- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 

Running time 2:15 - no intermission
A revival of a charming fable set to lovely music
Click here to buy the CD

Storyline: A young orphan girl arrives at a traveling carnival expecting to be welcomed by her late father's good friend, only to find that he, too, has died. She is still taken in by the company and falls under the spell of a smarmy magician, while at the same time, a crippled puppeteer finds himself attracted to her. He's only able to express his interest, however, through his puppets.

Robert Longbottom, who directed the original of Side Show, the revival of Flower Drum Song and the reduced The Scarlet Pimpernel on Broadway directs this new  Kennedy Center's production which Peter Marks in the Washington Post said had a budget of $4 million. Longbottom is a talented choreographer, which he proves here with some fine dance sequences. As a director, however, he seems to have a taste for reduction and he may well have gone too far in reducing this fragile concoction which worked so well in its original version. (The 1961 production ran nearly two years and won Anna Maria Alberghetti a Tony Award for her work as the orphan girl.) The two-act original has been reduced to one lengthy act and in the streamlining, the depth of both starring parts seems to have suffered. The basic information about their histories may be told but not to the extent that you fully understand and empathize. This is particularly damaging for the role of the puppeteer whose inability to communicate (except through his puppets) is at the core of the story. Jim Stanek never makes us understand the depth of the psychic scars he carries from the loss of his dreams in the accident that left him with a limp - the limp itself isn't enough to make us care. Similarly, Ereni Sevasti doesn't really get to the heart of the orphan's need for affection or the naivety that has her talking to the puppets and not the puppeteer.

Coming after New Girl in Town and Take Me Along, this was clearly Bob Merrill's greatest score as both composer and lyricist. Later he wrote lyrics only for Funny Girl and then suffered a major flop when producer David Merrick closed Breakfast at Tiffany's before opening night rather than, as he said, "subject the drama critics and the public to an excruciatingly boring evening." It features songs like "Love Makes The World Go 'Round" (originally just known as "The Theme from Carnival,") the emphatic "Her Face," the touching "Mira," the stirring "Grand Imperial Cirque De Paris" and the light and lively "A Very Nice Man" - oh, never mind that last one. They cut it for this abbreviated  version.

Longbottom's reductionism even extends to design. He has set designer Andrew Jackness using rolling set pieces assembled in multiple configurations. Jackness uses great colors and fanciful shapes as well as a fabulous rear-wall drop of an ominous sky, but the stage somehow never seems full. Paul Tazewell's brightly colored costumes and Ed Christie's delightful puppets shine under Ken Billington's luminous illumination. And then there's the orchestra. Did I mention the orchestra? Go, and listen.

Music and lyrics by Bob Merrill. Book by Michael Stewart revised by Francine Pascal. Based on material by Helen Deutsch. Directed and choreographed by Robert Longbottom. Music direction by David Chase. Magic and illusions by Joe Eddie Fairchild. Design: Andrew Jackness (set) Paul Tazewell (costumes) Angelina Avallone (makeup) Charles LaPointe (hair) Ed Christie (puppets) Ken Billington (lights) Kurt Fischer (sound) Joan Marcus (photography) Shari Silberglitt (stage manager). Cast: Michael Arnold, Matt Baker, Alan Bennett, Elisabeth Page Carpenter, Laura Anne Carpenter, Natascia Diaz, Jazmin Gorsline, Johnathan Lee Iverson, Sarah Lin Johnson, Amanda Kloots, Sebastian La Cause, Adam Laird, Denis Lambert, Sean McKnight, Nanette Michele, Koh Mochizuki, Mike Mosallam, Lance Olds, Jillian Owens, Lauren Pastorek, Krista Saab, Chad L. Schiro, Christopher Sergeeff, Ereni Sevasti, Tara Siesener, Jim Stanek, Steven Wenslawski, Rebecca Young. 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 

Running time 2:30 - two intermissions
t A Potomac Stages Pick for smashing performances in a superbly constructed play
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: An English professor at a small New England college and his wife, the daughter of the college’s president, return from a faculty party. He is displeased to learn that she has invited a new young professor and his wife back for after-party drinks. After all, it is 2 a.m.  They bicker and fight, inflicting pain and suffering as if that were the only way they can make any kind of personal connection with each other. All through the night they get angrier, and meaner and the guests are dragged into the struggle.

