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October
17 - November 2, 2008
Fat Pig
Reviewed October 18 by
Brad Hathaway |
Running time 1:50 - no intermission
A touching
exploration of attitudes about body image
Click here to buy the script |
It will come as no surprise to the fans of Neil LaBute that this emotionally
involving play begins as a comedy and ends as a gripping emotional drama. As
is often the case, he has taken the bull by the horns in a taboo-smashing
topic and resolutely refused to take the easy way out at any point as the
plot moves inexorably from light banter to sharp pain. It will also come as
no surprise to followers of local community theater that Dominion Stage does
a fine job with the piece. They almost always seem to do their best work
with small-cast contemporary plays. Indeed, there seems to be an inverse
relationship between the number of cast members and the quality of the
production. Witness their satisfying productions of
Talley's Folly
(with its cast of 2)
Beautiful Thing
(5) and A Fine and
Private Place (6). Of the cast of four here, the biggest challenge
is the role of the supersized girl in this unique young love saga. Where do
you find an actress with the talent to pull off such a complex role who has
the physical proportions to make it work? A fat suit isn't an option as LaBute, perhaps for that very reason, writes the climax in a beach scene
requiring maximum exposure. Dominion found Erin Decaprio and she is quite
delightful in the lighter moments and affecting in the final disastrous
climax. The production also benefits from a nice job by Christopher C.
Holbert as the yuppie who falls for her mind and heart but can't quite
accept the package they come in, and a superb job by Chuck Dluhy as an
office boor (with just a touch of heart that becomes visible very briefly).
Storyline: Young upwardly mobile professional meets, and enjoys the company
of a young woman of extremely large proportions. They fall in love. Can
their attraction survive the disapproval of his friends and colleagues? More
to the point, can it survive his concern over their reaction?
LaBute has more than dabbled in don't-go-there topics.
His first play to attract attention was In The Company of Men which
found two men playing fast and loose with the emotions of a woman with a
disability, in this case hearing loss. His reputation as a bad boy
playwright took off with a triptych of short works called Bash: Latter
Day Plays in which members of his church, the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, do all sorts of things not usually associated with
religion. Here in the Potomac Region we've been lucky to have fine
productions of his The
Distance from Here at the Clarice Smith Center and
The Shape of Things
at Studio, where they also gave us our first look at this play.
LaBute writes fabulously deliverable dialogue with the
pace and pattern of the patter of intelligent, educated people who are
comfortable with the spoken word, yet each character has a distinct voice of
his or her own. Both Decaprio and Holbert deliver the material with clarity
and distinction. Director Sara Joy Lebowitz nicely avoids allowing a
difference other than their body shape from intruding into a play that
wasn't designed to deal with cross-racial issues. The fact that the two
leads have ethnic differences is marvelously irrelevant and inconsequential
in this smart, sophisticated production. Many of the sharpest lines in this play belong to the two
friends whose reactions to the affair are at the crux of the matter. Chuck
Dluhy knocks off one liners with aplomb and isn't knocked off balance when
the script calls for him to reveal just a touch of inner angst discussing his
relationship with his own overweight mother. Allyson Harkey handles the role
of the jilted one-time fling.
Kevin King certainly had his work cut out for him when
he signed on as set designer for this one-act play with its requirements for
a dining room, an office, a restaurant, a bedroom and a beach without even
giving him the benefit of an intermission to move things about. He solved it
with a pair of sliding panels that alternately hide or reveal otherwise
stationary set pieces. As a result, the play is not interrupted by
interminable blackouts while the set is changed. There are still blackouts,
its just that they don't last too terribly long. Who knows where sound
designer Ben Allen came up with the recordings that are played as the
audience takes their seats. They include such spot-on-topic choices as "I
Want A Big Fat Mamma " and "Fat Lady Blues" and "Her Butts Too Big" ending
up with that anthem of the young misfit, "Alone Again, Naturally."
Written by Neil LaBute. Directed by Sara Joy Lebowitz.
Design: Kevin King (set) Ken Clayton (set dressing) Jamie Erdman (costumes
and properties) Nick Brown (lights) Ben Allen (sound) Allen Lebowitz
(photography) Alexis Rose (stage manager). Cast: Erin Decaprio, Chuck Dluhy,
Allyson Harkey, Christopher C. Holbert.
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May 23 - June 8, 2008
House of Blue Leaves
Reviewed May 31 by
Brad Hathaway |
Running time 2:10 - one
intermission
An off-beat comedy set in the 1960s
Click here to buy the script |
Matthew Randall directs John Guare's comedy of the time the Pope visited New
York City in the search for an end to the Vietnam War. It is a play that
seems particularly of its time. Written shortly after Pope Paul VI came to
New York to address the United Nations, it is the kind of screwball comedy
with twinges of sadness focusing on troubled characters that seemed so
popular at the time. Randall recreates the tone of the time rather than
trying to up-date the piece. This is a wise approach and it works well
within the capacities of his rather uneven cast. Three performances stand
out among those of the eleven member cast, but it is the director's
effective pacing that makes the production as pleasing as it is. The first
act, which uses just four of the eleven cast members, is tighter and more enjoyable. The second act expands the cast of characters and adds a good
deal of farce to the mix which taxes the concept a bit too much. Still, nice
work is to be seen in a number of roles.
Storyline: In 1965, the Pope's motorcade is to pass right in front of the
apartment house where a writer of bad songs lives with his mentally
unbalanced wife. He hopes for a miracle - not that his son might be spared
combat in Vietnam, or that his wife might be cured or even that his mistress
might give in to his entreaties that she cook for him, but that his songs
might become hits.
This was the first of Guare's plays to signal both his
skill and his unique view of the world. The blending of comedy and pathos
was well crafted and it portended good things to come. He went on to write a
play that gave a concept and a phrase to the world: Six Degrees of
Separation. He also adapted Shakespeare for a rock-musical with Galt
MacDermot (Two Gentlemen of Verona) and a movie for a jazz-musical
with Marvin Hamlisch (Sweet Smell of Success). Each of these very
different projects had one thing in common: careful attention to the
structure of story telling. It is one thing that separates this play from
other off-beat comedies of its time and makes it work better in the new
century than some of its contemporaries.
The three standout performances are not all in the
three largest roles. One, Elisabeth Ness, as a hard-of-hearing starlet,
doesn't make her entrance until the second act and then is killed off long
before the climax. Still, she's a delight while on stage. Another, Kevin
Eaton, makes his entrance in the first act but doesn't have a word to say
until after intermission. He makes a strong impression before intermission,
however, simply by staring at the audience. The strongest performance comes
from Lois S. Walsh as the aptly-nick-named "Bananas," the unstable wife of
the would-be songwriter. She makes much more of the role than simply going
into a ditsy blond routine. When she launches her monologue in act one, she
takes the character to unexpected depths.
