign.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Afong tells us she hopes that her being before us will lead
to “greater understanding and goodwill between China and America;” and yet we
already know that this is a young girl’s naïve dream as she sits there showing
us how to eat with chopsticks (which she describes as “elegant and poetic)
while also commenting how she finds as a stabbing tool, American’s forks are
“violent and easy.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, we are
entertained; but as that audience of another century, we unfortunately not going
to change our attitudes that will in any way make it easier for the increasing
waves of immigrant Chinese coming to our shores.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6FOwB2-XEft5Oe9XvUG1sKYwrXvi-NpnA1lUshcI_3sKz8ctE5TN282AJo1FeyofCzZbzyhVgNtZynwnkZrwKhGxxeg7j5Lxwc8awplO3tTGSntTK-Oo03bGWqKXyrGiY1ZeUEnN_GtaM/s1600/Rsp25aZ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1284" data-original-width="1600" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6FOwB2-XEft5Oe9XvUG1sKYwrXvi-NpnA1lUshcI_3sKz8ctE5TN282AJo1FeyofCzZbzyhVgNtZynwnkZrwKhGxxeg7j5Lxwc8awplO3tTGSntTK-Oo03bGWqKXyrGiY1ZeUEnN_GtaM/s320/Rsp25aZ.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Will Dao</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One reason we realize that those audiences did not learn at
the time much empathy or tolerance is they probably never heard nor saw the
true Afong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The girl on display is accompanied
by an interpreter, Atung (Will Dao), whom she dismisses upfront to us as
“irrelevant.” Sitting off the staged room in a darkened corner, Atung is
largely invisible and ignored except when he abruptly and rather
matter-of-factly announces his stage directions (“It is time for you to walk”
... “And now I will bring her food”).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, we come to realize is that Atung is at least partly
responsible for what Afong fears most, that “these white people they think I am
simple.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All along the way, Atung takes
metaphorically enriched phrases the young girl espouses – phrases like “the
thought of seeing the whole of America roots in me like a jewel that has lodged
inside my eyes and colors every part of my vision” – and translates as “She is
excited.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fortunately for us in this
performance that we have already been told is not real, we do hear the actual
Afong and not Atung’s white-washed interpretations.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eventually we learn that Atung himself carries secreted
dreams and unrequited desires in his American life where he has learned “I
cannot have anything.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a powerful
soliloquy, Will Dao as Atung gives us a stirring, startling glimpse of what it
means to be an immigrant that no one really sees or wants to see, including in
this case the woman with whom he spends the bulk of his life.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As the years progress and the staged performances of Afong continue
(eventually landing her in P.T. Barnum’s employment), changes occur in both
characters and in their relationship; but the repetition of scenes also begins
to wear on us as audience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I found
myself looking at my watch an hour into the ninety-minute (no intermission)
evening, wondering how many more years were going to lapse and how more many
times the curtain would again open, already knowing Lloyd Sun’s story goes far
beyond the known, recorded history of the actual Afong Moy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the key issues for me as the evening
progressed became the outstanding dramaturgy of Sonia Fernandez that outlines
in the printed program a highly informative timeline of “Chinese American History.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However because I had taken time to read the
program prior to the play’s beginning, revelations of that history in the
climatic part of the play itself that I think are meant both to educate as well
as to shock us on “How did I not know this before?” were for me much less
impactful and felt repetitive, having already read the very same facts in the
program itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Further, while many touches of the director (Mina Morita)
work well throughout of the evening, the staging goes on and on in what feels
like a false ending (to the point some audience members start to weakly clap
when they think the evening’s end has been reached while a few others respond
with chuckles).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Afong does once
again appear, her final treatise to us becomes a bit preachy and anticlimactic
while trying so much to be very dramatic (with lights coming up on us as
audience with the instruction to “really look at each other,” which it appeared
no one actually did).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The final lines
the playwright gives Afong are in fact extremely powerful and sum up in a
couple of questions the entire evening’s message.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, the lighting and timing devices and the
monologue preceding those questions make Afong’s departing words less
meaningful (in my opinion) and left me feeling rather ho-hum about the entire
outing, even though the performances of the two actors and the effects of the
creative team were overall outstanding.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rating: 3 E</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Chinese Lady </i>continues
through November 3, 2019, <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Magic
Theatre, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Tickets are available online at http://magictheatre.org/ or by calling
the box office at </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">(</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">415) 441-8822.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Photo
Credits: Jennifer Reiley</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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</style>GuyDadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06225290125508992039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251867504109902076.post-57654275088226903822019-10-14T12:12:00.002-07:002019-10-14T12:25:20.610-07:00"Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson"<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bloody Bloody Andrew
Jackson</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Alex Timbers (Book); Michael Friedman (Music & Lyrics)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.custommade.org/">Custom Made Theatre Company</a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKqB0OWbb1CabNqN6-kezfrmkBfY_A8-y_ZdS2oG_76-cC6vhJSDgPheN4IihK3x7tv-ZWvJG_XhYynLutBE3C5Gjwlb7hJ82F3_MSazmSQdc_B85uTL41I5qktOgnPjVgteiw_qyxZ1t1/s1600/DS5_4305-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="957" data-original-width="1600" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKqB0OWbb1CabNqN6-kezfrmkBfY_A8-y_ZdS2oG_76-cC6vhJSDgPheN4IihK3x7tv-ZWvJG_XhYynLutBE3C5Gjwlb7hJ82F3_MSazmSQdc_B85uTL41I5qktOgnPjVgteiw_qyxZ1t1/s400/DS5_4305-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">James Grady & Cast Members</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If there is anyone who is curious why President Trump has a
picture of Andrew Jackson watching over him in the Oval Office, that person
need only sit through a production of Alex Timbers’ (book) and Michael
Friedman’s (music and lyrics) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bloody
Bloody Andrew Jackson</i>, now playing at Custom Made Theatre Company.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lyrics like the following make that pretty
clear, as Jackson at one point sings,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
“So we’ll ruin the bank, and we’ll
trample the courts,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
And we’ll take on the world for
America’s sake.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
And we’ll take all the land, and
we’ll take back the country, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
And we’ll take, and we’ll take,
and we’ll take, and we’ll take.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdwOjVFZ7WShVuu2FzRo2MQz6chSncnX0JkVeNiJCBieIq_XhgVh7VxWwefpkji1ZzF3RHQdaJojacSwR0iLwbcaOTCe8xKpKoE-1NDtc0IHv1QxhWJV2G36buqzJnuIJmU2HhHYUlvVBX/s1600/DSC02199.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1124" data-original-width="1238" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdwOjVFZ7WShVuu2FzRo2MQz6chSncnX0JkVeNiJCBieIq_XhgVh7VxWwefpkji1ZzF3RHQdaJojacSwR0iLwbcaOTCe8xKpKoE-1NDtc0IHv1QxhWJV2G36buqzJnuIJmU2HhHYUlvVBX/s320/DSC02199.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nick Mandracchia, Rachel Richman, Rae Coksky & James Grady</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Much like Trump’s ascension to the White House, Andrew
Jackson became the seventh president despite virtually all of Washington past
and present working against him, with our hearing several times from the likes
of John C. Calhoun (Nick Mandracchia), John Quincy Adams (Gabriel J. Thomas), and Henry Clay (Rachel Richman) as they rail against him
(including in a silly but telling ditty entitled “The Corrupt Bargain”).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trump’s idol won by taking his case to the
common people whom Washington – both the first president himself and the
politicos of the Capitol – had too long ignored those first few years</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of the new country,
with the opening full ensemble singing in angry punk-style rock,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
“Take a stand against the elite,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
They don’t care for us</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
And we will eat sweet democracy</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
And let them eat our dust.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Director Brian Katz emphasizes the populist revolt and
deep-seeded anger/angst of those in the neglected frontiers of Tennessee,
Georgia, the Carolinas, and Alabama (Sound familiar?) by producing this 2010,
Broadway, rock musical in hard-stomp, harshly sung punk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These oft-tattooed politicians, soldiers,
Native Americans, and citizenry are all bedecked in black from head to toe in
their lipstick and eye make-up, hole-infested netting on legs and arms, and
skin-tight leather (costume design by Rachael Helman).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Punk King among them is a tattooed, black-nailed,
blood-smattered Andrew himself whose first words to us are a defiant
declaration of “I’m wearing some tighty-tight pants ... I’m your president.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While the choice of audaciously sung punk fits in so many
ways the dark humor of a musical about a president nearly causing complete
Native American genocide and that same president ignoring Supreme Court and
Congress to rule autocratically, unfortunately too often this hard-working,
rambunctious cast cannot deliver musically.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Too many voices – including that of James Grady as Jackson – go flat as
they increase in volume and scale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Harmonies of the ensemble are a mixed bag in terms of blend and effect;
and songs are more often than not amplified through hand-held mikes to the
point of distortion because voices often cannot match the demand of such miked
power.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizPvd4LvsU0v9A38bDAeSqwTH6Vql4wbOKa1qO12SLpXkK_xSC3pze3wcX2OxlnO6_oyPl3Z7QqjBFleZNoXKIclE24qkL6nSDTKCSNGxMKkGFVIN2Xm13JXeoy-m0U73RMboP3dZg0KxB/s1600/DS5_4083.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="668" data-original-width="831" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizPvd4LvsU0v9A38bDAeSqwTH6Vql4wbOKa1qO12SLpXkK_xSC3pze3wcX2OxlnO6_oyPl3Z7QqjBFleZNoXKIclE24qkL6nSDTKCSNGxMKkGFVIN2Xm13JXeoy-m0U73RMboP3dZg0KxB/s320/DS5_4083.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">James Grady & Maya Michal Sherer</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are notable exceptions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Jackson’s wife, Rachel, Maya Michal Sherer
brings a clear, piercing voice that has the ability to both shock and
soothe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When she meets Andrew, the two
court each other during a love session of cutting and bleeding in order to heal
the sickness of the love in their veins (the show’s punk motif fitting
particularly well here), with Rachel singing in raw tones her attraction to
Andrew with “Then why do I feel sick when I look at you?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later as the ignored, disillusioned wife of a
newly elected president, her Rachel sings a beautifully pining “The Great
Compromise” in which she lists all the dreams she has given up so that her
husband can follow his own.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In general, the women of the cast fare better than the men
in terms of their vocals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Various ones
of them enter to sing in solo and harmony the sadly truthful “Ten Little
Indians” where a children’s song (“One little, two little ...”) is turned
upside down to count-down the nations of Native Americans being eliminated