The word "masterpiece" is often misused in discussion of works of art but it is most definitely appropriate here, for this is not only a play in which Edward Albee displays the skills of a master playwright, it is the play that established his reputation. It was his first play to be produced on Broadway and it earned him his first Tony award (he went on to earn two more as well as three Pulitzer Prizes). This revival proves not only that the recognition was not a fluke, the success wasn't just a matter of a play fitting its time, but was a reflection of a certain timelessness. The key characters, George and Martha, are somehow universal and their flaws universally fascinating. Neither is a person you would chose to add to your real life circle of acquaintances, but, then, neither is Hamlet and we go to see him on stage when done well.

Irwin and Turner create two fascinating individuals and one incandescent couple. Of the two individuals, Irwin's is the most impressive performance because he manages to make the milquetoast George both understandable and somehow sympathetic without crossing over the line to completely pathetic. In the sharp sense of humor of his character he finds the outlet for both intellect and emotion of the human being within the henpecked and emotionally abused husband. Deep down within there still beats a human heart. Turner's Martha, on the other hand, has only hurt deep within. As impressive as each individual character creation is, however, it is the way the two spark each other, creating a shared persona as a couple that really sets this production apart.

Years in the future, when you remember this production, it will be Irwin and Turner you remember. But while watching it, you will be impressed as well by the all the support that they get. Kathleen Early is refreshingly sharp as the new young faculty wife. David Furr gives a thoughtful reading to the role of her husband.

Written by Edward Albee. Directed by Anthony Page. Fight direction by Rick Sordelet. Design: John Lee Beatty (set) Jane Greenwood (costumes) Peter Kaczorowski (lights) Mark Bennett and Michael Creason (sound) Carol Rosegg (photography) Susie Cordon (stage manager). Cast: Kathleen Early, David Furr, Bill Irwin, Kathleen Turner.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 

t A Potomac Stages Pick for intelligent, emotional drama
Running time 1:35 - no intermission
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: In a hot and humid, non air conditioned jury room in New York in the 1950s, an all male jury deliberates over the fate of a teenager accused of killing his father. At the start, they are split eleven for guilty and one lone juror raising reasonable doubts.

There are lots of whodunits and quite a few courtroom dramas, but a jury play is a rarity. That's a mystery since this, the most successful and most famous of the extremely unusual genre (go ahead, try to think of another one) is so successful it seems that it would have stimulated a flood of imitations. Maybe a lot of playwrights tried it since it looks like it should be so easy, only to find that its awfully hard to give life to a single-location and single topic argument. It began life on September 20, 1954 on CBS Television when Studio One telecast the play by Reginald Rose who had, himself, served on a manslaughter jury and based the teleplay on his own experience. It was later made into a movie with Henry Fonda as the juror with doubts.

A strong ensemble piece, the juror with doubts is the key, and in the hands of Richard Thomas, the chemistry works well. He's such an intelligent actor. His body and his face seem to reflect his thought process and he seems to think of his lines as he speaks them. With colleagues like the eleven others in the jury room, that process can be fascinating. The key is that Thomas doesn't hog the spotlight. Indeed, for much of the early going, he plays most of the time with his back to the audience addressing his fellow jurors. George Wendt is the best known of the other jurors - he's a fine jury foreman and his frustration over the unruly debate contrasts with his sense of the importance of the jury's duty to explore all factors. Most notable among the debating men are those most stridently anxious to convict, Randle Mell as the father whose problem with his own son flavors his interpretation of the crime, Julian Gamble as a big, loud bigot and Mark Morettini as the baseball fan who will go either way just as long as the verdict comes down in time for him to get to the game. There's lovely work from Jeffrey Hayenga as the least emotional weigher of the evidence, David Lively as the immigrant juror, Alan Mandell as the elderly one.