The collection of off-beat characters includes Brian
Turley as the pathetic husband whose day job is as a zoo keeper but whose
nights are filled with hope for bad lounge songs featuring incredible lyrics
with tortured rhymes such as "Its comical/The Pope wears a Yamaka." (Guare
gets credit for writing the songs as well as for the play). Karen Lange is
often funny as his mistress who is withholding a different kind of favors
until he marries her - she sleeps with him but refuses to cook for him until
they are wed. Bob Cohen is a bit wooden as a Hollywood mogul, but he has a
very difficult role - he has to play most of his first scene facing away
from the audience, and, then, he has to recover from a crying jag much too
rapidly. Three women handle the roles of a trio of nuns well, especially
Meghan Hindmarch who emerges from the group as an individual at the end.
Written by John Guare. Directed by Matthew Randall.
Fight choreography by Steve Lada. Design: David M. Moretti and Matthew
Randall (set) Judy Whelihan (costumes) Julia Cowell, Alyssa Jacobsen and
Asher Miller (properties) Nick Brown (lights) Ben Allen (sound) Laura
Moody (stage manager). Cast: Celeste Cambell, Bob Cohen, Keven Eaton, Gayle
Grimes, Meghan Hindmarch, Richard Isaacs, Steve Lada, Karen Lange, Elisabeth
Ness, Brian Turley, Lois S. Walsh. |
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January 11 - 27, 2008
The Wild Party
Reviewed by
Brad Hathaway |
Running time 2:00 - no intermission
Strong performances of a great score with little or no plotline
v
brief nudity
Click here to buy the CD |
Dominion stage continues to impress with its willingness to take on
interesting, highly challenging projects and its ability to find performers
who can really sink their teeth into the material. In this case, it is a
musical that has a parade of numbers that would stop the show if there
were a show to stop. The difficulty with this production is the same as the
difficulty the show had when it premiered on Broadway. A musical needs more
than music. It needs a story you want to follow about people you can find
attractive or at least interesting. Intensity of performances and a
string of knock-your-socks-off numbers just are not enough. The Broadway run
lasted all of 68 performances after its April 2000 opening. If Mandy Patinkin, Eartha Kitt, Norm Lewis and Marc Kudisch couldn’t make this show a
hit, how could Dominion Stage do it? Patrick McMahan, Elizabeth Yeats, Erin
Branigan, John-Michael d'Haviland and Elisabeth A. Hester and a host of
other talented, capable and energetic performers can't - even when
accompanied by one of the best community theater pit orchestras in recent
memory.
Storyline: At the height of the "Roaring Twenties," a vaudeville comic tries
to reinvigorate his relationship with his woman, a blond vamp of a dancer,
by throwing a party where everything goes. A collection of friends, hangers
on and drop-ins take advantage of the free booze, even free-er cocaine and
the sexually charged atmosphere as inhibitions fade, emotions become raw and
couples couple and uncouple. By the end of the night, one of the hosts will
be dead.
There were two different musicals that premiered in
New York In 2000 based on the same jazz-age poem by Joseph Moncure March.
One, with a score by Andrew Lippa, only played Off-Broadway. This is the
other one. It flopped on Broadway despite an all-star cast and the most
satisfying score yet from Michael John LaChiusa, who keeps churning out
scores that are admired by many. (First Lady Suite, Marie Christine, The
Highest Yellow, See What I Wanna See and Hello, Again.) Even
seven Tony Awards nominations couldn't keep it afloat. It didn't win any
Tonys but the nominations included one for best book of a musical, which
indicates that this reviewer's judgment is at odds with the Tony nominators
- but not with the ticket buying public who just didn't keep the show afloat
once its advance sales were used up. The single biggest problem with the
work is the lack of a story. It is just one long party sequence. (Very long
- it runs two full hours without an intermission.) During that time you get
to meet a host of partygoers, each of whom is a caricature, but there isn't one
well-defined character in the bunch. Each is all surface and no depth.
The cast member with the hardest task is Patrick
McMahan, who has the leading role written specifically for the inimitable
persona of Mandy Patinkin, right down to the black-face imitation of Al
Jolson. As the comic hosting the party, McMahan is also the most successful
of the entire cast at rising to the occasion, and his energy level is quite
astonishing. Elizabeth Yeates, as his floozy, is quite strong as well, and
there are pairs of performances that impress such as Vincent Rowe and Kevin
McAllister as black brothers with a vaudeville dance act, Jon Keeling and
Joshua Schwartz as a pair of Jews hoping to find success as producers on
Broadway by changing their names, and Erin Branigan and Sally Kiernan as,
well, just a pair. James Finley adds his full voice but a rather wooden
demeanor to the proceedings and KJ Jacks tries to recreate some of the
emotional punch that Eartha Kitt brought to her role. She doesn't quite make
as much of an impression - but who could have expected anyone to?
Is it possible for the orchestra for a community
theater musical to be too good? The nine players under conductor Leah Kocsis don't have a pit to sit in, they sit on the floor of
the auditorium to the left of the stage cranking out a level of both volume
and energy that some of the cast members have difficulty matching. They
sound as full and solid playing what seem to be only slightly reduced
versions of Bruce Coughlin's orchestrations as the fifteen players sounded
in New York when the show played at the Virginia Theatre.
Music and lyrics by Michael John LaChiusa. Book by
Michael John LaChiusa and George C. Wolfe. Directed by William D. Parker.
Choreographed by Catherine Oh. Music direction by William D. Parker and
John-Michael d'Haviland. Combat Choreography by Steve Lada. Design:
Helen McCarthy (set) Robin Covington (costumes) Michele Bell (properties)
Jeffrey Scott Aurebach (lights) Keith Bell and David Correia (sound) Jarret
Baker (photography) Joan A.S. Lada (stage manager). Cast: Erin Branigan,
John-Michael d'Haviland, James Finley, Elizabeth A. Hester, Richelle "Rikki"
Howie, KJ Jacks, Jon Keeling, Sally Kiernan, Harv Lester, Kevin McAllister,
Patrick McMahan, Erin Richardson, Vincent Rowe, Joshua Schwartz, Elizabeth
Yeats. |
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October 19 - November 10, 2007
Beautiful Thing
Reviewed by
Brad Hathaway |
Running time 1:55 - one
intermission
A well-acted production of a British play of two boys falling in love in a
blue collar housing complex
Click here to buy the script |
Scott Olson directs John Harvey's exploration of
pre-teenage homosexuality in a first-love story set in a working class
housing complex in suburban London. He adopts a simple, uncomplicated
approach of telling the story without gimmicks or embellishments, relying on
the strength of the writing and the talents of his cast to make it an
absorbing evening, and the approach works very well indeed. He has cast two
fine, natural actors, Michael Bigley and Alex Avila, as the two youngsters
who fall in love, and a particularly strong actress, Gayle Nichols-Grimes, as
the mother who must come to terms with her son's developing a relationship
she never dreamed might be part of her world. He gives them solid support in
two supporting roles and places it all on a well designed set with clear
staging so that the story plays out without distraction.
Storyline: Seventeen year old Ste (short for Stephen) seeks refuge from
his abusive father in the home of Jamie, his friend and school mate who
lives in the neighboring flat in a housing complex in a working class
neighborhood of London. Sharing a bedroom and a bed, they discover an
affection and attraction for each other that neither expected to develop.