one-by-one through bullets, white man’s diseases, and forced relocations.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmUGnie2xDitfXg-ppMyYPcu9pJ9Uz2TyJ9jOOVKdquvyj1zHiamDLGbhl6c9Y_SAHDaga_n9SnkG6Mc78HKc_PZ_wFs5kwrs43BZ3-lpB2oyeR-eH1Pi4TDes2Xwog5uT-p5btpji219j/s1600/DSC04204-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1124" data-original-width="906" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmUGnie2xDitfXg-ppMyYPcu9pJ9Uz2TyJ9jOOVKdquvyj1zHiamDLGbhl6c9Y_SAHDaga_n9SnkG6Mc78HKc_PZ_wFs5kwrs43BZ3-lpB2oyeR-eH1Pi4TDes2Xwog5uT-p5btpji219j/s320/DSC04204-1.jpg" width="257" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">James Grady & Salim Razawi</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While sometimes lacking the vocal accuracy the part
requires, James Grady does bring the haughty cockiness, the sheer-blooded and heartless
meanness, and at times, the emotion-packed regret that make him a notable
choice for this punk-rock version of Andrew Jackson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At times he is like a spoiled brat as he
throws tantrums when he is not getting his way (Again, sound familiar?).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At other times, he can make your blood curl
as he laughs off or completely ignores the suffering he brings on the Native
Americans, keeping one Creek leader as his bosom buddy to do all his dirty work
with the other leaders of tribes and nations (Black Fox played with both heroic
and betrayal-filled attributes by Salim Razawi).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZuL4ypEXdvmVbMhjvJMRNhgSLGE2kYPma7Zvri9DhcZ9WEDFGGwNVrMyxAg75iXVhfmU3TeIbbHGYGFPUBKyy4dd-VcKGA7XVaZhqKBirAfxRaHRgUzjMNNjMVQCwbdWSIdLRueSopoiu/s1600/DS5_6331-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1116" data-original-width="1600" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZuL4ypEXdvmVbMhjvJMRNhgSLGE2kYPma7Zvri9DhcZ9WEDFGGwNVrMyxAg75iXVhfmU3TeIbbHGYGFPUBKyy4dd-VcKGA7XVaZhqKBirAfxRaHRgUzjMNNjMVQCwbdWSIdLRueSopoiu/s320/DS5_6331-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chris Morell & James Grady</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The choice of a nerdy narrator whizzing around on a
light-blinking scooter wearing a pink helmet (Teri Whipple) adds bizarre humor
while also seeming a bit out of place and a distraction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A much more successful move by the director
is to cast Martin Van Buren as an obsequious, adoring fan and yes-man of
Jackson’s, with Chris Morell giving one of the evening’s best performances with
just enough swish and eye-blink to make his character truly interesting.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sarah Phykitt’s scenic design has the appropriately dark
tones of an American flag backdrop with its black-and-red stripes and its
splatters of dried mud and blood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Large
black-and-silver boxes move and stack to become the bulk of the small, bare
stage’s furnishings – all lit in oft-in-your-face spots and brightness by Aaron
Curry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Leslie Waggoner’s choreography
has moments of its own dark satire and punk-rock stomp while the music
direction of Armando Fox has its most success as he conducts and serves as a
member of the three-piece, on-stage band.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While musically not consistently a triumph, there is much
both to learn and to enjoy about Custom Made’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>The
show is a perfect bookend to Marin Theatre’s current <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sovereignty </i>in which another historical and current view of
Jackson’s assault on Native Americans and specifically on the Cherokee Nation’s
lands and rights are given theatrical treatment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rating: 3 E</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bloody Bloody Andrew
Jackson</i> continues through October 27, 2019 at Custom Made Theatre Company,
533 Sutter Street, San Francisco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Tickets are available online at <a href="http://www.custommade.org/">www.custommade.org</a>
or by calling 415-789-2682 (CMTC).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Photo Credits: Jay Yamada</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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</style>GuyDadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06225290125508992039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251867504109902076.post-35126923380109490082019-10-13T09:25:00.003-07:002019-10-13T09:28:32.027-07:00"This Side of Crazy"<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">This Side of Crazy</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Del Shores</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.nctcsf.org/">New Conservatory Theatre Center</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVk7t3xMm51hEp-jzFy31mQ3yTraU4bTZoTsYs0S354FOa4HprTkgMyOtGh0RIFJwjHN5XyPwXHjCcnvaNwyFFX85cKZXa6qxO_nPQ4loKdXOu0orBA-x6VgggPfrLbzJehDe33BDMMYfi/s1600/NCT+TSOCrazy+184+09_19+5x7_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="1600" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVk7t3xMm51hEp-jzFy31mQ3yTraU4bTZoTsYs0S354FOa4HprTkgMyOtGh0RIFJwjHN5XyPwXHjCcnvaNwyFFX85cKZXa6qxO_nPQ4loKdXOu0orBA-x6VgggPfrLbzJehDe33BDMMYfi/s400/NCT+TSOCrazy+184+09_19+5x7_1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amy Meyers, Cheryl Smith, Alison Whismore & Christine Macomber</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They were once known as “the little superstars for
Jesus.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now the grown Blaylock Sisters
are an atheist former stripper, a mental institution patient who once strangled
her ex-lover, and a Vlogger who gives scripture-based advice on her “Good
Christian Women” show after making love to her comatose husband upstairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How they each got from Point A to Point B has
much to do with Gospel music legend, Ditty Blaylock, the mother of these three
who could easily give Mama Rose or even Mommie Dearest a run for her
money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Welcome to Del Shores’ latest equally
hilarious and heart-touching exploration of the Southern women of his youth in
a world premiere <i>This Side of Crazy</i> that he both wrote and now directs for New Conservatory Theatre
Center in a production that brings tons of howling laughs before turning on the
faucet for a few sloppy tears (bless your heart).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rachel, known as “Big Sis,” lives in Ditty’s house where Rachel
constantly hears her mom complain how loud and disgusting she is while having
“carnal relations with that corpse upstairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ditty also rails hourly how her life is now so unhappy because of how
much her three children have disappointed her (while adding quickly to Rachel,
as if a major complement,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You are the
least of my disappointments”).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
between the occasional hugs, the two spend much of their time together
bickering, with Rachel particularly upset when her mom plays her thrice-weekly,
Russian-Roulette game with a pistol without its cartridge inserted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(“It helps me know I have an early exit if I
need it,” she wryly says.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cheryl Smith
plays Rachel, the devout Christian advisor to lonely women on the Internet who
in a sweet, Kentucky drawl assures them that their Mommies and Daddies “push
your buttons because they installed them.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbTjyIcOxbqKoJZFS2cGRmvKhh15ne1jA6x2gJMkfeSeXQOetsyYtoC2j_GPr0oL0JD1hJdpHmyTZZC53FLxJOV9uaqlLqP9HoYREVHm-oj8hKQ0aZakOzi3b8gVtgFIVjSi8xP4ySwaft/s1600/NCT+ThisSideCrazy+pub+015+07_19+hi+res+5x7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1143" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbTjyIcOxbqKoJZFS2cGRmvKhh15ne1jA6x2gJMkfeSeXQOetsyYtoC2j_GPr0oL0JD1hJdpHmyTZZC53FLxJOV9uaqlLqP9HoYREVHm-oj8hKQ0aZakOzi3b8gVtgFIVjSi8xP4ySwaft/s320/NCT+ThisSideCrazy+pub+015+07_19+hi+res+5x7.jpg" width="228" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christine Macombe</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Christine Macomber commands the stage and in many ways the
entire evening as Ditty, gliding about her Southern-comfy household in her
flowing, airy dresses decorated in motifs ranging from gaudy flowers to red,
plump Mexican peppers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much of the time
she moves with arms poised to point her direction forward – all as if she were in
a 1920s silent movie and providing the camera her best profile and face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as much as she loves to live in the glory
of her past, she also loves better to complain in a voice that lifts and swings
with a melodic, scratchy tone – always trying to inflict a little more guilt on
the one daughter who is there to listen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And perpetually she sighs in variations of, “I am so tired ... I feel I
have been sent for and am too tired to go.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Neither Rachel or Ditty is all that happy with their lives
together – something Ditty reminds her daughter several times a day as she
reminisces about her “sweet” girls’ childhoods that she insists were full of happiness
and that Rachel assures her definitely were not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The uneasy equilibrium they and Rachel’s
comatose husband, Jude, have created over the past twenty-five years comes to
an explosive end when Ditty announces that the Gospel Music Television network
wants to honor her with a star-studded nationally televised celebration of her
“fifty years of creating and singing songs for Jesus.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That in itself is fine with Rachel, but when
Ditty goes on to say that the producer’s one condition is that the Blaylock
Sisters must reunite for one last heavenly trio together – with Ditty adding
she has already sent blank $5000 checks to the other two only to be signed if
they show up at the house – good Christian Rachel erupts into a potty-mouth
explosion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rachel has no desire to see
sisters who have been absent for a quarter century and who each bring back
memories she does not want to confront face-to-face.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1oZEYjKRSXUp5b6Kp_zA_cCWbdkM24ODwuCRRv4b4FBCIZjvo-dWFh7jFFZpqFAacsN2aqriXO5GAX5BV67ztPWdSqk6gADJO_wfkpi8WxvCk1ENf5AvqHdn_RKHsQmvZMduoF4UbYaok/s1600/NCT+TSOCrazy+148+09_19+hi+res_1-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="1600" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1oZEYjKRSXUp5b6Kp_zA_cCWbdkM24ODwuCRRv4b4FBCIZjvo-dWFh7jFFZpqFAacsN2aqriXO5GAX5BV67ztPWdSqk6gADJO_wfkpi8WxvCk1ENf5AvqHdn_RKHsQmvZMduoF4UbYaok/s400/NCT+TSOCrazy+148+09_19+hi+res_1-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cheryl Smith, Amy Meyers, Christine Macomber & Alison Whismore</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But $5000 speaks loudly; and both Bethany and Abigal arrive
home, ready to claim their checks’ signatures and to sing one more time for
momma.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reunion is far from heavenly;
and for us as an audience, that means the fun has just begun.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Amy Meyers is the slim, trim, and very fit Bethany who
explains, “Pole dancing and running keep the ol’ body thin.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is quite open about her atheism – which
Ditty wants to believe “she is just going through a phase” – but being a
lesbian is the part of her she is keeping quiet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her Bethany is high energy, edgy, and more
big city than the rest of her family; and she admits, “My mind leaps about like
an Easter bunny ... just this side of crazy.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Abigal, on the other hand, prefers sitting alone curled
protectively in a chair on the front porch, nervously smoking a cigarette and
mostly avoiding the family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alison
Whismore quickly paints a woman who has in fact been institutionalized for many
years and kept on calm-inducing medication; yet at the same time, her eyes and
taut features indicate she carries within her pain and memories she needs to
release in order to be healed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZSXQ3Nu0XaVCfcoFqnsa8MvvI4NQ3vDDunr-oyr3ZgIK82r0TLMoec3RdrQ7Gwdv0HuNb52eVtrGUQ8FKlmigp_728QUmnNRAYjWy0t8pj0wbjbfuHoNPPBefPwWfAo1P3EcWMsfuWA3/s1600/NCT+TSOCrazy+329+09_19+low+res+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="501" data-original-width="700" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLZSXQ3Nu0XaVCfcoFqnsa8MvvI4NQ3vDDunr-oyr3ZgIK82r0TLMoec3RdrQ7Gwdv0HuNb52eVtrGUQ8FKlmigp_728QUmnNRAYjWy0t8pj0wbjbfuHoNPPBefPwWfAo1P3EcWMsfuWA3/s400/NCT+TSOCrazy+329+09_19+low+res+%25281%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alison Whismore, Amy Meyers, Cheryl Smith & Christine Macomber</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Del Shores has written and directs a show that for the first
half is like a bizarre TV sitcom, with our laughter subbing very well for the
missing laugh track.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, there is a
point in the second act of the two hour, forty minute evening (including one
intermission) that comedy takes a back seat to a family drama that surprises us
with its serious tones and heart-touching effects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The playwright/director turns this satire
about Southern life into a mirror that asks each of us to remember the tough
times in our own family when the hard-to-say, even the impossible-to-say things
