Colonial Players - ARCHIVE
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March 2 – March 31, 2007
Jekyll & Hyde
Reviewed by
William Bryan |
Running time 2:30 - one
intermission
A big musical that works well on a small stage
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A complex musical with a
roller coaster history is produced in a small and intimate setting during
the 58th season of shows at the Colonial Players in Annapolis.
This production features several factors which enable it to stand out as a
first rate example of how to adapt large shows into smaller settings. First
it is staged in scenic Annapolis which makes for a pleasant day outside
before the gothic horror commences within, not that this is something every
stage can accomplish, but when your environment works for you, never
begrudge the extra help. Also, the strength of this production relies
entirely on the strength of the cast instead of the usual pyrotechnics, fog,
and special effects for which the musical has become known. Additionally the
quality and caliber of the performances of the cast provide an afternoon (or
evening) of up close and personal interaction with the characters, the sort
of musical staging that has made Signature Theater so very impressive in the
Potomac Region. This is quality theater with only a few small drawbacks, and
it is easy to see why it has sold out many of its performances.
Storyline: Robert Louis
Stevenson’s famous novella of a doctor who separates good and evil was
adapted for the Broadway stage as a musical. They changed the doctor from a
"mad scientist" to a good doctor searching for a cure to his father’s mental
illness, and added two love interests: a fiancée and a prostitute. But the
story still revolves around the doctor experimenting on himself and
unleashing his evil side which takes control and goes on a rampage of murder
while the good doctor struggles to find an antidote before it is too late.
After an original and
somewhat unsuccessful production in Houston in 1990, the show received a
complete overhaul and was transformed into an entirely new version for its
Broadway premiere in 1997 where it ran successfully for four years with four
different leads. It became a cult phenomenon, complete with its own
following of groupies, known as “Jekkies,” who support and follow not only
Jekyll & Hyde, but all of the works of composer Frank Wildhorn. The
musical has seen numerous interpretations, from the high budget, yet poorly
received national touring company, to the small budget theater such as this
new show from the Colonial Players house in Annapolis where its strengths
can truly be appreciated. A unique set and dynamic staging deliver a musical
that almost feels like it is being performed just for you personally, even
through it is delivered in the round. There is
never a lack of action to follow, nor any difficulties understanding the
lyrics when the singer faces away, and the large cast never seems too tight
for the small performance space.
The drawbacks mentioned
before were minor but should be noted. The first is the lack of an orchestra,
relying instead on recorded music, but still music produced for the show.
The second was the filling of the lead role for the performance reviewed by
understudy Stephen Deininger. Mr. Deininger’s performance was perhaps the
weakest of the cast with a distracting lack of separation between his two
personas of Jekyll and Hyde. However it must be noted that much of the
success of the show is also due to his work as Music Director for the
production. The normal lead, Pete Thompson, has received numerous positive
reviews for this run of the show and the effect of his absence was
noticeable during the afternoon performance. These two small points aside,
the show is very engaging, providing an up close and personal performance
where every moment is felt, whether emotionally during the touching duets
and solos, or even physically during the fight scenes when those seated in
the front row must feel as if they are about to be drawn into the battles,
separated as they are by no more than 2 feet from the falling bodies.
The set is a simple construction of benches that have hidden storage
compartments allowing them to transform from a tawdry pub to the good
doctor's lab in mere moments for the 18 different scene changes. Special
mention should go also to Equity member Christine Asero, performing under a
special appearance contract in this non-professional show. She brings a true
sense of suffering and keenly displays the emotional range of the love
interest of the evil Mr. Hyde as the prostitute Lucy. Her voice and
performance are worth the price of admission alone. Yet it is the
combination of all of the talent on the stage that makes this show a
success. Director Craig Allen Mummey has achieved remarkable results with
this production, continuing the tradition of quality work
from the Colonial Players.
Music by Frank Wildhorn. Book and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. Directed by
Craig Allen Mummey. Music Direction by Stephen Deininger. Choreography by
Alicia Sweeny. Design: Craig Allen Mummey (set) Melinda Lee Braden (costume)
Alex Banos (lights) Richard
Atha Nicholls (sound) R.A.R.E Photography (photography) Herb Elkin
(stage manager). Cast: Christine Asero, Lindsey Bell, Emily Bowen, Bob
Brewer, Bryant Centofanti, Catherine
Chiappa, Kevin Cleaver, Andrea
Elward, Ron Giddings, Joan Hamilton, Jamie
Hanna, Mark Kidwell, Aimee Lambing, Walt League, Henry
Pazaryna, Jamie Erin Phipps, Becki
Placella, Jordan Silver,
Katelyn Skerpon, Jeff Sprague, David
Thompson, Pete Thompson, Vincent Van Joolen. |
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January 12 - February
10, 2007
A Moon for
the Misbegotten
Reviewed by
William Bryan |
Running time 3:10 – with
two short intermissions
Love doesn’t conquer all but this show does
Click here to buy the script |
Eugene O’Neill is not known for comedy. His life history reads like a great
sordid novel. Many films, TV shows, and books have documented his
life. Somewhere along the way he found the time to win two Pulitzer
prizes for drama and the Nobel prize for Literature for his uncanny ability
to take people on the edge of society and portray their lives, miserable
though they may be, into stories that remains as gripping now as when they
were first produced. The Colonial Players manage to find some humor in the
tale of three people whose lives seem to revolve around drinking and
despair. That’s not to say they make light of the material, or fail to take
their subject seriously. Indeed this theater in the round does well in
capturing the pathos of the destructive force of alcoholic extremes for both
the drinker and those who must watch him drink. With two outstanding
performances and a set that captures the life of a tenant farmer, Colonial’s
Moon shines brightly over Annapolis.