The single, highly naturalistic set creates the feel of confinement even as it stretches across the Eisenhower's broad stage with windows on the right shining late afternoon light into the drab room, a fan that isn't working and florescent light fixtures hanging over the long jury table. (Actually its two tables shoved together in a nice touch - obviously, this courthouse wasn't supplied with custom made tables for its jury rooms.) The audience enters to see the set on the stage, violating what should be a cardinal rule of theater: never dispense with a curtain. Not only does it rob the audience of that valuable moment when the world outside yields to the world on stage, it lets critics examine the space at close range and notice things like the Kleenex box with a design not yet adopted in the 1950s.

Written by Reginald Rose. Directed by Scott Ellis. Design: Allen Moyer (set) Michael Krass (costumes) Paul Palazzo (lights) Brian Ronan (sound) John Gromada (original music) Rick Sordelet (fight direction) Joan Marcus (photography) Paul J. Smith (stage manager). Cast: Charles Borland, Todd Cerveris, T. Scott Cunningham, Julian Gamble, Jeffrey Hayenga, David Lively, Randle Mell, Alan Mandell, Mark Morettini, Patrick New, Jim Saltouros, Richard Thomas, George Wendt, and the voice of Robert Prosky.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 

Running time 2:30 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for a sparkling revival of Jerry Herman's classic from Broadway's Golden Age
Click here to buy the CD

Storyline: A musical version of Patrick Dennis’ story which tells of a free thinking, fun loving and innocently eccentric woman who suddenly must raise her nephew who was orphaned at age twelve. In raising the boy she wants to teach him all about the world and the wonder of living life to the fullest, but she learns some important lessons about love and responsibility from him.

This has been quite a week for Eric Schaeffer. The kids show he directed for a national tour (Barbie in Fairytopia) opened its first stay in the Potomac Region - a four day stay at the Hippodrome in Baltimore. His home theatre, the Signature in Arlington, extended their production of Assassins even before opening night because it was almost completely sold out. And this smashing production of Mame, which has already sold out sixteen of the remaining 35 scheduled performances, brought Jerry Herman and everyone else in the packed Eisenhower Theater to their feet on opening night. While the Kennedy Center deserves kudos for providing all the resources he could possibly require for a successful revival of this massive musical, it is to his credit that it never seems weighed down. It remains light and lively throughout -- except for that one moment when light and lively would be all wrong: the big "If He Walked Into My Life" torch song solo for Mame in the second act. Then he brings the scale down to exquisite solitude for his star to shine. There's talk of a possible transfer to Broadway where the Palace Theatre has just became available due to the rapid failure of another vampire musical, Lestat. This production would feel right at home in that historic house which hosted Herman's hit La Cage Aux Folles (as well as his flop The Grand Tour).

Walt Spangler's mile-high set for Mame's living room features a rotating staircase that various members of the cast ascend and descend in a variety of ways -- everything from Baranski's regal entrance to Skinner's sliding down the banister. The southern mansion set for the finale of the first act is a Tara-wannabe of just the right pretension, while the farm  where choreographer Warren Carlyle lets Baranski really let loose on a swing number, "That's How Young I Feel," is a simple backdrop of the wide-open spaces of Connecticut. The real visual spectacle here, however, is in the costumes by Gregg Barnes, especially the seemingly endless supply of striking outfits for the star of the show whose dancer-thin body is just right to display creation after creation of haute couture of the 20s and 30s.

The program lists 22 members of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra but there were 26 chairs in the pit on opening night. Whatever the count, the sound of this orchestra in full swing on "Mame," "It's Today," "We Need A Little Christmas" and both the overture and the entr'Acte is musical theater heaven. Under the direction of James Moore, their smooth support for "Bosom Buddies" is a demonstration of how to fill in under a comic duet, the swing of "That's How Young I Feel" is brass and reed intensive and the blaring trumpet of the overture is to die for. The sound is a tribute to the quality of the original orchestrations by Philip J. Lang which apparently are used almost in their entirety. The pit isn't the only place the Kennedy Center has given the production the size of forces reminiscent of the golden age of Broadway rather than the current trend where revivals are frequently slim pickings - this year's revival of Sweeney Todd has a cast of 11, each of whom must also play an instrument because there isn't an orchestra at all! Here, not only is the orchestra full and fabulous, the twenty-four cast members who play characters with names is supported by an additional nine unnamed members of the ensemble. When they all get on stage while the orchestra breaks into full force on the title number you feel the true pulse of musical theater.