needed to be said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What we see and hear cannot
help but jar some memories – both sad and happy – of dinner table
confrontations that have happened in more than just a few of our lives with
parents, siblings, and/or other family members.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Along with a fabulous cast of four, a creative team superb
helps make the evening memorable in every respect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kate Boyd has designed a two-level,
multi-room set with furniture and an old piano that probably were bought when
the adult sisters were all “little superstars,” all lit with changing times of
day and family moods by Patrick Toebe. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tom O’Brien has populated the set with props
from a pink, knitted afghan; grandma’s crocheted doilies; and pictures aplenty of
both Jesus and the Blaylock family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
sound design of Kalon Thibodeaux includes scene changes featuring stars like
Dolly crooning country-church hymns with words like “If you’re trying to reach
heaven, you talk to Jesus ... every day.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Finally, for what they do for Ditty alone, Wes Crain and David
Carver-Ford deserve many hurrahs for their costumes and wigs, respectively.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As with most world premieres, probably before the second production
there will need to be a few edits, perhaps shortening a bit the initial time we
spend with just Ditty and Rachel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
overall, there is still hardly a moment to catch one’s breath between hee-haw
laughter in the beginning and watchful attention as the sisters and mama come
to the altar in the second act to confess some sins and seek forgiveness.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rating: 4 E</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">This Side of Crazy</i>
continues through October 20, 2019 <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">on
the Decker Stage of The New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness Avenue at
Market Street, San Francisco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tickets
are available online at </span><a href="http://www.nctcsf.org/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">http://www.nctcsf.org</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> or by calling the box office at
415-861-8972.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Photos
by Lois Tema</span></div>
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</style>GuyDadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06225290125508992039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251867504109902076.post-50959615352587238122019-10-11T13:59:00.003-07:002019-10-11T13:59:42.834-07:00"White Noise"
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">White Noise</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Suzan-Lori Parks</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.berkeleyrep.org/">Berkeley Repertory Theatre</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIiSDAYiTfHNF1kZtNOx3sapa_q2E9JfRKFqpuUgt_G_Tf1ayGBEUb36olcvlyRbgs-NE9-OTa_oQg7NUTkRJL1gGHM9jE2tS9IAfHD2eHjwCaZHeG9rzq6B-7HXlcen3CrTzKOaxRzlsb/s1600/WN1_lr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="560" data-original-width="373" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIiSDAYiTfHNF1kZtNOx3sapa_q2E9JfRKFqpuUgt_G_Tf1ayGBEUb36olcvlyRbgs-NE9-OTa_oQg7NUTkRJL1gGHM9jE2tS9IAfHD2eHjwCaZHeG9rzq6B-7HXlcen3CrTzKOaxRzlsb/s400/WN1_lr.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chris Herbie Holland</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By his own admission, thirty-something Leo has done
“everything right” his entire life: good grades, followed all the rules,
established himself as a career artist, and has even won a ton of trophies as a
bowling champion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But then during one of
his habitually sleepless nights when his mid-of-night walk takes him into an
upper-class, white neighborhood, the young African American man suddenly finds
himself thrown face-down on the sidewalk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Leo harshly discovers what President Obama said in reaction to Trayvon
Martin’s death by a white police officer: “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Leo being good and doing it right meant
little once he as a black man was on the street; and for him, this harsh
realization and the bruises on his face lead him to decide, “I feel like doing
something crazy.”<br />
<br />
In Suzan-Lori Parks’ <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">White Noise</i> –
now in its West Coast premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre – Leo is one of
four best friends who bonded in college over music and bowling and are now
still intimately connected as two, mixed-race couples: Leo and Dawn, Ralph and
Misha.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the day of the same night of
Leo’s horrific incident, Ralph has learned he was passed over for a tenured
position he felt he had been promised (and had already picked out his new
office’s furniture) – the position given to a colleague of color whom white Ralph
believes is a lousy writer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ralph – who
is also in the midst of a severe writer’s block – is himself thus down in the
dumps and depressed when Leo suddenly proposes and Ralph accepts an
outlandishly bizarre and rather sick-sounding forty-day contract between then\m
– one that will alter their relationship and ultimately the relationships among
all four of the friends/lovers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Throughout her thirty-five years as a professional
playwright, Pulitzer Prize winning Suzan-Lori Parks has never shied away from
tackling head-on what one of this play’s characters calls a “virus” – that is
“racism.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Misha goes on to explain to
us as audience – in one of several, powerful ‘solos’ where characters break the
fourth wall to talk directly, eye-to-eye, with the audience – this is a virus
“we’ve all got.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She adds, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
“Ok, some more than others,
ok.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The works of the virus are getting
more complicated and the rewards are getting more sophisticated.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit5rbWoGI28h4oAgxt18LTp4cGRNcvcyz7J_4WQh1Ex4lk5WrUqRm7BFFyvpHSdef6co3eGsYDh1ibpb6oXFr1mQpX7C4m6PNewCqiYRAb8c-o3fRJMJthQj4Nxx8pj7pX_jJR1iVTLK1F/s1600/WN6_lr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="373" data-original-width="560" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit5rbWoGI28h4oAgxt18LTp4cGRNcvcyz7J_4WQh1Ex4lk5WrUqRm7BFFyvpHSdef6co3eGsYDh1ibpb6oXFr1mQpX7C4m6PNewCqiYRAb8c-o3fRJMJthQj4Nxx8pj7pX_jJR1iVTLK1F/s400/WN6_lr.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chris Herbie Holland, Therese Barbato, Amié Donna Kelly & Nick Dillenburg</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we first meet this close-knit group of friends in their
two, coupled relationships, that virus seems not to have infected them at
all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are seemingly loving, happy,
and accepting of each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But here
and there we soon detect verbal slip-ups that occur among them where race is at
the core of the faux pas, each followed by a quick “I’m sorry ... Do you accept
my apology?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once the forty-day
countdown begins for Leo and Ralph’s social contract experiment whose goal is supposedly
to help the two both find a new peace within themselves, the slip-ups become for
all four more and more purposeful and pointed as all their relationships are
suddenly exposed to reveal a raw core that each has carefully kept hidden from
the others – and maybe even from themselves.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Even before his surprise attack on the sidewalk, Leo was already
fighting a life of sleep deprivation and a constant static in his ears of
“white noise,” the latter brought on by a sleep machine Ralph once gave him to
help induce a night’s rest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So bad was
his ailment that even his art had become affected, his having recently lost the
patronage of a gallery that once showed his works.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chris Herbie Holland is gripping in his
emotion-packed, physically demanding, often frightening performance of Leo. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the young man enters a new, forty-day life
for himself that he hopes will free him from the bondage of being a target on
the street because of the color of his skin, he also hopes to reawaken his
artistic talents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And his dream is that maybe
with that security and that renewal, even the miracle of uninterrupted sleep
will occur.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMX8KN_FYoVfsrTkYYBxoMCa99_NqKTU2TOvRJOZUFL9QUnwoqjQ6Ivp4fB4NqnDojiMz0XjPaEY32fHrE5vrnfzB-sFxuJI5Gc8Gv2yOQh_B0MB4JY0CLlxeFH-ZZ9VlhdSPMg_XNsg37/s1600/WN7_lr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="560" data-original-width="373" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMX8KN_FYoVfsrTkYYBxoMCa99_NqKTU2TOvRJOZUFL9QUnwoqjQ6Ivp4fB4NqnDojiMz0XjPaEY32fHrE5vrnfzB-sFxuJI5Gc8Gv2yOQh_B0MB4JY0CLlxeFH-ZZ9VlhdSPMg_XNsg37/s320/WN7_lr.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nick Dillenburg & Chris Herbie Holland</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Nick Dillenburg is Ralph, a student-favorite, but
still-non-tenured English professor who also happens to be rich due to inheriting
the country’s largest franchise of bowling alleys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Called “Righteous Ralph” by his other three
pals, the Ralph we initially meet displays a sense of boyish vulnerability and
a desire to ensure everyone around him is happy and gets along.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Ralph he becomes day-by-day after signing
the half-inch-thick, legal contract with his best friend Leo is a Ralph who undergoes
a Jekyll-Hyde-like transformation that sends chills down one’s spine as Nick
Dillenburg’s Ralph coolly and without blinking does things that would seemingly
be unthinkable by the Ralph we first meet.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEFrVqfDKr2v5qzEXTtkXWh9k1V9WtdLzyNPy377O7IJz9bNkFWwvnCe4Bmzn2Ivgoyh2Jkq5hvNCmCi3Zaj39_6B2Ig51wpEKkT-1X44qzizp1wBLY_axG_PwaTvknYJWZN6GWil-39GV/s1600/WN3_lr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="560" data-original-width="373" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEFrVqfDKr2v5qzEXTtkXWh9k1V9WtdLzyNPy377O7IJz9bNkFWwvnCe4Bmzn2Ivgoyh2Jkq5hvNCmCi3Zaj39_6B2Ig51wpEKkT-1X44qzizp1wBLY_axG_PwaTvknYJWZN6GWil-39GV/s320/WN3_lr.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aimé Donna Kelly</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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That contract – whose true nature for full effect must be
learned by attending the play and not from this review – also has major
implications for the female halves of the two couples, themselves best friends
with secrets that begin to expose themselves as relationships unwind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dawn (Therese Barbato) is a self-proclaimed
“do-gooder” who has devoted as a white woman her still-young legal career to
defending young, black men arrested and arraigned in a system with built-in
prejudices against them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Misha (Aimé
Donna Kelly) hosts a weekly Vlog-cast entitled “Ask-a-Black” where she drops
her privileged background of being raised by two caring, professional moms to
become a near-caricature of a ‘soul sista’ who with wild animation and in
exaggerated “black voice” answers inane, call-in questions like “Why are black
women so upset when I want to touch their hair?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Both Dawn and Misha are out to help the world in her own
way, but each also has her own issues and prejudices that have been largely
ignored and/or hidden away until the Leo/Ralph contract opens a Pandora Box of
feelings, doubts, and bitterness that were always there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In each case, both actresses are superb as
they each struggle to ascertain their character’s place in both the larger
society around them and in this micro, black/white society of the four friends
and two sets of lovers.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Jaki Bradley directs this near-three-hour (with one
intermission) outing that never drags nor in the end feels nearly as long as it
actually is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scenes often command
hand-gripping-armrest attention while the solo interludes that each actor at
one time or another uses to bring all action to a halt are directed in such a
way to cause one to lean in and engage with the current speaker almost as if in
a one-on-one conversation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Adam Rigg has
designed a set that doubles between a stylish, urban apartment and a
neighborhood bowling alley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The latter becomes
totally realistic as the friends talk and send balls down an alley that ends
somewhere under us as an audience with the sound of balls rolling on wood and
pins being hit just one part of an outstanding sound design by Mikaal
Sulaiman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shadows play a larger and