When Jamie's mother learns of the relationship she is distraught, but
realizes she will loose the love of her son if she attempts to break his
bond with Ste.
Harvey's play was
well received when it first appeared in England in 1993. It was produced
Off-Broadway in 1999. A made-for-television film version for England's
public-service Channel 4 drew a positive enough response that it was given a
commercial release. The play wasn't available for performance while the film
was being promoted but now it is beginning to be licensed to professional
and community theaters. Dominion, which seems to have an affinity for plays
with relatively uncomplicated plots, strong parts for each member of a
relatively small cast and an serious subject, takes it up and does a fine
job with it.
Ste, the more athletic, more assured young man is the
one being beaten by his father. He's played with a sense of surface bravado
but an underlying insecurity by Alex Avila. Jamie, the shyer of the pair but
the initiator of intimacy, is played with an open honesty that is appealing
by Michael Bigley. Together, they establish a chemistry that seems natural
and an attraction that feels real. Gayle Nichols-Grimes seems a bit forced
in the light banter in the early portions of the play, but when her
character comes to understand the nature of the activity in her son's
bedroom and its implications for her relationship with him, her emotions are
clear and convincing. Marina Ybarra and Richard Isaacs turn in convincing
performances as the neighboring teenager with a thing for the music of Mama
Cass Elliot and the mother's boy friend of the moment.
Jarret Baker's set is an impressive structure of a row
of housing units placed at a receding angle to provide perspective, depth
and interest to the scenes played out in the public areas in front of the
three flats occupied by the three families. The repetition of identical
features - doors, stoops, windows -- is broken only by different colors of
the drapes visible from the interiors of the flats and a single hanging
planter. The front wall of the center flat swings
open for the interior scenes in the boy's bedroom but the two neighboring
flats remain visible, emphasizing the crowding and lack of privacy in the
development.
Written by Jonathan Harvey. Directed by Scott Olson.
Fight choreography by Steve Lada. Design: Jarret Baker (set, lights and
photography) Scott Olson (costumes) Pat Janell (properties) Scott Olson and
T. D. Smith (sound and music) T. D. Smith (stage manager). Cast: Alex Avila,
Michael Bigley, Richard Isaacs, Gayle Nichols-Grimes, Marina Ybarra. |
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May 18 - 27, 2007
A Fine and Private Place
Reviewed by
Brad Hathaway |
Running time 2:20 - one intermission
A charming chamber musical well sung and acceptably acted
Click here to buy the CD |
Dominion Stage continues its habit of finding unusual, intriguing material
to produce with this touching musical of two love stories involving the
living and the dead in a mystical graveyard.
With book and lyrics by Erik Haagensen and music by Richard Isen, this 1989
chamber musical has been out there for licensing for quite a while now, but
no local companies seem to have noticed. Dominion Stage snapped it up and
they are giving it a vocally satisfying if dramatically rather mechanical
production that gives those intrigued by the concept a chance to see just
how the score works in the context of the show. So how does it work? Well!
The story plays out with a fine sense of fantasy and there is a twist to the
primary love story half way through that gives it more heft than a simple
fairytale love story. The approach of a primary love story and a secondary
couple which served Rodgers and Hammerstein so well for so many years proves
its utility here, providing variety.
Storyline: A cemetery is where the deceased wait until they are ready to
let go of their past lives. In a cemetery in the Bronx a man who has just
arrived gets to know a woman who has been there long enough to be anxious to
move on. They fall in love, however, much to the surprise of the man who
helps spirits cope. In all his years, he's never seen new love blossom in a
cemetery.
The songs by Isen and Haagensen are well constructed
with pleasant melodies and intelligent lyrics. Haagensen has chosen which
moments and which plot points to set to song with an eye toward emotions
that can be amplified by song and humor that can be served by word play and
cleverness. None of the songs stick with you long after they have been sung,
but they provide the pace and flow for the musical scenes and help clarify
opinions, expectations, hopes, fears and relationships.
Brian Lukas brings a solid set of skills to the role
of the new arrival in the cemetery. He sings well and acts with a smooth
sense of assurance. He teams up with Elizabeth Hester who sings clearly. On
opening night they had yet to find that connection often called chemistry
between performers playing a couple who fall in love. The secondary couple
is played by Jon Roberts, who has a booming voice which he uses well, and
Janice Zucker, who delivers the Jewish-Widow-from-the-Bronx humor with an
appealing openness. Ronn Wilson acquits himself well in the smaller role of
the cemetery's gatekeeper without letting the requisite drunk scene turn him
into a caricature of the tippling caretaker, and Kathy Keating delivers some
nice comedy relief as a raven (this is a fantasy, remember).
As with many good chamber musicals, the demands for
set are minimal. Most of the show takes place in the cemetery itself with a
few columns, a stone fence and a mausoleum. As designed by Bill Butcher, it
hints at its location rather than replicating it. Ben Roberts provides a
sound system amplifying the signals from the wireless microphones each of
the cast members wears. He balances that sound fairly well with the sound of
the off-stage quartet of keyboard, two basses and percussion.
Music by Richard Isen. Book and Lyrics by Erik
Haagensen. Based on the book by Peter S. Beagle. Directed by Elaine Topodas
and J. N. Wickert III. Music direction by Julie Dahik. Music arrangements by
Henry Aronson. Design: Bill Butcher (set) Mary Ayala-Bush (costumes) K.
Clayton and Mike Smith (properties) AnnMarie Castrigno (lights) Ben Roberts
(sound) Matthew Randall (photography) Michael O'Connor (stage manager).
Cast: Elizabeth Hester, Kathy Keating, Brian Lukas, Jon Roberts, Ronn Wilson,
Janice Zucker. |
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January 12 - 28, 2007
Say You Love Satan
Reviewed by
William Bryan |
Running
time 1:45 – one intermission
A play about being with the wrong person
Click here to buy the script |
The sheer number of production companies in the Potomac Region, both
professional and community, ensures that it’s never known just what might be
witnessed during any season. Sure there are the famous plays and musicals,
but then there are the lesser known and more oddball performances that
sometimes find the audience shaking their heads in bafflement, but
that occasionally entertain and even offer a view on the human condition. The
latter is the case in Dominion Stage’s first offering for 2007. While the
story as presented is that of a gay man who falls for the wrong guy, it
could just as easily be that of a straight
man or woman
choosing the wrong partner, and it would translate just as well.
With frequent references to Dostoevsky, especially The Brothers
Karamazov, our protagonist, Andrew, frequently seems to be in the middle
of one of his favorite author’s creations, an extreme situation that reveals
much of the nature of human psychology and the social state, well, at least
as far as a relationship from hell is concerned.
Storyline: A young man is faced with the choice of dating the guy who is
right and cares for him versus the guy who is not so good for him but is
much more exciting, oh, and who happens to be the son of Satan.