Storyline: A young woman with a sordid reputation, her scheming drunken
father, and his alcoholic landlord and drinking buddy come to a crossroads
in their relationship one long summer night.
Set in rural Connecticut, reflecting an
autobiographical representation of O’Neill’s own home, and often thought of
as a sequel to the more famous Long Day’s Journey Into Night, this play,
like its predecessor, takes place over the course of one long day. Director
Bob Bartlett delivers all of the angst, emotion and rage that his cast is
able to deliver. Kelley Slagle is incredible in the role of the
non-drinking daughter. Watching her face provides more insight into her
emotional state than many of her lines, as the waves of joy and despair roll
over her one after the other, lifting the hopes on a crest and then dashing
them to be drowned. She, and Edd Miller portraying her drunken conniving
father, speak in a think brogue accent, which, while strange for a setting
in Connecticut, delivers well the feeling of immigrants working the land,
and, unlike many community productions where accent is used, they seldom at
all let it slip. Brian Donohue, who plays the landlord, is the sequel
character from Long Day’s Journey Into Night. Unfortunately, he doesn’t
achieve the depth of his two costars. His lines remain powerful due to
O’Neill’s writing, but it is difficult to believe he is drunk and his
efforts to portray inebriation end up with many of his lines coming across
monotone and staccato.
The setting is the front of the Hogan’s farm,
and this is recreated well in the center of the space. Rocks imported, we
are told, from Vermont, and potatoes packed in dirt, provide the space in which the drama unfolds. Dottie Meggers’
lighting conveys the mood and the time of day as it plays out over four
acts. Clocking in at three hours, this is a long show, but Edd Miller’s
ability to bring out the humor of the lout of a father he plays lifts it beyond the pacing of the clock.
The
State Capital is visible from the front door the Colonial Player’s house. Once the play begins, thoughts
and visions of the small town of Annapolis, of the sailboats and scenic
shops, fade away for three hours of very good, if not exactly uplifting,
work. Colonial does itself no shame with their fine production of this
often underrated work.
Written by Eugene O’Neill. Directed by Bob
Bartlett. Design: Bob Bartlett (set) Dottie Meggers (lights) Brian Donohue
(sound) R.A.R.E Photographic (photography) Tom Byrne (stage manager). Cast:
Brian Donohue, Rick Hall, Edd Miller, Robby Rose, Kelley Slagle. |
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August 26 - September
24, 2005
The Battle of
Shallowford |
Reviewed August 28
Running time 2:20 - one intermission
A solid production of a pleasant human comedy |
Joe Thompson directs an ensemble of capable players in Ed Simpson's gentle play
which is marked by the fact that all the characters are genuinely nice
people. There is not a heavy in the bunch, although one of the townspeople
does get a lot of pleasure out of teasing another. It becomes clear,
however, that the teasing is both a sign of affection from the teaser and is
secretly appreciated by the teased. The relationship between two teenagers
is the most complicating factor in the play, and they come across as
particularly wholesome even though they each have a streak of independence
in them and one is not above using an unorthodox situation to pursue his own
amorous desires.
Storyline: On a Sunday night in 1938 a few of the locals gather, as they
do most Sunday nights, at Burton Mock's general store and Post Office in
Shallowford, North Carolina to play some checkers, share some gossip and try
to avoid eating any of Mock's rabbit stew. This night is different, for this
is the night that Orson Welles' panicked radio listeners with a
real-sounding dramatization of H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds. Just
like so many others, the group in Shallowford didn't hear the disclaimer and
all but one - a teen age science fiction fan who recognizes the material -
are panicked and then embarrassed.
The emphasis of both the author and the
director on gentle friendships makes this a very pleasant experience even
when it isn't particularly engrossing. The comedy is of the school that
brings knowing smiles and even an occasional chuckle of recognition,
but few bursts of laughter. The situations are not fraught with conflict,
skullduggery or even danger, although the characters do think for a while
that they are in grave danger. Their discovery of their own foolishness
comes off-stage so you never see the moment they figure out that they
have been duped.
Chelsea Hunt and Robby Rose are the young
couple left behind when the adults rush out to defend their world. Their
relationship builds sweetly during the show. Rick Hall is nicely touching as
the girl's father while John Ritch and Danny Brooks build a sense of rapport
as the aforementioned teaser and teasee. Annapolis High student Steven Cohen
makes a delightful debut on this stage as the nearly mute local boy.