larger role in the play’s disturbing progression, with Alexander V. Nichols’
lighting (as well as video) design making important contributions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally, from delightfully fun, matching
bowling outfits to clothes that help define each unique personality, Tilly
Grimes’ costume designs are picture-perfect.</div>
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<br /></div>
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As brilliant as Suzan-Lori Parks’ script is along with the
stunning performances and direction of this Berkeley Rep production, the
playwright’s incredible conceit is a contract that is difficult to believe any two,
almost lifelong friends would ever sign (or two other friends/lovers would
allow them to sign).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The situations that
unfold as the forty days progress are increasingly inconceivable and shockingly
crude and cruel. </div>
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<br /></div>
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At the same time, those scenes are absolutely successful in
making the point that in our own society outside this play’s fictional story,
Misha is correct when she says, “The social contract has been broken.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The play raises many more questions than it
answers; its ending is ambiguous and unsettling; but its message is clear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We in America must wake up fast and not be
mesmerized by our own ‘white noise’ that day to day lures us too often to
ignore the racial injustice that exists in too many aspects of our world –
especially for the currently endangered species of young men of color like Leo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kudos goes to Artistic Director Johanna
Pfaelzer for quickly grabbing this Spring 2019, Public Theater world premiere
and giving it a </div>
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second showing at Berkeley Repertory Theatre.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Rating: 4.5 E</div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">White Noise</i>
continues through November 10, 2019 <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">on
the Peet’s Theatre stage of Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2015 Addison Street,
Berkeley, CA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tickets are available at <a href="http://www.berkeleyrep.org/boxoffice/">http://www.berkeleyrep.org/boxoffice/</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>or by calling 510-647-2975 Tuesday – Sunday,
noon – 7 p.m.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Photos
by Kevin Berne/Berkeley Repertory Company</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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</style>GuyDadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06225290125508992039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251867504109902076.post-2553103322701340372019-10-07T16:44:00.000-07:002019-10-07T16:44:03.236-07:00
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mark Twain’s River of
Song</i></div>
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Randal Myler & Dan Wheetman</div>
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TheatreWorks Silicon Valley</div>
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<br /></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="-moz-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(43, 43, 43); color: #2b2b2b; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Rondrell McCormick and Valisia LeKae</span></span></span></td></tr>
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Part a nineteenth-century cabaret show, part a travelogue of
the past, and part a famed writer’s recollections of his life on and around the
river, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mark Twain’s River of Song </i>is
a journey so worth taking in this TheatreWorks Silicon Valley celebration of
the human spirit and its quest for freedom, individuality, and harmony with one
of nature’s most beautiful of gifts – the Mississippi River.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Please continue to <i>Talkin' Broadway</i> for my complete review: <a href="https://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/regional/sanjose/sj179.html">https://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/regional/sanjose/sj179.html</a>. </div>
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<br />
Rating: 5 E</div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mark Twain’s River of
Song </i>continues through October 27, 2019 in production by TheatreWorks
Silicon Valley at <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">the
Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro Street, Mountain
View.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tickets are available online at </span><a href="http://www.theatreworks.org/box-office/">http://www.theatreworks.org/box-office/</a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> or by calling 650-463-1960,
Monday – Friday 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Saturday – Sunday, Noon – 6 p.m. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Photo
Credit: Kevin Berne</span></div>
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</style>GuyDadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06225290125508992039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251867504109902076.post-15488552038747178692019-10-02T14:02:00.003-07:002019-10-02T22:05:40.047-07:00"Sovereignty"<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sovereignty</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mary Kathryn Nagle</div>
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<a href="http://www.marintheatre.org/">Marin Theatre Company</a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibbyYcW7TDpL7ZmcqzY5nZQf6qd9m2GrjV32-bgEcPTJFKxP3cnVl2y0l1Ds-82eITnVkgIDteU52wJv-qmuhRXQkIoFFUVsCYdPTDHgm2nv9J9bMtivDJNqrruDMedLXcbVlxOtmkGgu6/s1600/MTC_Sovereignty_Ensemble_HR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibbyYcW7TDpL7ZmcqzY5nZQf6qd9m2GrjV32-bgEcPTJFKxP3cnVl2y0l1Ds-82eITnVkgIDteU52wJv-qmuhRXQkIoFFUVsCYdPTDHgm2nv9J9bMtivDJNqrruDMedLXcbVlxOtmkGgu6/s400/MTC_Sovereignty_Ensemble_HR.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: #ededed; color: #010101; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Elizabeth Frances, Adam Magill, Kholan Studi, Scott Coopwood, Andrew Roa, Robert I. Mesa</span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span id="goog_1206899006"></span><span id="goog_1206899007"></span>Beginning in the 1830s, Native Peoples were forced to leave
their ancestral lands in the Southeastern United States and walk thousands of
miles to resettle on barren lands in the West, with many thousands dying along
the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This “Trail of Tears” began
with President Jackson refusing to enforce a ruling by the Supreme Court
protecting Indian sovereignty of their lands against invading whites; and that
immoral trail continues to this day with Native Americans still fighting for
their legal rights to prosecute crimes of non-Natives committed in their legal
territories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The result for women
especially has been catastrophic with Native women facing higher rates of
domestic violence and sexual assault – most often by non-Indian offenders –
than any other population in the country.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Indian-rights lawyer and a member of the Cherokee Nation,
Mary Kathryn Nagle, is also an accomplished playwright.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She has written an extremely powerful and
educating play, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sovereignty, </i>that
connects the history of her own ancestors and their legal battles for Native
rights with present-day congressional and court challenges that still threaten
those constitutional rights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With a cast
and creative team that include a number of Native American members from various
tribes, Marin Theatre Company presents the West Coast premiere of Mary Kathryn
Nagle’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sovereignty </i>in a production
that is nothing short than a must-see.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The playwright’s own great-great-great-great grandfather,
Major Ridge, was speaker of the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council in the 1820s and
‘30s and was awarded that rank by Andrew Jackson himself after helping the U.S.
win the Creek and Seminole Wars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His
story and that of his lawyer son, John, and his first-friend, then-rival John
Ross – Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation – constitutes the historical core
of Ms. Nagle’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sovereignty,</i> as well
as their roles for and against the relocation of the Native Peoples<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">. </i></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7y-A62uvC4GlqMSHCzUp7fazlaunh80-UOY50QdvQaOatknkA22ktg5ZooQNhR5PqRwxHB4quU_8_VLsKq_I10QbyFvmjgNCbOpxBWHVIVmw-ll8YcThTQ6Xmr_p5bK_dKQwtyen20z__/s1600/MTC_Sovereignty_Frances_Ensemble_HR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7y-A62uvC4GlqMSHCzUp7fazlaunh80-UOY50QdvQaOatknkA22ktg5ZooQNhR5PqRwxHB4quU_8_VLsKq_I10QbyFvmjgNCbOpxBWHVIVmw-ll8YcThTQ6Xmr_p5bK_dKQwtyen20z__/s400/MTC_Sovereignty_Frances_Ensemble_HR.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elizabeth Frances</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Coupled with those monumental and catastrophic events of the
early nineteenth century is the story of modern-day (and fictional) lawyer,
Sarah Ridge Polson (Elizabeth Frances) – also in this play a direct descendent of Major Ridge – who
takes on the present-day Supreme Court to argue for reinstatement of Native
People’s rights to govern their own territories, especially including the right
to prosecute non-Native criminals for acts committed (including rape, murder,
and child molestation) that can occur today in their territories, with the
accused never being charged or convicted.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Two stories blend seamlessly back-and-forth under the magical
direction of Jasson Minadakis, with a half-dozen actors who play different
roles in both time periods often switching persona, eras, and thus scenes in a
split second before our eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
director and playwright ensure that a complicated history is related clearly
and with much impact even though its telling involves multiple court cases,
presidential manipulation, and intra-tribal disagreements while also
introducing blossoming romances and domestic strife in both time periods. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ6jSXej8JVpYR7DIYpo3qMeG7JWpXRyBBGeHaeKaelbjjiBiAA6fYR6aqW2XOKzde9TYmBV-XXqTa-lXw95R10IaJn2A16A-gkNZ5ByMuMF6jLlLy64G_Cy67T6WCPUqz5VXeNlsk5_Pb/s1600/MTC_Sovereignty_Roa_Marker_HR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1065" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ6jSXej8JVpYR7DIYpo3qMeG7JWpXRyBBGeHaeKaelbjjiBiAA6fYR6aqW2XOKzde9TYmBV-XXqTa-lXw95R10IaJn2A16A-gkNZ5ByMuMF6jLlLy64G_Cy67T6WCPUqz5VXeNlsk5_Pb/s320/MTC_Sovereignty_Roa_Marker_HR.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andrew Roa & Craig Marker</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A key scene that shapes so much of the historical and the
modern-day rest of the play occurs when Major Ridge (played with near-majestic
pride and strength by Andrew Roa) and his son, John (a focused, well-spoken, and
courageous Robert I. Mesa) meet with President Andrew Jackson (a Tennessee
drawling, ego-centered, good-ol’-boy Craig Marker).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jackson begins by heaping praise on his
long-time friend, the elderly Major Ridge (who only speaks Cherokee although he
understands quite well English).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jackson
talks in big but false smiles while beginning his demands that the Cherokees
must move from their native Georgia because of the pressure he is receiving
from the cotton growers who want the land and are already taking over farms
that were guaranteed by treaty to the Cherokees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The revered Cherokee leader reminds the
President, “Friendship forged in danger should not be forgotten,” with the
now-viperous President hissing, “If you do not go ... you will disappear.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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When the Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall rules in
1832 that in fact the Cherokee Nation is the one and only sovereign over their own
lands, we hear Jackson respond hatefully and defiantly, “John Marshall made the
decision; let him enforce it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
president’s refusal to uphold the law of the land (Sound familiar?) leads in
the end to Father and Son Ridge – as white Georgians are taking Cherokee-owned
lands and killing Native families – to reluctantly advocate and sign a new
treaty to abdicate their lands and to relocate into new, western
territories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2wd9gvC9htkg6QUvZA8VtzqS3wedRILX9q9cM2o4qnSb_jZGBIfEu-ksmmNVA4qLkmLMtO804zbIeN-vhwbXMsbc17iJrGWMTdeZjUGT938fB7By5kLT6rRstaLkabGGQvavXM477qUGo/s1600/MTC_Sovereignty_Frances_Waid_HR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2wd9gvC9htkg6QUvZA8VtzqS3wedRILX9q9cM2o4qnSb_jZGBIfEu-ksmmNVA4qLkmLMtO804zbIeN-vhwbXMsbc17iJrGWMTdeZjUGT938fB7By5kLT6rRstaLkabGGQvavXM477qUGo/s400/MTC_Sovereignty_Frances_Waid_HR.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elizabeth Frances & Jake Waid</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