This is a relatively
new play, having won its author a Playwright’s Award at the New York
International Fringe Festival in 2003, and it is a welcome addition to
the region’s theater repertoire. Other plays by Roberto
Aguirre-Sacasa
(The Velvet Sky,
Dark Matters)
have been seen in the area and it remains to be seen how far the talent
of this upcoming writer will take him. This show hints at the ability to
achieve some powerful works in the future. That is not to say that
Say You Love Satan is lacking. It is, in the author’s words, “a
romantic comedy” though with a clever twist. Given that he also has
worked with singer/author Jewel on a cartoon for Nickelodeon and is a
writer for the Marvel Comic’s title, The Fantastic Four, it is no
surprise that someone with so varied a field of talents would produce
such an interesting work. As written, the play presents us with
characters, that while perhaps a bit stereotyped, are easy to recognize
and empathize with, and as such, we care about what happens to them and
root for the good ending.
Producer Ken
Clayton must be given special mention here. Producers are often behind
the scene figures who are often called “the money” and for good reason,
but Ken takes his charge and responsibilities well beyond the normal.
From working the ticket booth before the show to being a corpse onstage
during (and quite a good corpse at that) and working the refreshment
stand for intermission, his devotion to his production is what most
producers can only aspire too. True, many of the roles he filled are
normally taken care of by other volunteers or paid workers. Still, it is
refreshing to find someone so totally involved with their show. The
staging of the show is simple and unchanging, and the lighting used to
good effect, but nothing beyond the norm, but it all comes together
well.
Among the cast,
no-one truly stood out. This is a community production, and as such, has
that level of acting experience in it. They are paying their dues and
learning their craft, and the performances seem somewhat forced at times,
but they remain entertaining, and while we might all wish we had the
abdominal definition Richard Isaacs presents with his shirt off, a great
physique can only carry an actor so far through the role. The cast fits
into the characters, but never truly embodies them, and that moment of
“suspension of disbelief,” where the audience forgets they are watching
actors acting, never seems to come to pass. This remains an evening of
entertaining theater for a good price to see a funny story told about
the rights and wrongs of dating in any culture, gay or straight, and
Dominion has achieved success by that standard.
Written by
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. Directed by Scott Olson. Design: Jarrett Baker
(Technical Director/Designer) Matthew Randall (photography) Sheila Price
(stage manager). Cast: Candi Baker, K. Clayton, Patrick M. Doneghy,
Kevin Eaton, Richard Isaacs, Brian Lukas, Jason Miller, J.R. Owens. |
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October 20 - 29,
2006
Talley's Folly
Reviewed by
Brad Hathaway |
Running time 1:35 - no
intermission
t A Potomac
Stages Pick for sensitive performances
in a tender story of human connection
Click here to buy the script |
Lanford Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play is a treasure for actors
willing to rein in the temptation to punch up its sentimentality and let the
material itself deliver the sweetness it contains. Over-acting can kill it.
Dominion, a company that seems to do its best work with plays that are the
least elaborate, is giving the two-character, one-set play a fine production
with two carefully controlled performances under director Frank Pasqualino.
Pasqualino also designed the tastefully restrained set which gives the
performers a space that speaks volumes about the time and feel of the play.
It is a play about courtship, but one that emphasizes an often ignored
element in the way two people chose to become a couple: trust. While others
focus on romantic love, sexual attraction, lust, economics, politics or any
of a dozen other factors, Wilson's gentle play is about the establishment of
trust. The rest can come later.
Storyline: In the last
year of World War II, a middle-aged Jewish accountant visits a younger,
wealthier, gentile woman who seems to him to be the only woman he’s ever met
who can see the world the way he sees it. He meets with her in the boathouse
down by the river on her parents’ estate with matrimony as his goal. She
comes only to try to avoid a scene and to get him to leave her alone, but he
uses charm and humor to keep the meeting going, raising questions and issues
that make their shared values obvious even to her. When each shares a secret
of their background, the bond seems to form.
Lanford Wilson’s Pulitzer
Prize winning play feels like a gentle taste of nostalgia, but builds to an
emotional impact. Both characters are deeply detailed as they respond to
each other and answer -- as well as they are able -- the other’s questions.
The man searches for a way to connect with the woman while she tries one
tactic after another to avoid connection. Through it all they each reveal
details of their lives, and it is one of the remarkable aspects of Wilson’s
script that each detail rings true but none seems calculated. Ultimately,
the intensity of their exchange has created just the bond she had feared.
Craig Klein is the visiting suitor.
Wilson sets up the character in a brief, whimsical monologue addressing the
audience which comes close to being too cute. Klein quickly looses that
over-cuteness however as he gets down to the business of using his sharp
wits and a solid streak of simple decency to press his case with his
intended. Ariel Grayson enters earnestly, with just the right hint of a chip
on her shoulder, loosing patience with Klein's attentions. In the battle of
wits, the parrying and thrusting of argument and the revelation of hopes,
fears and secrets, comes the slow emergence of trust. It progresses in
measured steps. It is that element, trust, that sets this story of courtship
apart from most others, and Klein and Grayson capture that quite well.
The
“Folly” of the title isn’t the singular of “Follies,” as in a vaudeville-ish
theatrical review, nor is it an irrational or thoughtless thing. It is the
third dictionary meaning, the architectural meaning “a building of eccentric
or overly elaborate design, usually built for decorative rather than
practical purposes.” Director Pasqualino designed the gazebo-like set and
Richard Schwab provided the final touch that compliments the mood: a
rippling lighting effect that establishes the water-side location and gives
the entire scene a romantic but still realistic sense.
Written by Lanford Wilson. Directed by Frank Pasqualino. Design: Frank
Pasqualino (set and sound) Sallyanne Blanchetta (costumes) Michele Bell
(properties) John Patterson (photography). Cast: Ariel Grayson, Craig Klein.
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March 31 - April
15, 2006
Tom Sawyer - the Musical
|
Reviewed April 7
Running time 2:35 - two intermissions
A large cast works through a lengthy but tuneful evening
Click here to buy the book |
When Ken Ludwig and Don Schlitz wrote this
musical version of Mark Twain's well known story they concentrated on Tom
Sawyer's relationships with others - Tom's Aunt Polly, Becky Thatcher, Huck
Finn. In casting this production, director Scott Olson has the strength in
precisely these roles, but they work on a fairly laborious production that
doesn't seem to take off throughout a lengthy evening that seems longer
because a second intermission is required to prepare a set for the scenes in
"Injun Joe's Cave." Eben Kuhns lends charm and energy to the production as
Tom and works well in turn with Kat Brais as Aunt Polly, Rachel Weber as
Becky Thatcher and Nathan Ward as Huckleberry.
Storyline: A musical version of Mark Twain’s story of the youngster in a
pre-civil war Mississippi River town who loves to play hooky with Huck Finn,
dreams of forming a pirate band and has a crush on young Becky Thatcher. He
and Huck witness a murder in a graveyard at midnight and summon up the
courage to testify against the murderer. Later Tom and Becky get separated
from the rest of the students on a school outing to a cave and are presumed
dead, but return just in time to turn their joint funeral into a celebration.
Ken Ludwig (Crazy for You, Lend Me A Tenor, Leading Ladies)
has had great success with comedies, especially when he can get going in a
full-out farcical mode. Mark Twain's story provides no opportunity for him
to get into that mode since the show is fairly faithful to Twain's gentler,
more realistic story structure even as he cuts back on some of Twain's more
involved plotlines. What makes a fine book, however, doesn't necessarily
make a fine book for a musical. This effort creaks from song to song and the
Dominion Stage production seems to emphasize rather than disguise the
plodding approach to the plot. Don Schlitz' songs are serviceable and
occasionally catchy.