Music and Lyrics by Jerry Herman. Book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. Directed by Eric Schaeffer. Choreographed by Warren Carlyle. Music direction by James Moore. Design: Walt Spangler (set) Gregg Barnes (costumes) Jeffrey Frank (wigs and hair) Ken Billington (lights) Peter Hylenski (sound) Joan Marcus (photography) Shari Silberglitt (stage manager).  Principal cast: Christine Baranski, Shane Braddock, Michael Buchanan, Harrison Chad, Alison Cimmet, Ed Dixon, Parker Esse, Sarah Jane Everman, Michael L. Forrest, Ruth Gottschall, Harriet Harris, Clark Johnsen, Ethan Langsdorf-Willoughby, Melissa Rae Mahon, Jeff McCarthy, Alan Muraoka, Joe Paparella, James Patterson, Tory Ross, Chad L. Schiro, Emily Skinner, Mary Stout, Max von Essen, Harry A. Winter. Additional ensemble: Jeremy Benton, Susan Derry, Suzanne Hylenski, Megan Hart Jimenez, Dennis Kenney, Kelly Kohnert, Sean McKnight, Kiira Schmidt, Laura E. Taylor.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 

Reviewed April 20
Part I running time: 3:00 - one intermission
Part II running time: 3:10 - one intermission
A highly entertaining and often bawdy presentation that goes on just a bit too long
Click here to buy the book in original spelling
Click here to buy the book in modern translation

Storyline: As people of all classes make a pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint Thomas à Becket in Canterbury in the late fourteenth century, they amuse each other by telling tales, each trying to outdo the others with an elaborate story with a moral. Chaucer completed twenty-six tales most of which are acted out by the troupe with a minimum of sets or properties but with a maximum of theatrical ingenuity.

There are three directors listed in the program but just who directed which tale is not revealed. It seems to make a difference, however. Part I is brimming with directorial touches of note with a swirling movement of the cast over the stage in the crowd scenes, fluid transitions, some very impressive visual effects and a bright sense of whimsy. The travelers are at times astride stick-horses, one traveler carries a dog that is an ingeniously operated puppet, a joust is staged with massive horse costumes and stilts and there is a thrillingly choreographed sword fight. Part II, on the other hand, seems to be filled with, well, more of the same. More puppetry is well done and the addition of shadow effects is a nice touch. But the basic structure of the piece has settled in early in Part I and Part II's most distinguishing feature is that it contains "The Wife of Bath's Tale." It and "The Miller's Tale" are probably the two most familiar. The company puts "The Miller's Tale" in Part I.

The same cast performs both Parts. As can be expected of the Royal Shakespeare Company, it is a cast of distinction with strong classical acting skills. Mark Hadfield is the narrator, Chaucer himself. In the introduction in Part I he blends the meter of Chaucer's Old English with more modern vocabulary, establishing the sound of the piece which is easy on modern ears. He also breaks that mood at times to very good effect. His Part II opening bit is to turn the prelude to "Chaucer's Tale of Sir Thopas," the only tale that Chaucer wrote as if he himself was the storyteller, into a very funny rap song. The director carries the gag on a bit too long, however.

With a cast of twenty it is difficult to single out the most notable but Nick Barber and Daon Broni are the active, virile youths (they are the ones engaged in the well-staged sword fight), Michael Jibson is a more humorous youth and Claire Benedict makes a delightful Wife of Bath. Music and song are an important part of the show and four musicians are off stage (until the curtain call) providing atmospheric backup not just to the rap song, but to the roisterous revelry and the more tender ballads.