That move, as we see playing out in the scenes unfolding
before us, is highly opposed by Cherokee Chief John Ross (a strong-willed,
firm-jawed Jake Waid), setting up a huge division between the Ridge and Ross
families that leads to disastrous and deadly ends in the 1800s. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That family feud carries into the modern-day
story of Sarah Ridge Polson. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She takes a
job in the U.S. Attorney General’s office, working for Jim Ross – a descendent
of John Ross, with both Rosses played convincingly by Jake Waid – who tells Sarah
before knowing her family background, “Never ever talk to me about that treaty,
you hear?” (“that treaty” meaning what became known as the “Trail of Tears”
Treaty signed by Sarah’s two, ‘multiple-great’ grandfathers).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With her middle name remaining unknown to her
new boss, the two partners prepare to take the Native People’s modern
sovereignty rights case to the Supreme Court.</div>
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<br /></div>
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</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgPscCI_6iE1Q5Px8f9jxoAjfB0szcVj2cbIxxI789GjguC9i6LwB1IkkeODN2Qv_LcStup781u_0Ulpr1YWVZC6zq6PXsM7AKDNv0Y36TN9HgzJr-k8iebBUArrR1qWOT4aifqGzH-89p/s1600/MTC_Sovereignty_Dershowitz_Mesa_HR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgPscCI_6iE1Q5Px8f9jxoAjfB0szcVj2cbIxxI789GjguC9i6LwB1IkkeODN2Qv_LcStup781u_0Ulpr1YWVZC6zq6PXsM7AKDNv0Y36TN9HgzJr-k8iebBUArrR1qWOT4aifqGzH-89p/s400/MTC_Sovereignty_Dershowitz_Mesa_HR.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ella Derwhowitz & Robert I. Mesa</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As intriguing and intense as both the 1830s and present-day,
legal strategy and execution scenes are – and in this interwoven telling they
are indeed attention-grabbing-and-holding throughout – Mary Kathryn Nagle brings
further nuance to both time periods by introducing love interests for the young
lawyer of the 1830s, John Ridge, and for the young, modern-day lawyer, Sarah
Ridge Polson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both of their potential
spouses are themselves white, and both are at first met with resistance by the
Cherokee fathers (each played by Andrew Roa).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ella Dershowitz is the aspiring fiancé and then wife of John, Sarah Bird
Northrup – a woman strong in her own constitution and a firm believer and
supporter of her husband’s battles for Cherokee survival.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(She also plays the modern-day, oft-funny,
always loving, and Oklahoma-twanged aunt of Sarah Ridge Polson, Flora Ridge.)</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Craig Marker alternates his Southern-polite but clearly disingenuous
President Jackson role to become Special Victim’s Unit detective, Ben O’Connor,
who falls for the modern Sarah. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ben from
the beginning trips over himself in his ignorance and faux pas concerning
Native peoples (even using the word “Injun” at one point).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His naivite is too quickly forgiven by Sarah
and even her initially doubtful family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The title of his position becomes cruel irony as Craig Marker gives a
chilling performance that is even more upsetting than the one he gives as the
notorious Jackson. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheQhKQacKE0otoaoiPPN7n5LZWv3Q4OA1_pKKFMpo-o9f86jOHsJkTbreG8cJhvfp6CJH4q6vM79or9DQQqpbZf2He-zKwBh1sShDefGSj043CqBCtpgOFFTR65u2uhF8FkzlYq0I97EOv/s1600/MTC_Sovereignty_Magill_Studi_HR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheQhKQacKE0otoaoiPPN7n5LZWv3Q4OA1_pKKFMpo-o9f86jOHsJkTbreG8cJhvfp6CJH4q6vM79or9DQQqpbZf2He-zKwBh1sShDefGSj043CqBCtpgOFFTR65u2uhF8FkzlYq0I97EOv/s400/MTC_Sovereignty_Magill_Studi_HR.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adam McGill & Kholan Studi</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Also taking on important and meaningful roles in both time
periods are Kholan Studi (playing the Ridge family’s supporter, friend, and
newspaper writer, Elias Boudinot, as well as modern Sarah’s brother and casino
security officer, Watie) and Adam Magill (playing Reverend Samuel Worchester, a
white missionary to the Cherokees who founds and edits the nationally read and
influential <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cherokee Phoenix, </i>first
Native American newspaper in the U.S. and also playing the role of Mitch, a
lawyer friend of Ben).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We watch as Elias
and Samuel become important players in the Ridge/Ross rivalry and in the
Nation’s decision whether to migrate or not.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Finally, Scott Coopwood takes on a number of mostly
repulsive roles in both eras, his role being noted in the program as “White
Chorus Man.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether a modern drunk in
the casino hollering at Officer Watie, “Redskin, out of my way,” or threatening with his gun as a white soldier the in 1830s the
Christian-observant Elias (“Let me hear you pray, Boy, for that heathen soul of
yours”), Mr. Coopwood is exceptional in being the worst of the white race –
historical and modern.</div>
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Annie Smart’s scenic design is elegantly simple with an
ever-present scrim that lets us see but keeps us purposefully separated from an
idyllic, noble sky and landscape that are created by projections designer Mike
Post and lit with morning and evening grandeur by Danny Osburn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>E.B. Smart deserves big kudos for the two
time periods’ dresses, uniforms, suits, and outfits that often switch even as a
character says one sentence in one era and then switches to the next era and
sentence of a new role, now in a new costume.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The excellent creative team is rounded out by the habitually stellar
work of Sara Huddleston as sound designer.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sovereign </i>is a
gripping, emotional, awareness-awakening history lesson that has present-day
implications for what we as Americans need to be paying more attention to and
advocating to our current U.S. Senators, in particular, for needed
legislation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A 25-year-old bill known as
Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) that permits the tribal nations to prosecute
anyone (i.e., Native Americans <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and</i>
those not) who violates women on tribal lands has run its time-limited course
and must be renewed by Congress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
House has done so; but the bill is stalled in the Senate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For this reason and many more, Marin
Theatre’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sovereignty</i> is not only a
must-see production for its theatrical excellence and script brilliance, it is
a have-to-see for its implicit call for us as audience members to join the
Sarah’s of the world to fight for the constitutional rights of all Native
Americans – most critically in the present, Native women.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Rating: 5 E, MUST-SEE</div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sovereignty</i>
continues through October 20, 2019 <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">at
Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller Avenue, Mill Valley CA, with a special
performance April 30 at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco (12 p.m.).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tickets for all performances are available online
at </span><a href="http://www.marintheatre.org/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">http://www.marintheatre.org</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> or by calling the box office
Tuesday – Sunday, 12 -5 p.m.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Photos
by Kevin Berne</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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</style>GuyDadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06225290125508992039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251867504109902076.post-74718359433759405752019-09-30T15:08:00.001-07:002019-09-30T15:08:07.716-07:00"Dance Nation"
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dance Nation</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Clare Barron</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.sfplayhouse.org/">San Francisco Playhouse</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYLp5nScrORhopaQSKLJxAUDW6g9iGed_g13GHMZkjZqjWb4eaSSZGf1_dQzEny7EUyFnQ9qbvtbzkpPlD20mpk3nA85snnpOtW8ZSSnnsenC1Pj4FsaQJk3eQr1_W0ksrMerAo9RaFW0x/s1600/048A0186.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYLp5nScrORhopaQSKLJxAUDW6g9iGed_g13GHMZkjZqjWb4eaSSZGf1_dQzEny7EUyFnQ9qbvtbzkpPlD20mpk3nA85snnpOtW8ZSSnnsenC1Pj4FsaQJk3eQr1_W0ksrMerAo9RaFW0x/s400/048A0186.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Cast of <i>Dance Nation</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thirteen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, God,
when I remember thirteen, I get this strange knot in my stomach and a wave of
brief nausea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was already six-foot,
two-inches, and stuck out like a sore thumb in the school hallway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was awkward and stumbled over my
size-twelve feet; my voice squeaked; my thick glasses slipped too often down my
nose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And did I mention those first
pimples popping up overnight?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just
writing this, I feel a little sick.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But I was a boy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After watching San Francisco Playhouse’s West Coast premiere of Clare
Barron’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dance Nation </i>about six,
thirteen-year-old girls who are experiencing the crossover from little girl to
womanhood, all I can say is that I had it easy as a pre-pubescent boy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The whiplashes of the emotional roller coaster
these girls ride in a normal day are enough to send anyone running to the
nearest bathroom (which happens several times for them in the course of the
play). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While there are certainly a lot of moments when the world
and its possibilities seem endless for a thirteen-year-old, Clare Barron
reminds us that growing pains are very much real and that they leave
scars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a stroke of genius, the
playwright insists the six girls are played by actors in their thirties through
sixties, allowing us to experience the girls in the bodies they will someday
inhabit and for them periodically to transcend time’s boundaries to give us a
glimpse of their future, often painful memories of the girls they once were and
that we now see before us.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7KOdXht3k-UGUnutxYs_hzsACtPbTR-5FD0F48xO-wYw765DrBB0CoaB5rZho3IDt95hfKMUh91x3c9UaNMS9eIO6qsH-II1QiQST3UYznhYM73w-LUPYZQfEgWhZx0IzH8FUPQZg1bHi/s1600/048A0198.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7KOdXht3k-UGUnutxYs_hzsACtPbTR-5FD0F48xO-wYw765DrBB0CoaB5rZho3IDt95hfKMUh91x3c9UaNMS9eIO6qsH-II1QiQST3UYznhYM73w-LUPYZQfEgWhZx0IzH8FUPQZg1bHi/s400/048A0198.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Cast</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
These girls are living the lives that many their age might
die to have: they are just three competition wins away from getting on a plane
and going as a dance troupe to compete for a national dance title in Tampa,
Florida.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dance Teacher Pat (yeah, that
is what they actually always call him) reminds them as they all stare at an
elevated row of past years’ trophies that no one knows today who were the girls
of 1996 – “It’s like they never existed” – but that everyone remembers those of
1997.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That difference between losing and
winning is something these girls take in with looks both hungry for victory and
frightened what if they are someday forgotten.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Already, we see little girls who have grown-up ambitions for
their moment in the spotlight, fired up by the cliché-barking of their pacing,
arm-swinging teacher as he spits out phrases like “Show me you want it!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Liam Robertson is like the stereotype of an
army drill sergeant as he gets in the girls’ faces, belittles and praises in
the same breath, and warns “Don’t get lazy” even as they demonstrate tirelessly
for him a movement time and again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglaKZtiMINJZVRNTPOtHcyCOaJYYqwgjDT0Y7ocm67Q_bQ-elGI8OS4FXYOkv3d0Xz3ojdVd6_KJ_wyiKX-wTq1rxTQLollkH1dBmipXzm6Wmkaw8jb5TzMG6pcpmS_KmfI0U_Rp3chEav/s1600/048A0221.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglaKZtiMINJZVRNTPOtHcyCOaJYYqwgjDT0Y7ocm67Q_bQ-elGI8OS4FXYOkv3d0Xz3ojdVd6_KJ_wyiKX-wTq1rxTQLollkH1dBmipXzm6Wmkaw8jb5TzMG6pcpmS_KmfI0U_Rp3chEav/s400/048A0221.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michelle Talgarow & Liam Robertson</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the other end are the girls’ moms – stage moms who