Colonial's theater in the round is well used
by set designers Edd Miller and Joe Thompson. Their assembly of counters,
tables, chairs, benches and - of course - a free standing stove is made into
a 1930s general store principally by the use of antiques which look 2005-old
rather than 1938-new. Attention to fabric as well as style in Tori Walker's
costume design helps a good deal too.
Written by Ed Simpson. Directed by Joe
Thompson. Design: Edd Miller and Joe Thompson (set) Tori Walker (costumes)
Pat Browning, Jo Ann Gidos, Mike Gidos, Jeanie Mincher, Christy Stouffer,
Tom Stuckey (properties) Tim Grieb (lights) Amy Youmatz (sound) R.A.R.E Photographic (photography) Karen Katschenreuther and Brigette M. Marchand
(stage managers). Cast: Danny Brooks, Steven Cohen, Jacob Dink, Rick Hall,
Chelsea Hunt, John Ritch, Robby Rose, Glenn Singer, Vince Van Joop.
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September 3 - October 2, 2004
Proof |
Reviewed September 3
Running time 2:05 - one intermission
t
A Potomac Stages Pick for
intellectually stimulating and emotionally satisfying fare
Click here to buy the script |
Proof is known for its
success at making intellectually gifted people seem entirely approachable.
It gets the exhilaration of the pursuit of knowledge just right. But
geniuses are people too, with hopes, fears, loves and losses. This warm,
fascinating and funny play draws you into the personal world of intelligent
people who are facing major crises in their personal lives. Presented in
this intimate theater, it takes on even more power to engage the emotions as
well as the intellect. Director Rick Wade's approach to mounting this play
is to trust the material. He doesn't attempt to impose any new
interpretation or discover any previously unexplored elements. Instead,
he and his talented cast work hard to keep the focus on the play as written.
Not a bad approach when that play is a Pulitzer Prize winner.
Storyline:
The twenty-five year old daughter of a famous mathematician has
spent five years caring for her father as mental illness
progressively incapacitated him. On the eve of his funeral she has
to cope not only with his death, but with the concern of her sister,
the attention of one of her father’s graduate students and the
lingering presence of her father in their Chicago home. She may have
inherited some of her father’s genius but she fears she may have
also inherited his "tendency to instability."
The role of the daughter is the
centerpiece of the play. Kelly Meredith McPhee is natural and
believable in the part, and avoids the trap of signaling too many of
her thoughts too far in advance. She gets maximum impact out of the
revelations the playwright has given her. Josh Watters does very
well with the multiple layers of the young math student's interests
and Nicole Roblyer's take on the role of the sister is softer and
more likeable than some others, but no less satisfying. It does,
however, make her lack of tact in announcing plans concerning the
house after her father's death seem a bit out of character. As the
father, Jim Reiter may overplay a few humorous lines early in the
play but he gets the powerful scene in which he confronts his mental
deterioration just right and McPhee's subtle sob at the end of the
scene plays true precisely because of the honesty of his
performance.
As good as this cast is, they happen
to be working with a script that creates four well-defined people
with dreams, fears, histories and opinions, whose dealings with each
other are the natural results of their personalities and
circumstances. It is all there in the text. This is no easy task as
any playwright will attest, and Auburn gets it right in his very
first major play. He also comes up with one of the great first-act
curtain lines of recent memory.
With a mathematical "proof" at the
center of the story, Auburn turns his title into a double entandré.
There is little actual discussion of higher mathematics, so the
audience need not even know what a prime number might be in order to
follow the discussions. There is never a sense that the author is
"talking down" to the audience or artificially keeping the
discussion non-technical. A welcome improvement to the original text
in this production is the elimination of the one awkward effort to
avoid technical details, a fairly clumsy "lets go for a walk and you
can tell me what this means" moment which proves to be superfluous.
The play is the better for its absence.
Colonial's intimate
arena shaped theatre with its three and four rows of seats on each
side of the playing space is a marvelous room for a play that takes
place entirely on one set and features a small cast delivering sharp
dialogue in a natural manner. It is almost like
eavesdropping
on strangers, except that the
characters don't remain strangers for long. The set here is simple
but nicely representative of the porch of a family home in suburban
Chicago. The lighting is a bit overly patterned for the scenes that
take place in moonlight, leaving faces in shadows that are a bit too
deep to allow their expressions to register, but the daylight scenes
are nicely done and both costuming and sound designs help establish
the mood very well.
Written by David
Auburn. Directed by Rick Wade. Design: Barry Christy (set) JoAnn
Gidos and Sarah Wade (properties) Dottie Meggers (lights) Mary
Davidson (sound) Jennifer Tate (poster design) R.A.R.E. Photographic
(photography) Jean Jackson (stage manager). Cast: Kelly Meridith
McPhee, Jim Reiter, Nicole Roblyer, Josh Watters. |
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