Since the key elements are the relationships between Tom
and Becky, Tom and Aunt Polly and Tom and Huck, it is the charm of the actor
playing Tom that is crucial. Here, the production has the good fortune to
have Eben Kuhns in the role. He was impressive last year at Imagination
Stage in Callisto 5, and
here again he impresses with his ability to lead, especially in ensemble
scenes. He has a fine combination of enthusiasm and innocence. Kat Brais
lends a fine stage presence and her strong voice to the role of Aunt Polly.
Ken Clayton, so good in last year's
Biloxi Blues at the Little Theatre of Alexandria, is unfortunately
over broad in his performance as the villainous Injun Joe, perhaps because,
unlike the mean drill sergeant he played at LTA, this part doesn't have a
sentimental side. It is pure heavy and he overdoes the evil.
The decision to place the four-piece band on the floor of
the auditorium places a burden on the cast that they really can't shoulder.
The full vocal chorus can be heard over the band for numbers like "Hey, Tom
Sawyer" and "Ain't Life Fine," and cast members with wireless
microphones can blend with the band for quieter pieces such as the duet for
Tom and Becky, "To Hear You Say My Name" and solos like Aunt Polly's "This
Time Tomorrow." However, less than half a dozen of the cast of 24 wear
microphones and the balance on the other numbers suffers, even given the
subtle touch on the sound design by Dave Schubert. The production also
suffers from a set design that requires too much time to shift between the
town and "Injun Joe's Cave." Costumes, on the other hand, are quite good
with a period feel especially for the women.
Music and lyrics by Don Schlitz. Book by Ken Ludwig based
on the novel by Mark Twain. Directed by Scott Olson. Music Direction by Jay
Wickert and Peter Darling. Choreography by Elaine Topodas. Fight choreography by Kevin Robertson. Design: Jarret Baker (set)
Elaine Topodas (costumes) Kat Bras (hair and make-up) Margaret Thompson
(properties) Alex Hampt (lights) Dave Schubert (sound) John T. Adams III
(photography) Michael O'Connor (stage manager). Cast: John T. Adams III,
Lyndsey Andray, Carson Bendel, David Berkenbilt, Emily Berry, Patricia
Talmadge Berry, Kat Brais, Darius Butler, George Campbell, Adam Carpenter,
Barbara Carpenter, Ken Clayton, Eben Kuhns, Nicole Naccash, Scott Olson,
Jessie Roberts, Merrill Roth, Morgan Sendek, Zach Talmadge, Bill Walker,
Bruce Ward, Nathan Ward, Paul Ward, Rachel Weber. |
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June 10 - 19, 2005
Picnic |
Reviewed June 12
Running time 2:20 - one intermission
Midwestern Americana of the 1950s
Click here to buy the script |
William Inge’s Pulitzer Prize winning drama is a
classic case of a play whose strengths made it a big hit in its day, but
which have gone out of style. Still the play refuses to be reduced to a seldom-produced curio. It had quality productions in the past few years
from two professional companies, the American Century Theater here in
Arlington and CENTERSTAGE in Baltimore. Now this community theater
company takes a crack at the poetic language and sexually charged emotions,
but stumbles in its effort to bring the characters and events to life. The
difficulty is not the constraints of budget, for the simple two-porch set is
workable and the costumes set the period effectively. The difficulty is the
often stilted delivery of Inge's language that seems to emphasize the plain,
matter of fact Midwestern speech patterns at the expense of the poetic
imagery and revealing detail that made Inge's plays seem something special.
Storyline: In post World War II middle America, the women who occupy two
neighboring houses have their lives uprooted on the day and night of the
Labor Day Picnic when an attractive young drifter comes into town.
Picnic won a Pulitzer Prize when it first appeared in 1953 and was
one of Inge’s string of solid Broadway successes. Just like Bus Stop,
Come Back Little Sheba and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, it
was turned into a well-received movie. It is a solid example of the kind of
realistic drama where the audience is called upon to process all of the
details revealed in dialogue to put together the back stories of the
characters without everything being spelled out for them. Movies today –
with their linear plotting and their strength at showing events rather than
talking about them – don’t usually require the audience to "connect the
dots" in this way and it seems that many playwrights working today have
picked up the habits of screenwriters.
Inge is at his best writing dialogue for women. Here, some of the most
moving moments should belong to Barbara Schelstrate as the mother who
desperately wants to protect her older daughter from the pains she
experienced, and, at the same time, largely ignores the younger one whose
gifts she sees as intellectual, and thus, not quite womanly. The script
never explains exactly what happened to this woman's husband, but is full of
comments that reveal the failure of her marriage. Like much of the rest of
the cast, Schelstrate never gets beneath the surface of the lines, making
them sound mechanical rather than emotional. When Missy Jenkins, as the
older daughter, protests that she’s just 18, Schelstrate makes the
emotionally revealing line "and next year you will be 19 and the next year
you will be 20 and the next year 40" sound more like a statement of fact
that a prediction of disaster.
Eric Clingan is the sexy drifter who disrupts
the entire neighborhood just by taking off his shirt while doing yard work
(this is 1953, after all). He's quite good in his exchanges with most of the
characters but the required steaminess between him and Jenkins never really
develops. There is a bit of chemistry, although chemistry of a different
kind, between him and Samantha Collier who has a good touch for the slightly
acerbic asides of the younger, more intellectually gifted daughter. A
secondary story features Geri Pizzi as as a middle-aged schoolteacher so
afraid of permanent spinsterhood, and Charles Palmer as the bachelor she
implores to save her from that fate. Pizzi and Palmer do manage to create a
feeling that their characters are real people reacting to each other out of
comfortable familiarity and desperate need.
Written by William Inge. Directed by Carol A.
Strachan. Design: John Downing (set) Mike Smith (set dressing and
properties) Joan Roseboom (costume consultant) Amber Dyer (makeup) Bette
Williams (hair) Jay Stein (lights) Elaine Topodas (choreography) Benjamin
Robert (sound) Michael O'Connor (stage manager). Cast: Gavin Argo, Eric E. Clingan, Samantha Collier, Erin DeCaprio, Adam Gann, Missy Jenkins, Charles
Palmer, Geri Pizzi, Barbara Schelstrate, James Senavitis, Susan Smith, Nora
Zanger. |
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January 21 - February 5,
2005
Ruthless! The
Musical |
Reviewed January 28
Running time 2:20 - one intermission
General admission seating
Performed at Theatre on the Run
t
A Potomac Stages Pick for bright tuneful fun
Click here to buy the CD |
This jaunty little musical tracks the rise of a
child actress who wants to be a big star, her mother who wants a bit of
recognition as well, and the theatrical agent with an agenda all "her" own.