sometimes have moments of being a demanding Momma Rose who are trying to live
out their missed chances through their daughters but who mostly are
compassionate and supportive, troubled and worried, frustrated that they cannot
make it better and even ready to go to battle when their daughter is not
getting a fair shake by their teacher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Michelle Talgarow is all this and more as she plays all “The Moms.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYZ0gBi29aYxLtUYK0VwMSkH9J6VYAN-As4j3Gl1FmUL9uV6AL7FkyaSMFvxqAtrGXSC-MbNoMsxaolZyP-s2Hiv801ebQmVZIt_041pTr9iNnOQmHfEfPrB3nfPnz6xFx-0xfuuBsBEsD/s1600/048A0453.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYZ0gBi29aYxLtUYK0VwMSkH9J6VYAN-As4j3Gl1FmUL9uV6AL7FkyaSMFvxqAtrGXSC-MbNoMsxaolZyP-s2Hiv801ebQmVZIt_041pTr9iNnOQmHfEfPrB3nfPnz6xFx-0xfuuBsBEsD/s400/048A0453.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Cast</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the troupe of six, we meet a group of giggly,
horse-playing friends who are also often vying competitors for the starring
spots of the dances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In one hilarious
but telling scene, the girls line up on the stage’s edge with light splashed on
their faces (part of Wen-Ling Liao’s lighting prowess) to try out for the lead
role of Gandhi – Dance Teacher Pat’s creation as their ticket to
nationals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With a cute nod to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chorus Line</i>, they all half-sing,
half-say “I hope I get it” as they begin to move just their heads, mouths, and
eyes in all sorts of exaggerated looks of shock, fear, hope, and desperation as
they are giving us only a glimpse of their try-out moves while their teacher
shouts his commands.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When not on the dance floor, the real lives of these girls
and their relationships unfold before us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Today’s locker room topic might be how to masturbate and what it should
feel like, with descriptions of their nether regions given in graphic details
by those more knowledgeable while those still inexperienced and naïve listen in
wide-eyed, envious awe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The terrifying
onset of a first period (and its resulting blood) is met with knowing looks by
other girls and also by their sudden, supportive growls and cheers like those of
rugby players as they urge the tearful girl to get up and wear her new red
badge with girl pride.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are girls
who find strength together in their newly-erupting sexuality and onslaught of
womanhood.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But these girls are also still very young at times, as we
see in Connie (Mohanna Rajagopal) who prays in her bed while clasping her lucky,
toy horse in her hands, “Dear God ... Pleeeease give me Gandhi.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is tall Maeve with her unruly hair who
collects pictures of wolves and whose little girl looks of wonder, impishness,
distraction, and stubborn determination are all the more funny since Maeve is
played by the oldest actor on the evening’s stage, an absolutely delightful
Julia Brothers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like a kids’ club, several
of the girls swear by drinking coffee that is half sugar to be loyal to death to
each other, forming a secret group named Zamsac (using the letters of all their
first names).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
These same little girls have big-girl pressures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Zuzu (Krystle Piamonte) is a good, solid
dancer but worries that people “don’t say they cry when they watch me dance”
like they do when they watch her friend Amina (Indiia Wilmont) dance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I know because I cry when I watch Amina
dance.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amina – in fact the star dancer
among the group – both is driven to be the best and to win (“When they get the
trophies out, I just get the taste of metal”) but also confesses that sometimes
she just wants to lose because “like I feel like I hurt people just by
existing.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such is the price when you
automatically take over the star role when your friend Zuzu falls on stage,
yourself then winning a special crown as “most valued dancer.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As much as the current lives of these teens is excruciating,
difficult, and yet intriguing to watch, the power of Clare Barron’s script and Becca
Wolff’s direction is when each girl reflectively time travels to a memory she
will someday have of this period of her life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Maeve has a sense at times that she can fly but realizes with regret
that “one day I’ll forget I ever got to fly.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The uber-talented Amina is sure “my entire life will be a victory” but
also realizes that one day she will understand <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that in that life “So I was alone.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As the one boy in the troupe, Luke (Bryan Munar), is riding
home with his mom one night as she discusses her day. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With head on her shoulder, he tells us that he
knows that someday he will be experiencing in a car the same feelings as now – <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that “delicious kind of sleepy” as the “world
is whirling by” with “raindrops on the window shield” – but that he will also be
listening for a mom that is no longer there.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYMUYzJgG_lHxktVV8jaOQ_Zly4KCM963pNejgIlUVMd44tMtpfzVwu5rZqF8wzSymkTOy7PCahAEV7PAbnUN-yvnTrfq03YxpjUSaSl9rQvWhrr2gWYWph8PqT4-T5qtrBt8vznzlfAhe/s1600/048A0289.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYMUYzJgG_lHxktVV8jaOQ_Zly4KCM963pNejgIlUVMd44tMtpfzVwu5rZqF8wzSymkTOy7PCahAEV7PAbnUN-yvnTrfq03YxpjUSaSl9rQvWhrr2gWYWph8PqT4-T5qtrBt8vznzlfAhe/s400/048A0289.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lauren Spencer</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the most powerful of portrayals is given by Lauren Spencer
as the already mature in body, Ashlee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She proudly looks at herself in the mirror and brags about “my perfect
ass” as well as flaunting her face and tits in wonderful, self-generated
brouhaha.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is one moment aloof and
scowling among her friends, only to be in the next moment the first to lead a rousing
cheer for the team that is full of four-letter-filled words that would
embarrass most boys her age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her Ashlee
is at other times the one most tender and most revealing with her friends,
sharing one of those foreseen, time-splicing moments with Connie as she tells
her how they will someday meet and discover that as girls and dance-team mates,
they both suffered silently and alone debilitating, near-disastrous depression.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As powerful as these and other future-remembered moments are
along with all the funny as well as painful-to-watch scenes of growing up that we
see these kids go through, I have to admit that at times <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dance Nation</i> just goes so over the top in its explicit, repeated
use of certain, locker-room words and foul-mouthed phrases that I lost interest
and just wanted the next scene to begin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A final cheer and chant that turns into repeated shouting by the entire
cast came close to ruining the entire evening for me; anyone attending needs to
be prepared for some very raw language and word imagery. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also personally did not see the need for an
opening scene of locker-room nudity of what were supposed to be
thirteen-year-olds (even though these actors are of course much older and are all
adults).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The scene, in my opinion, would
have been just as strong with a little more cover-up of these supposed early
teens.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But in the end, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dance
Nation</i> is a powerful reminder of what all of us – women and men – went
through at a crucial and precarious juncture in our growing up years and what
pieces of that time for us still linger to this day as part of who we are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>San Francisco Playhouse has once again pushed
its and our own boundaries of safety and security in order to cause in this case
long-dormant emotions and memories to awaken, to rumble uncomfortably about,
and to stimulate new awareness of what the teens around us are often experiencing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rating: 3 E</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dance Nation </i>continues
through November 9, 2019 at San Francisco Playhouse, <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">450 Post Street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Tickets are available at </span><a href="http://sfplayhouse.org/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">http://sfplayhouse.org/</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> or by calling the box office at
415-677-9596.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Photos
by Jessica Palopoli</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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</style>GuyDadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06225290125508992039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251867504109902076.post-62693186532758476162019-09-26T13:17:00.001-07:002019-09-26T13:39:01.884-07:00"Top Girls"<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Top Girls</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Caryl Churchill</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.act-swf.org/">American Conservatory Theater</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh0sWoHAUcznFix6ct8J8Q0yp-Hc71-Uf0DZBTehBHvxwZy7xVPhDK7WFZH94aMU9KYzO_T5_nXtJ2tKMGKrpnmcOZbKtw1rncBti0v0TAZSCKcGYLmbJxV9DMw5PFQX4o1esr72FrVcB-/s1600/TPG_048.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh0sWoHAUcznFix6ct8J8Q0yp-Hc71-Uf0DZBTehBHvxwZy7xVPhDK7WFZH94aMU9KYzO_T5_nXtJ2tKMGKrpnmcOZbKtw1rncBti0v0TAZSCKcGYLmbJxV9DMw5PFQX4o1esr72FrVcB-/s400/TPG_048.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rosie Hallett, Summer Brown, Michelle Beck, Monica Lin & Julia McNeal</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is 1982; and search-firm interviewer Marlene admires
Britain’s Margaret Thatcher: “She’s a tough lady, Maggie; I’d give her a
job.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Marlene has toughed it out herself
in the man’s world where she works and has just been named the new managing
director of her firm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To celebrate, she
is hosting an exclusive dinner party at a local, upscale restaurant; and her
guests are all women who have left their names engraved in the annals of
history, fiction, or myth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This dream of an evening begins with each bragging about
accomplishments that collectively stretch through the ages – a
female-dressed-as-male pope from the ninth century; a world, adventure traveler
from the staid Victorian Age; a peasant traveler from Chaucer’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tales</i> who married a nobleman; a woman
warrior from a 1563, Pieter Bruegel painting who leads a charge on the demons
of Hell; and a thirteenth-century girl who has the children of a Japanese
emperor and later becomes a Buddhist nun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But Marlene’s dream becomes a nightmare as each of the five, female guests
begin to recount what their successes have cost them because they were women in
a patriarchic-defined world, with their mounting, pent-up anger fueled by
brandy leading to a mini-riot to end the dinner party. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With an opening scene that almost forty years later still
feels current, bold, and extraordinary, Caryl Churchill’s 1982-premiering <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Top Girls</i> opens in 2019 at American
Conservatory Theater, raising many questions of just how much has actually
changed for women in the workplace since the days of Thatcher (and
Reagan).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With a cast of nine where
Marlene and four others played by women of color, the accomplishments they earn,
the prices they pay, and the doors shut on them take on much-added significance
as we realize that whatever gains women have made these past four decades since
the play’s debut (gains that still do not match where men are), many of those
gains have not yet been afforded women of color at the same rate as white
women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But that is just the first of many troubling questions
without many easy answers that the ACT production poses in its <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Top Girls</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Michelle Beck boldly portrays Marlene, making
evident a sense of her inner strength, determination, and willingness to
disrupt the system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her Marlene has
admirably broken the glass ceiling; but she appears to have done so by
mimicking the ways the men around her have succeeded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is fiercely independent but also not