Written by Geoffrey Chaucer. Adapted by Mike Poulton. Directed by Gregory Doran, Rebecca Gatward and Jonathan Munby. Music composed by Adrian Lee. Music direction by Sylvia Hallett. Movement by Michael Ashcroft. Fight direction by Terry King.  Design: Michael Vale (set and costumes) Wayne Dowdeswell (lights) Jeremy Dunn (sound)  Stewart Hemley (photography (c) RSC) Ben Delfont (production stage manager) Elaine M. Randolph (U.S. stage manager). Cast: Nick Barber, Claire Benedict, Daon Broni, Dylan Charles, Paola Dionisotti, Lisa Ellis, Christopher Godwin, Mark Hadfield, Michael Hadley, Anna Hewson, Edward Hughes, Michael Jibson, Michael Matus, Barry McCarthy, Chu Omambala, Ian Pirie, Joshua Richards, Christopher Saul, Katherine Tozer, Darren Tunstall. Musicians: Sarah Balls, Max Gittings, Sylvia Hallett, Jan Hendrickse.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 

Reviewed January 13
Running time 2:05 - one intermission
An interesting look at the 1940's viewed from the 1960's
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: A soldier returns from the battlefields of World War II to the West Bronx apartment where he grew up with his parents who spent most of the war keeping their marriage together by ignoring each other. Father and son go to a ball game together, when they come home the son has brought a bunch of roses for his mother, just as his father used to do when the marriage was strong and healthy. She believes they are from the father but soon learns the truth as the only passion the pair seem able to share is anger.

Often, when people complain that a piece is "dated" it seems as if a work of art being of its time is a crime. Nothing could be farther from the truth. But it is difficult to stage a thoroughly satisfying revival of a play that is so much of its time that it works best only when the audience brings into the theater certain shared emotional baggage that the playwright attempts to touch. A truly timeless great work like Arthur Miller's All My Sons provides in the text all the basic experiences needed for even an audience that didn't experience World War II to connect with the emotional turmoil in the family being portrayed. Not so this 1960's look back at the 1945 post-war environment about which Gilroy was writing. He presumed, rightly we are to believe from the success of the play, that an audience filled with people who were either old enough to have been parents of the soldiers of World War II or were the returning soldiers themselves didn't need clues to the attitudes that would have filled these character's lives. Audiences in the twentieth-first century don't bring that emotional resource into the theater, and neither Gilroy's script nor Foglia's direction manage to make up for the lack.

This is not to say that there isn't an interesting story going on on stage, nor that the performances lack power. They do the best with what they've got and that is quite good, indeed. Bill Pullman is angst-ridden as the husband and father who can't connect with his own family. Judith Ivey is brittle and sharp as the wife scarred by years of deceit and disappointment, and Steve Kazee is virile and strong as the returning son. They go through their paces with skill, good taste and refreshingly unaffected naturalistic technique that is a match for the tone and approach of the author. The result is, as it is supposed to be, very much one of eavesdropping on strangers at the dramatic climax of their lives together.

The set matches that naturalistic feel even as it stretches across the wide expanse of the Eisenhower stage. Two rooms of an apparently four room apartment are behind an external wall of windows that serves as the show curtain. Before and between acts the cast can be seen going about their lives through those windows. Then the entire wall flies up to reveal the kitchen and living room. Donald Holder's beautiful lighting transcends naturalism to create a super-realism which is marvelous. Indeed, the visual impact of some scenes may linger in memory longer than the performances. The entire package is a tasteful, memorable look at a rarely seen but important work from the 1960s.

Written by Frank D. Gilroy. Directed by Leonard Foglia. Fight direction by Rick Sordelet. Design: Neil Patel (set) Jess Goldstein (costumes) Donald Holder (lights) David Van Tieghem (sound), Katherine Lee Boyer (stage manager). Cast:  Judith Ivey, Steve Kazee, Bill Pullman.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 

Reviewed June 29
Running time 2:00 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for Affectionate Humor
 and Rock Solid Performances

Storyline: A day in the life of small town Tuna, Texas. In this case, the day is the Fourth of July and the big question is "who will be elected Queen of the High School Reunion?" It begins as every day does with the farm report on 275 watt WKKK radio. There's Bertha Bumiller fixing breakfast for her children, the oh-so-pregnant daughter and the newly prominent artist son who made his mark painting road kill. Petey Fisk is delivering public service announcements for the humane society and the smut snatchers are working to get dirty words excised from the hymns sung at church. But the big cliff hanger is whether Bertha and Arles will finally get married. Did we mention that RR Snavely returns from his 1,999 day adventure as a prisoner on a UFO?