It follows a simple recipe for a parody of the prototypical backstage
musical. Add a dash of "The Bad Seed," a bit of "All About Eve" and a whole
lot of "Gypsy" and mix well! The real credit for the overall success of this
bright and frequently very funny evening goes to director Wade Corder who
infuses the performances with the same sense of nonsense, the underlying
affection for the world of musical theater and the ability to spoof without
cruelty that book and lyric writer Joal Paley and composer Marvin Laird
built into the show in the first place. The result is a hoot.
Storyline: Third grader Tina wants the lead
in the school musical and is willing to do anything to get the part, even
"rub out" her competition. She doesn't quite get away with it, however, and
is sentenced to a School for Psychopathic Ingénues, while the struggles at
home continue between her mother who emerges from her Harriet Nelson-like
shell and the theatrical agent with a secret.
No production of this show can work without a
child star caliber performer and Dominion has one with real star quality in
eleven year old Madeline McCabe who combines the pizzazz of an actual
Shirley Temple want-to-be with the acting ability to skewer all stage brats.
Her chipper demeanor is the on-stage equivalent of her mother's vacuous
manner, captured so well in the early song "Tina's Mother" by Lisa Anne
Bailey who builds the part of the mother throughout the evening into the
solid core of the story. Christopher Gillespie manages to keep the drag role
of the theatrical agent from seeming too much drag and too little role. He
gives what could be a mere camp sendup of Ethel Merman/Mamma Rose a touch.
The music certainly captures much of the
feeling of the material the show is parodying, after all, it was composed by
Marvin Laird, music director for the recent revival of Gypsy on Broadway.
The score is a series of delightful takeoffs on standard musical comedy
numbers. The funniest individual scene belongs to Kittie Millan whose "I
Hate Musicals" captures every insult and accusation directed at the musical theater since
Gilbert and Sullivan shocked formal London. The work of co-music directors
Alan Margolis and William M.T. Glass is superb -- the small, four person
band and all of the vocalists deliver strong, clean and clear renditions
with energy and polish.
This is the first time that Dominion Stage
has produced a show at the small black-box Theater on the Run rather than
large proscenium style Theatre I at Gunston Arts Center. It is a much better
venue for this small kind of show which benefits from the intimacy of the
space.
Music by Marvin Laird. Book and lyrics by
Joal Paley. Directed by Wade Corder. Music direction by Alan Margolis and
William M.T. Glass. Choreographed by Stacy Mills. Design: Lisa Anne Bailey
(set) Richard "Bat" Battistelli (costumes) Sheila Hyman (makeup) Stephen
Carter-Hicks (hair/wigs) Pat Jannell-Pacheco (Properties) Les Zidel (lights)
Kevin Harney (sound) Jessica Leigh Armstrong (stage
manager). Cast: Lisa Anne Bailey, Kim Durand, Christopher Gillespie, Kate Keifer, Madeline McCabe, Kittie
Millan, Stacy Mills, |
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January 23 - 31, 2004
The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife |
Reviewed January 24
Running time 2 hours 15 minutes |
Here is a laugh-filled comedy that doesn’t harbor a mean spirit. Yes, this
fun and funny romp draws from some stereotypes about wealthy New Yorkers.
But it is gentle poking fun with a knowing wink, not a superior putdown such
as seems to have been so much in vogue of late. As a result, each of the
four main characters are nice-to-know people, even if their foibles are the
stuff of punch lines.
Storyline: The wife of a newly retired successful physician is suffering a
particularly strong mid-life crisis, stuck in depression following the loss
of her therapist. Into her life comes a long-lost friend from high school
who seems to have done all sorts of exciting things and met all sorts of
interesting people, living the fascinating life she had hoped would be hers.
She sparks the wife out of her depression and stimulates her to share the
exciting life. But is that life right for her and does it involve a
rejection her own past including the family and its values that have
dominated her adult life?
The
play opened on Broadway in 2000 and was nominated for the Tony Award for
Best Play. Valerie Harper toured the show with two stops in the Potomac
Region. Now Dominion Stage has the area community theater premiere of the
show and they do a remarkably good job with it. Among its strengths are
solid set and costume designs, a team of actors working together in a
cooperative ensemble and direction that keeps the pace bright and the focus
on the progress of the story, trusting the jokes to work for themselves.
Some
comedies are simply strings of jokes and others are funny stories that draw
chuckles but no real belly laughs. This one, on the other hand, manages
both. The story is intriguing and amusing while the dialogue sparks real
laughs. Many of those laughs come from the lines Author Charles Busch gives
the wife’s mother -- and the wife’s reactions to them. Indeed, at some
points you wonder why the title of the play isn’t "The Tale of The
Allergists’ Wife’s Mother." Busch found a good balance between comic
storytelling and joke writing although a few of his scenes seem to last one
or two lines longer than they should so he can land yet one more punch line.
Lorraine Magee is the allergist’s wife going from depression to excitement
with stops along the way to argue with her mother and throw a tantrum or
two. She does it all with energy and spirit. Mona Brussat, as the mother,
has many of the bigger laugh lines including a running gag concerning her
output in the bathroom that could become tiresome if not treated with a
basic sense of innocence. Lenny Marsh gives the part of the allergist a bit
more humanity and depth than it had either on Broadway or on tour, and Lori
Muhlstein is bright and breezy as the friend from the past who can drop
names like nobody’s business (“Well, Dianna overheard my discussion with
Henry Kissinger about land mines and the rest is history.”)
Written by Charles
Busch. Directed by Suzanne Maloney. Design: Mary Rose Vasko (set) Gregory M.
Duesterhaus (lights) Pat Jannell (properties) Carl Eisen (sound) Debi Costa
(stage manager). Cast: Mona Brussat, Brandon DeGroat, Lorraine Magee, Lenny
Marsh, Lori Muhlstein. |
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June 13 - 28, 2003
Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? |
Reviewed June 21
Running time 2 hours 25 minutes |
Think Nunsense without the nonsense, You’re A
Good Man, Charlie Brown without the Beagle and Late Night Catechism
without the put downs and you have an idea of the nature of this slight but
fun innocent little musical about the world of Catholic schools. It turns a
bit darker and more serious as it approaches graduation, but its finest
moments are its earliest ones. Dominion Stage has assembled a cast that
varies from fine to really outstanding and has mounted the show with just a
tad too much seriousness, but there are some very satisfying moments
throughout the show.Storyline: The romance of Becky and Eddie from age seven when they meet in
St. Bastion’s School through their deepening affection at neighboring St.
Patrick Bremmer and St. Ann’s High Schools is set against the backdrop of
the discipline of the nuns, the guidance of Father O’Reilly, the
ever-increasing randyness of the boys and the ever-present interest of the
girls. That Becky may have a calling to the vocation of a nun complicates
the progress of their relationship.
Chris Gillespie turns in
one of the strongest leading man performances in a community theater
production of a musical in a long time. This teacher from Wakefield High
School has been watching the kids in his classes -- he’s got the mannerisms,
the awkwardness and the yearning down pat. More importantly, for a musical,
he has a way with a song and the ability to project to a big house. His big
Act Two number, “I Must Be In Love” is excellent. He was good in the Little
Theatre of Alexandria’s Victor/Victoria but he is much better here.