particularly stepping forward to help the women around her also succeed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of those she interviews as part of her job,
she sarcastically describes them as “half a dozen little girls and an arts
graduate who cannot type.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Marlene has a sister and niece she has not seen in six years
and, as we will discover, has neglected other family obligations in order to
pursue her own life and career – much as the men around her have often
done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are attracted to Marlene’s
smart style and fearless manner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
applaud when she says, “Piss off” to the wife of a white man who was passed
over the promotion she got – a woman who insinuates by her looks and manners
that Marlene got the job for reasons other than her competence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we cringe when we see Marlene time and
again act in some of the worst ways the men of her world often act, with our
left wondering if is there not some other way for women (and men) to forge a
path to success in today’s business world rather than imitation of the male
world’s worst aspects.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michelle Beck & Gabrilella Momah</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our questions about Marlene grow larger when we contrast her
with Angie, her teenage niece who is in many ways, yin to her yang.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Angie – brilliantly portrayed by Garbriella
Momah – is a lot of what Marlene is not and never was: awkward in stance and
speech, disheveled in appearance, emotionally underdeveloped for her age, and a
school drop-out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there are also qualities
the two share: a determined drive to escape their childhood home, a burning
desire to be and do better than what life has seemingly dictated them, and a
love-hate relationship with Joyce (Angie’s mom, Marlene’s sister). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is also a secret we learn that connects the two and
explains the root of those similarities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What it does not explain is Marlene’s assessment to an office mate that
she does not believe Angie has what it takes to succeed; and with that casually
said statement, she seemingly dismisses any hope for her niece’s future or any
commitment to help her succeed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For one
more reason, Marlene is a dilemma and rich fodder for us as an audience to
contemplate and debate the following day.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Caryl Churchill’s play goes from the opening dinner party to
a scene introducing Angie and the antipathy she has for her life and her mom to
a scene in the office the morning Marlene is announced as the new managing
director finally to a scene one year prior when Marlene surprises Joyce in
showing up in her kitchen on Angie’s birthday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In each, the skins of the onion slowly unravel as we discover more of
who Marlene really is while also getting to know this somewhat strange but
intriguing girl, Angie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nafessa Monroe & Michelle Beck</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Central to both in both similar and different ways is Joyce,
played by Nafeesa Monroe, who also plays through cunning double-casting, the
silent but watching waitress in the opening act’s dinner party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Joyce is viewed by Angie as thwarting her
future because of her motherly restrictions on a restless teenager; the anger
they both show to each other masks a love that peeks through to demonstrate its
true core.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Joyce is strong, resolute,
and confident of who she is in her own way and is in some respects a match and
more for her fancy dressed, big-talking sister.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She is the stay-at-home mom that has borne a lot to be so and has been,
as we learn, a sacrificing enabler of Marlene’s career in ways much like wives
have been (and still are) of their husbands everywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her presence in this play and the strong
performance of Nafeesa Moore adds more questions with no easy answers for us to
ponder upon exit, with the play not pointing to how or if a successful business
woman can be mother and boss at the same time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNYiGalXzXXD9vVosF_vpLmZj8Z4NfcVQX-PKil-KEsClmQ3tZkALoD-kELAc6o7ft2XsbC4QRPnMk0PpwuNhCkiZZDjLcmfzNe6wlj-MNpiNlSDZ-csHmNZcQ39nm0SO6XlPZ2d8zaYYD/s1600/TPG_221.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNYiGalXzXXD9vVosF_vpLmZj8Z4NfcVQX-PKil-KEsClmQ3tZkALoD-kELAc6o7ft2XsbC4QRPnMk0PpwuNhCkiZZDjLcmfzNe6wlj-MNpiNlSDZ-csHmNZcQ39nm0SO6XlPZ2d8zaYYD/s400/TPG_221.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Julia McNeal & Rose Hallett</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Joining Marlene, Angie, and Joyce is an array of
fantastically contrasting, double-role characters, all played masterfully by
the rest of this cast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rosie Hallett is
the royally robed Pope Joan whose incredible tale of being a woman posed as a
man and rising up the ranks of the Church is still a story some historians
believe about the actual, ninth-century Pope John VIII.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is also the perfectly attired office
interviewer, Win, who becomes the ‘mother-confessor’ of sorts of a woman in her
mid-career, Louise (Julia McNeal), who is tired of staying in a job where she
trains young men who get promoted over her and is ready to venture into some
unknown position after twenty years for a chance of being recognized/rewarded
for what she knows and can do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXkSQnMeViqs3QUNqaGvcqiLOxesIIK_6GJoRCGu6DoaxCcxrq6mNqhPU-d9RWIQuno51CFNCU8biWfOzCA4sU3KJRTMWGlfX463y_feZHQUBp4-JKTe38yqRuUIgcUD-lBS7JZZGLeuDe/s1600/TPG_119.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXkSQnMeViqs3QUNqaGvcqiLOxesIIK_6GJoRCGu6DoaxCcxrq6mNqhPU-d9RWIQuno51CFNCU8biWfOzCA4sU3KJRTMWGlfX463y_feZHQUBp4-JKTe38yqRuUIgcUD-lBS7JZZGLeuDe/s400/TPG_119.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rosie Hallett, Summer Brown, Julia McNeal, Monica Lin & Monique Hafen Adams</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Julia McNeal is also the dinner guest, Isabella Bird, who defied
all Victorian definitions of what a woman should do in order to travel the back
roads and the mountaintops of the continents, even against all odds of her sex
and a body riddled with physical issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Monica Lin is the talkative, excitable Lady Nijo – a thirteenth-century
concubine of the Japanese emperor who does not question what she must do in her
society in order to be successful; she is also Jeanine, a client looking for a
new job full of travel and new sights/challenges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mrs. Kidd (Monique Hafen Adams), the wife who
thinks her husband should be getting Marlene’s promotion, is also Patient
Griselda, a fictional character who dutifully and without complaint goes
through excruciating tests of her loyalty laid out by her husband.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nell is a colleague of Marlene’s and also
the fearless, chest-beating warrior, Dull Gret, who leads a war on Hell – the
latter portrayed at the dinner party first hilariously and then with unbounded
sorrow, anger, and fury by Summer Brown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In each case of the five guests of her dream, aspects of Marlene can be
quite easily depicted – aspects to be either admired or questioned, according
to one’s perspective.<br />
<br />
All of these women, past and present, have been colorfully and imaginatively attired through the artistic genius of Sarita Fellows. Her women of the past are like those in storybooks on a coffee table while her women of the '80s are wonderful contrasts between those who are dressed to kill (in ways a man's world still wants its women) and those dressed just to exist day-by-day. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Tamilla Woodward directs with a flair that at times almost
gets out-of-hand in its realism of a dinner party, an office full of chatter,
or a family argument.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A number of times,
women at the dinner party talk over each other with two or more conversations
happening at once.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sisters scream at
each other simultaneously, making it impossible for either of them or us to
hear/understand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet in actuality, these
same dynamics occur in all our everyday lives where deeply felt excitement or
anger reign supreme and/or where egos are worn as crowns that declare, “Listen
to me and my story ... now!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this
respect, the director’s choices are brilliant even if the delivery is sometimes
difficult to comprehend.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Nina Ball once again creates her own interpretation of a storyline
through her insightful set designs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
heavy-looking glass wall that arches out from the back stage reminds us of that
ceiling the women at the dinner party have each broken in their own ways, in
their own time periods, with Marlene being the last to shatter it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The pristine, brightly lit (via Barbara
Samuels’ design) office setting where desks are all together in one room makes
us want to see that corner office where Marlene will move the next day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The glass wall breaks open to reveal a
cluttered home packed with reminders of the confined lifetime of Joyce – a home
that seems particularly small, crowded, and plain when sister Marlene arrives.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I must admit that one day later, I like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Top Girls</i> much more than I did while watching it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was sometimes confusing last evening
begins to fit together today upon reflection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What was frustrating by the portrayals of Marlene, Angie, and Joyce
today leads to questions and comparisons of how women and girls – especially
those of color – are still viewed and treated from school age onward – both
those considered ‘successful’ and those deemed not now and never will be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>American Conservatory Theater stages a play
some might see as dated to prove that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Top
Girls</i> is perhaps more timely than ever.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rating: 4.5 E</div>
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<br /></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Top Girls </i>continues
through October 13, 2019 at American Conservatory Theater, <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">405 Geary Street, San
Francisco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tickets are available online
at </span><a href="http://www.act-sf.org/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">http://www.act-sf.org/</span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> or by calling the box office 415-749-2228.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Photos by Kevin Berne</div>
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<br /></div>
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</style>GuyDadshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06225290125508992039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251867504109902076.post-77086838055749165612019-09-25T13:57:00.001-07:002019-09-25T14:03:44.148-07:00"Free for All: A New “Miss Julie” for a New World"<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Free for All: A New
“Miss Julie” for a New World</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Megan Cohen</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.cuttingball.com/">Cutting Ball Theater</a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbq5clDvpDtbka_G-Lkiped3YxxdO-3vS3LVGrnfma5GW18ku9r1H9_WPFDQ6hRGlQAHy3UQmS5ai11PgtDYmEeCUQThZwlU-r2QIB1iLN5r7q5q7Zl_0Rchlug-CgNocgYG_sOPUA3-cH/s1600/IMAGE3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbq5clDvpDtbka_G-Lkiped3YxxdO-3vS3LVGrnfma5GW18ku9r1H9_WPFDQ6hRGlQAHy3UQmS5ai11PgtDYmEeCUQThZwlU-r2QIB1iLN5r7q5q7Zl_0Rchlug-CgNocgYG_sOPUA3-cH/s400/IMAGE3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charlie Gray, Stacy Ross & Miyaka P. Cochrane</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The setting is “Soon, San Francisco.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The great frost’s snows are once again
falling, and all the City’s hills are glistening in fresh snow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Julie has stepped out of her home at the top
of Nob Hill and is going for one last run down “the best slope in San
Francisco,” madly screaming her delight along with copious “F-words” as she
repeatedly jumps the steep slopes and barely lands upright – only adding more
to her wanting never to end this slide down what is really her driveway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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But the end is coming as is also coming the great thaw of
decades of snow, the resulting flood waters, and maybe the end of the world ...
as in coming probably tomorrow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
question in front of her as she speeds forward is if there is still time to be
someone else, someone better – “more thoughtful, more kind, more optimistic,
mature; not as wild ... mean, selfish, reckless ... shitty.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After another hard landing before going even
faster, she wonders, “It’s not too late, is it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What if it’s not too late to do a whole different thing ... With like,
my life.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With Julie’s words spilling out non-stop in the daredevil
speed of a fearless downhiller, so begins Megan Cohen’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Free for All: A New “Miss Julie” for a New World, </i>a loose and
hilarious adaptation of August Strindberg’s original <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Miss Julie</i>, now in fabulously funny and satirically smart world
premiere at Cutting Ball Theater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Knowledge
of the 1888, naturalistic play with its Darwinist undertones and themes of a
dying aristocracy; ridicule of the new, modern woman; and the
better-fit-to-survive ‘new man’ is not necessary; but if one remembers the
original, there are many references throughout in this updated version that lead
to bonus chuckles. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But even a person who
has never heard of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Miss Julie</i> and any
of its play-, opera-, or film-adapted versions will find by the minute many
reasons to laugh out loud and to revel in the linguistic gymnastics of a script
that often seems to have no punctuation marks written into it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Before middle-aged Julie does reach the bottom of her
beloved Nob Hill run, she upends a much younger man carrying a bag of
groceries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John, it turns out, is the
sous-chef in her mother’s servant-filled mansion – someone Julie has not
noticed and thus does not know his name even after the three years he has
worked there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With a Noah-like flood
coming within hours, the house’s chef has left to work on a submarine, and John
is now head chef and in charge of the society event of the year tonight at
Julie’s house – a kind of ‘melt-watch’ party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The two banter back-and-forth in what is more and more like verbal
foreplay, each crossing class boundaries that quickly get redrawn with reveals
like the one that Julie mentions: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The family’s
stand-by, escape helicopter is for family only – not servants like John.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Free for All </i>is
the first play to premiere under Cutting Ball Commissions (with the company’s
plan being to stage a new, commissioned play every year).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During its two-year development, the two
primary roles of Julie and John have been created with two of the Bay Area’s
favorites in mind, Stacy Ross and Phil Wong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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From the moment she heads down that hill spouting out
comparisons between herself and other socialites (e.g., “over-dressed Samantha
and her bad cheek implants” or “turn-the-other-cheek Elaine”) and wondering
should she, could she be more like them (after all, “any person has 75 per cent
the same DNA as a chicken” and thus she has “at least 73 per cent as Elaine”),
there is no doubt only Stacy Ross could do such sarcastic and corny justice to
Megan Cohen’s Julie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With a mouth and
face that stretch in every conceivable direction to the point of explosion as
she skies ever faster, her Julie shoots like machine-gun bullets the joy of
this moment, the regrets of her life thus far, the questions she has about
possible improvement, and a whole slew of what if’s about the past and the
probable, but still unknown future of the great melt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this all happens in just the opening minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What we will see and witness the rest of the
evening in Stacy Ross’ award-worthy, must-see performance cannot even begin to
be described in any way to give it full justice.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9CimtW4LEyLMqS-Z3D9Z7pCHgFL0BHPqc7Gb2V66YmLJNwRV9aLsKbLBRPuFr1yuXEkdgHCUGsG1-3F3gaYtOIQhrq4lYTmQiuVhpc82ExSIf1uLsTJ0aKWJvvy6DyiyVTvSInyLMrQwz/s1600/IMAGE4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9CimtW4LEyLMqS-Z3D9Z7pCHgFL0BHPqc7Gb2V66YmLJNwRV9aLsKbLBRPuFr1yuXEkdgHCUGsG1-3F3gaYtOIQhrq4lYTmQiuVhpc82ExSIf1uLsTJ0aKWJvvy6DyiyVTvSInyLMrQwz/s400/IMAGE4.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Phil Wong with Rest of Cast</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Likewise, Phil Wong’s oft-underplayed, aw-shucks approach to
John is a delight to watch – an approach that begins to take on other, more
daring, adventurous, and boundary-breaking angles and admissions as he and
Julie encounter each other later in the kitchen where he meticulously prepares
deviled eggs (a whole comedy routine on its own).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John is using these last few hours of a
snow-covered world to find that “better version of myself,” fighting to stick
to his resolve to quit smoking even as waters rise outside and tensions –
sexual and otherwise – boil over in the kitchen between him and Julie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As John, Phil Wong is a wonderful combination
of humble, bold, sweet, angry, scared, and deeply prideful – all aspects which
show themselves in the whirlwind of his and Julie’s kitchen close encounters as
a wild party and a sudden climate change rage outside the walls of cupboards
and counters.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Phil Wong & Stacy Ross</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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As in Strindberg, much of this play is consumed in the testy,
teasing, and tempting backs-and-forth between Julie and John (the latter named
Jean and a valet in Strindberg).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
Megan Cohen’s oft-bizarre update, other characters do enter – both seen and
unseen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our primary actors appear also
as two of the mansion party’s high-society, full-of-themselves guests,
Brockingfeld Jacobson (Stacy Ross) and Jacobson Brockington (Phil Wong).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The two are a kind of Tweedledee/Tweedledum
pair in their matching tuxes, mustaches, and high airs who down champagne while
making obnoxious (to us, at least) comments like a woman’s job being “to make
the world a nicer place ... bright and lovely” ... like a lamp” or “to remind
us of innocence, of softness ... like a little pet kitten.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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The drunker the two get, the more they brag on their own and
the other’s business prowess and how they can soon make more fortunes when
their fair City becomes the “San Francisco Islands” – beachfront properties to
be known as “NobHillwaii” and “Sutrohiti.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As they from time to time pause to dance a minuet, to twirl in sequence
in their leather chairs, or to other wise mirror each other in their moves full
of ego-splashed aristocracy, one can hear Strindberg laughing in cynical approval
somewhere from his Swedish grave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Ross/Wong duo excels in antics that in the end could rival one of the great
Vaudeville or ‘50’s-TV, comic duos.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Also very much present but never seen is Christine, a house maid
and girl-friend of John who is addressed by both Julie and John by looking into
the eyes – and sometimes right in the face – of individual audience
members.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Christine plays important roles
for both the J’s, and their one-way interactions with her and descriptions of
her are more often than not,] guffaw producing (especially Julie’s fascination
of Christine’s encounter with one dead pigeon on the driveway).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMEIsFasTvYTjfeB-3cWCqUvv2NMXzscZ6nm2KVetWOFfyLS-FxMJKNoqh1ck7PlBzVkmCzD47hgk1dQkM15tMDEbbQZaIldVnpYZYOKKbCsITy9xycPf5YUGKVFNniEymE3pBGa68-1qw/s1600/Free_For_All_2019_547.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMEIsFasTvYTjfeB-3cWCqUvv2NMXzscZ6nm2KVetWOFfyLS-FxMJKNoqh1ck7PlBzVkmCzD47hgk1dQkM15tMDEbbQZaIldVnpYZYOKKbCsITy9xycPf5YUGKVFNniEymE3pBGa68-1qw/s400/Free_For_All_2019_547.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stacy Ross</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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And speaking of pigeons, just as there is a bird in a cage
that plays a major role in Strindberg’s play, Chloe is the pet pigeon of our
Julie – one of several pigeon encounters of both Julie and John throughout the
evening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All pigeons peck and fly about
through the help of Puppeteers Miyaka P. Cochrane and Charlie Gray –
puppeteers who also earlier enabled Julie to fly, leap, and bank with ease down
the Nob Hill slope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The two serve always
deliciously and often devilishly like a silent Greek Chorus, observing Julie
and John from kitchen corners and doorways with bemused looks, all-knowing
eyes, and judging smirks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Director Ariel Craft, who also assisted in the play’s
development, has given these two gifted actors free reign to use countless
dimensions of their inbred talents to surprise us time and again with another
singularly or duo-generated moment of hilarity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At the same time, clearly the director’s intimate understanding of both
Strindberg’s original and Megan Cohen’s vision has led to a play always on the
edge of outlandish theatre-of-the-absurd while also being firmly planted in
contemporary social and political commentary and critique.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Jacqueline Wren Scott’s scenic design for the intimate Exit
Theatre setting has some elements looking homemade (like draped bed sheets for
snow hills) as if for a parlor’s spontaneous performance among friends while
also employing wonderfully mobile elements of doorframes and a kitchen’s shelf
and counter, among other roving pieces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Director, scenic designer, and props designer Adeline Smith combine
efforts for tongue-in-cheek hilarity using the likes of repeated appearances of
an electric fan and several hues of torn paper bits that star in fun and
telling parts of the story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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The costumes of Racheal Heiman are so quickly changed that
one cannot believe how clothing-elaborate and character-perfect each appearance
of the primary actors is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From pigeon’s
coos to the wind of a skier’s run to the crash of melting ice and snow, James
Ard has designed a wide array of perfectly timed sounds that add both drama and
comedy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally, Cassie Barnes’ lighting
design against the stage’s black walls offers telling hints of bright, snowy
cityscapes; a kitchen’s interior of shadows; and finally a world of new,
tropical paradise. </div>
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Like in most world premiere ventures, not everything always
holds together scene-to-scene in this new <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Miss
Julie</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some character rants and
rages – though usually hilarious – do go on and on a bit too long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ending itself is somewhat muddled and
weird, but it is still an important reminder to San Franciscans who in society
in the end too often survives and who does not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The overall feeling upon exiting the Cutting Ball Theater is that
tonight we have been fully engaged, intrigued, and entertained in a wonderfully
conceived, adventuresomely directed, and extraordinarily acted <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Free for All: A New “Miss Julie” for a New
World.</i></div>
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Rating: 4 E</div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Free for All: A New
“Miss Julie” for a New World </i>continues through October 20, 2019 as a world-premiere commission at
Cutting Ball Theater at The Exit on Taylor, 277 Taylor Street, San
Francisco.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tickets are available at <a href="http://www.cuttingball.com/">www.cuttingball.com</a>. </div>
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Photos by Ben Krantz</div>
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