He’s teamed up again with Jill Vohr who was his girlfriend in V/V
and, again, they make a fine team.
The ensemble of girls and
boys features one outstanding performance. Henian Boone has a posture, a
gesture and/or an expression for each moment he’s on the stage. His brief
solo on “Mad Bomber” was good but didn’t match the quality of the work he
delivered in some of the comedy scenes. His body language when chastised by
nuns or reprimanded by the priest and his comic attempt to ask a nun for a
dance (while not wearing the glasses that would have let him see that he had
walked right past the girl of his choice) were highlights of the show.
Director J. Glenn Sartori
mounts the production in a straightforward, narrative style that lets it
plod along when it should skip forward but gets all the important parts
right. (Perhaps that is because he is, as he says, a product of eight years
of Catholic school education.) In the program, the director is actually
listed as the “Principal” as each of the design team’s positions are given
show-specific titles. The costumes of Jen Stein are credited as “Uniforms.”
She apparently decided against the oversized black patent leather shoes that
are specified for the dance at the freshman mixer that opens Act Two. “Choir
Masters” is the title for music directors Michelle Herndon and Jacob Wolfe
Kidder (Kidder leads the three piece band that provides solid support all
evening long). The funniest of the titles is the listing for lighting
designer Jay Stein. He’s credited with providing the “Heavenly Aura.”
Book by John R. Powers
based on his novel. Music and lyrics by James Quinn and Alaric Jans.
Directed by J. Glenn Sartori. Musical direction by Michelle Herndon and
Jacob Wolfe Kidder. Choreography by Elaine Topodas. Design: J. Glenn Sartori
(set) Jen Stein (costumes) Judith Lear Kee (properties) Jay Stein (Heavenly
Aura ... er, lights) J. Glenn Sartori and Carl Eisen (sound) Paul Edwards
(photography) Cecilia A. Casey and Robert Kraus (stage managers). Cast:
Nancy Austin, Henian Boone, Mohcine Dehbi, Stephanie Eiss, Kami Fox, Chris
Gillespie, Julie Ann Hamilton, David Henderson, Lisa McChesney-Kinlaw, Kevin
Petrinjak, Donise Stevens, Jill Vohr, Polina Zhuravlev. |
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October 25 - November 9,
2002
They’re Playing Our Song |
Reviewed October 26, 2002
Running time 2 hours 45 minutes
Price range $11 – $13 |
With all the things that went wrong on the night we attended, it is
difficult to say how good this production will be during its three-week run.
It has the potential to be quite nice because it has a fine score by Marvin
Hamlisch and Carole Bayer Sager, a simple script with a good deal of humor
by Neil Simon and a story that is told simply and sincerely about two
intriguing if somewhat self-centered characters portrayed by two capable
performers. But few of these strengths were able to overcome the technical
problems of the opening weekend.Storyline: A successful composer of
popular songs teams up with an up-and-coming lyricist for a trial
collaboration intended to produce five songs. They become romantically
involved but all is not smooth sailing as he is jealous of her inability to
completely cut off her relationship with her former lover and their
different work habits create tension.
That the central characters are, indeed, self-centered may not be too
surprising given the fact that they are the fictional versions of composer
Hamlisch and lyricist Sager who actually set out to write a Broadway musical
about their own artistic and romantic involvement. To be fair, the accepted
story is not that they asked Neil Simon, author of the musical comedies
Sweet Charity, Little Me and Promises, Promises as well as
countless comedy hits, to write a musical about them but to write one
with them and he came up with the idea of making it about them. This
was Hamlisch’s first score since the phenomenally successful A Chorus
Line. The score he and Sager devised is a mixture of cute light-pop
sounding numbers and a few belt-‘em-out opportunities for the leading lady.
Kristen Jepperson is that leading lady and she sure can belt. She can
also croon a soft, sentimental ballad, as she proved with her version of "If
He Really Knew Me" which she sings cuddled up in a terrycloth robe. Some of
the softer segments of the songs that also called for a big belting voice,
such as "I Still Believe in Love" were lost in the contrast, but it wasn’t
clear if that was the fault of her performance or of the faltering sound
system. The real victim of the sound system, however, was leading man Dan
Harrel who had a microphone that switched on and off without warning,
providing a soft but sufficient amplification one moment, silence the next
and blaring volume the next. Through it all he managed to get the warmth as
well as the quirkiness of his character across.
The set designed by the director, Hans Bachman, looked good but didn’t
work well on opening night. It consisted of two window units, two wall
units, two cabinet units and a door, which could be assembled in different
arrangements to represent six different locations. But the disassembling and
reassembling proved too time consuming, interrupting the flow of the show
and extending the running time beyond the limits of the show’s charm. It is
to be hoped that some of these problems will be solved by the second and
third weekend of the eight-performance run.
Written by Neil Simon. Music by Marvin Hamlisch. Lyrics by Carole
Bayer Sager. Directed and choreographed by Hans Bachman. Music direction by
Elisa Rosman. Design: Hans Bachman (set) Bob Zeigler (lights) Keith Bell and
Bill Wisniewski (sound). Cast: Kristen Jepperson, Dan Herrel, Joanna Franco,
Kay Green, Dipika Jain, Jose Cardoso-Alvarez, Mark Lewis, George Willis. |
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May 24 - June 8, 2002
Laughter on the 23rd Floor
|
Reviewed may 25
Running time 2 hours 15 minutes |
Neil Simon comedies usually surprise audiences because of the emotional
content of the stories and the affectionate portraits of characters that
underline all the funny one-liners. This production of one of his plays
emphasizes the emotion and even affection, but many of the funny lines don’t
land. Some of the strongest of Simon’s output are best when approached this
way but this is not one of Simon’s strongest scripts and it suffers from
stretching the already thin story. On Broadway with top comic stars such as
Nathan Lane, Ron Orbach and Lewis J. Stadlen the laugh-a-minute format could
disguise the thinness of the plot. In this competent but somewhat staid
community theater production, the weakness shines through.Storyline:
The writers of a network comedy show in the early days of television
struggle with twin threats to their success. The network wants to cut back
the show from 90 minutes to one hour with a similar cut in budget and staff.
The political climate of McCarthyism hangs over their heads. Through it all
they joke with each other, trading affectionate and not-so-affectionate
barbs and attempt to write skits for their star – a mixture of some of the
greats that Neil Simon wrote for early in his career such as Sid Caesar,
Phil Silvers and Jackie Gleason.
In the role of the star, Matthew Griffiths shows the insecurity that
seems to be behind the persona of many famous comics, although he doesn’t
manage to be as funny as the role requires. Matthew Hartman has an easier
time of it in the role of the newest member of the writing team, a
personable and easygoing young man who tells the audience what it needs to
know to understand the events of the play while he contributes a gag here
and there. Indeed, he does a very good job in a role that was singled out
for the harshest criticism when the play first appeared in 1993.
The two best constructed supporting roles are given very satisfying
performances by Ron Bianchi and Kim-Scott Miller but two of the most
demanding ones don’t work as well in the hands of Louis Levy as the head
writer with a heavy Jewish accent and dialogue involving the holocaust or
Steve Rosenthal as the hypochondriac who also happens to be the most
consistent contributor to the scripts the team produces for their star.
After directing a number of plays at Springfield Community Theatre
including two of Neil Simon’s earlier plays, J. Glenn Sartori makes his
Dominion Stage directorial debut here providing a steady hand and a clear
focus on storytelling. He has an awfully large set using all of the width of
Gunston’s wide stage which defeats some of the comic delivery. When the
audience can see the exchange between two characters including the set up
and the punch line without looking back and forth, a gag is more likely to
get a laugh. But, as is too often the case here, attention must shift from
one side of the stage to the other and back, complicating timing and
distracting from the element of comic surprise.
Written by Neil Simon. Directed by J. Glenn Sartori. Design: The
Reluctant Designers (set) Carl Eisen (sound) Juan Rodriguez (costumes)
Kendel Taylor (makeup and hair) Judy Kee (properties). Cast: Matthew
Hartman, Matthew Griffiths, Ron Bianchi, Louis Levy, Niall O’Donnell,
Kim-Scott Miller, Antigone Juvelis, Betsy Walter, Steve Rosenthal. |
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April 5 - 20, 2002
She Loves Me
|
Reviewed April 6
Running time 2 hours 35 minutes |
An extraordinarily light touch is required for
this confection of a romance musical which is difficult for most community
theaters to achieve. In the case of Dominion Stage’s production under the
overly heavy hand of director Ellyn Kestnbaum, the charm is turned on and
off depending on just who is center stage at the moment. There are
individual performances of note and there are individual scenes that work,
but the whole thing never seems to come together as it should.
Storyline: The romance and camaraderie among the clerks in a European
perfume shop in the 1930s is set to a tuneful score by Bock and Harnick (Fiddler
on the Roof, Fiorello!) providing both solo spots and ensemble numbers
for the clerks, the shop owner and a chorus of customers. The central story
involves two clerks who are carrying on a courtship by correspondence
without knowing the identity of the other and, thus, not being aware that
each is the others’ "dear friend."
The most consistently satisfying performance comes, appropriately enough,
from the central male character. Dan Herrel sells his songs and is smooth
and believable in his non-singing moments. He does a fine job on the title
song, showing a surprised joy over the discovery that his love loves him.
That love interest is played by Julie Ann Hamilton who sings well but who
over-plays many of her comedy scenes. She is at her best in the second act's
sung monologue, "Vanilla Ice Cream," which calls for a mixture of coloratura
singing, dramatic acting and comedy. She pulls it off very well indeed.
There are two standouts among the supporting characters. Thom Harris,
whose stylishly suave but self centered egotist is just right up until his
final song which is played without the hidden anger that should make his
assurances that it was "Grand Knowing You" so cutting. The much smaller part
of the headwaiter at a restaurant that strives to offer "A Romantic
Atmosphere" gets a sharp performance from Juan Rodriguez. There are also
fine individual moments from Curtis Jones as a clerk whose motto is "do not
lose your job" and Gary Sokola as the shop owner. Both are a bit wooden but
still sell their songs. Ashby Sallenger lets loose as a clerk whose decision
that "I Resolve" to stop being taken in by men in a highlight of the first
act.
With all that going for it, one would expect a delightful show. Instead,
each highlight is punctuated with a lull. There is never a sense of flow to
the show which is surprising from a director with a background in the study
of figure skating. The skating term "using all the ice," and the value
placed on doing so gracefully, would be just the touch needed for this play.
The director isn’t helped much by a set design that is just flats and
counters, and costumes that don’t communicate much about character or time.
The lighting design does differentiate between locations but the switching
on of a misdirected follow spot at the start of each song is annoying and
frequently mood-killing.
Music by Jerry Bock. Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick. Book by Joe Masteroff
based on the play "The Shop Aournd the Corner". Directed by Ellyn Kestnbaum.
Musical Direction by Elisa Rosman. Choreography by Ellyn Kestnbaum and Thom
Harris. Design: Christopher Wright (set and lights) Bob Hickey (sound) Mary
Beth Smith-Toomey (costume coordination.) Cast: Dan Herrel, Julie Ann
Hamiltron, Thom Harris, Ashby Sallenger, Curtis Jones, Justin Latus, Gary
Sokola, Juan Rodriguez, Nancy Austin, Janice Dionne, Susan Novack, Betsy
Walter. |
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January 25 - February 9, 2002
The Caine Mutiny Court Martial
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Reviewed February 1
Running time 2 hours 25 minutes |
This mounting of Herman Wouk’s World War II courtroom drama is solid and
substantial in practically every respect: its well-balanced cast performs
under the well-conceived approach of a veteran director. The result is an
absorbing evening.Storyline: Six months before the end of World War II
the executive officer of a U S Navy ship is tried on charges akin to mutiny
for relieving the ship’s captain and assuming command during a typhoon.
Herman Woulk won the 1951 Pulitzer Prize for his novel "The Cain Mutiny."
Two years later he turned the climactic court-martial portion of the novel
into this play. He kept it true to both the novel and to the regulations of
military courts. This gives it a fascinating feel of authenticity which
Director Bruce Folmer exploits in his no-nonsense, highly realistic staging.
Act one presents the case for the prosecution with only the slightest
pre-trial banter to set up the characters of the accused and his attorney.
Act two presents the defense with a final epilogue-like scene to wrap up any
loose ends.
Three of the four main characters are given forthright performances by
actors who, for the most part, avoid excesses of mannerism or inflection.
Michael Sherman shows his torment over what he finds to be a distasteful
duty defending the accused without over doing it. Bernie Engle has a few
overly theatrical shrugs and scowls as the presiding officer but manages to
make this character’s control over the proceedings a force in the delivery
of the story. Ron Field is perhaps the most impressive of the three for the
gradual disintegration of his character, the deposed captain. This is the
part played in the movie version of the novel by Humphrey Bogart in a
performance so memorable that it is difficult for an actor to approach the
part afresh. Field doesn’t imitate Bogart. Instead, he creates his own view
of "Captain Queeg." Only Hanz Dettmar, as the accused, seems to over-do some
of his character’s quirks.
Frank Pitts’ courtroom set is impressive even if it is a bit out of
kilter. The members of the court are represented by wooden cut-outs above a
forced-perspective, off center bench that gives just the right feeling of
authority. The witness chair is the focal point of it all just as the
testimony of witnesses is the focal point of the play. But it is set so far
forward that the witness must swivel to look at the questioner. Les Zidel’s
lighting design is similarly solid in the action areas and it silhouettes
everything before a rear wall lit in green. The overall feel of the staging
is solid and substantial.
Written by Herman Woulk. Directed by Bruce Follmer. Design: Frank
Pitts (set) Les Zidel (lights) Val Nelson (costumes) Bob Hickey (sound).
Cast: Michael Sherman, Ron Field, Bernie Engle, Hans Dettmar, Ken Kemp,
Andrew Schneider, Nano Gowland, Drew Gulino, Charles Palmer, Rubert Nuss,
Charles G. Starrs, Ashley Gowland, Dennis Corben. |
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