Written by Joe Sears, Jaston Williams and Ed Howard. Directed by Ed Howard. Design: Kevin Rupnik (set) Linda Fisher (costumes) Root Choyce (lights) Ken Huncovsky (sound) David M. Allen (photography) Robert Tolaro (stage manager). Cast: Joe Sears, Jaston Williams.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 

Reviewed March 17
Running time 1:50 - one intermission
A satisfying, substantial revival
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: In the last days of World War II, the crew of an insignificant cargo craft that sailed “from tedium to apathy and back again” in the “safe areas” of the Pacific are shielded from the worst of their incompetent Captain’s abuse of power by the one officer aboard who they can admire, Mr. Roberts. Unbeknownst to them, he gives in to the Captain’s demand that he cease his efforts to be transferred in exchange for granting the men their first liberty in over a year.

Heggen and Logan titled their piece after its central character, the cargo officer who is the first (and for a time, the last) line of defense between the crew and the captain. Rather than search for a big name star with a strong persona to try to compete with the memory of the role's originator, Henry Fonda, Longbottom has entrusted that role, and the entire production for that matter, on relative unknown Michael Dempsey. It was a gutsy call and it pays off, sort of. He has the clean cut manliness and the aw-shucks self depreciating charm the part requires, but, while he flies fairly high, he doesn't quite soar in those critical moments where Mr. Roberts hits his emotional peaks - the final confrontation with the captain staged behind closed doors but heard through the ship's public address system, and the moment when his friend Doc gets him to recognize how much he means to the crew and how much they mean to him.

Frank Deal creates a fine portrait of the strutting martinet of a Captain, a merchant mariner mobilized for the war effort who knows that command of a cargo scow is as high as he'll ever rise, but insists that it is a magnificent cap to a notable career and who hates anyone or anything that might expose the myth of his pretension. Hunter Foster, stepping off the musical stage for a while (yes, he's the Hunter Foster who sang his way from Urinetown to the Little Shop of Horrors on Broadway) is a kick as Ensign Pulver, the ship's laundry and morale officer whose presence on the ship comes as a surprise to the Captain even though he's been aboard for fourteen months. When he finally discovers his backbone after a career of avoiding confrontation, it is a defining moment for the play and a great deal of fun to watch.

The elements of the production which make the most impression, however, are the sailors in the ship's crew and the ship itself. The sailors, a frustrated bunch who haven't had a shore liberty in ages, have bonded into a unit relying on each other for at least some understanding of their troubles. The thirteen actors with named parts as enlisted men in the crew (including the impressive presence of Jim Zidar as their Chief) as well as the five doubling as simply "Seaman" create just such a unit and the believability of their camaraderie is really what makes the show work. That, and a towering realistic set of the deck of the USS Reluctant.

Written by Thomas Heggen and Joshua Logan based on Heggen’s novel. Directed by Robert Longbottom. Design: Andrew Jackness (set) Suzy Benzinger (costumes) Brad Waller (fight choreography) Ken Billington (lights) John Gromada (sound)  Joan Marcus (photography) Lloyd Davis, Jr. (stage manager). Cast: Field Blauvelt, Clinton Brandhagen, Jeff Cusimano, Frank Deal, Michael Dempsey, Ted Feldman, Hunter Foster, Andrew Honeycutt, Beth Hylton, David Johnson, Nehal Joshi, Stephen Kunken, Robert Michael McClure, Thomas Nunan, Kip Pierson, Michael Vitaly Sazonov, Todd Scofield, Stephen Thomas, Jacob Michael Thornhill, Timothy Warmen, Peter Wylie, Jim Zidar.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 

Reviewed October 2
Running time 2:20 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for
James Earl Jones' performance
Click here to buy the Script

Storyline: An irascible retired professor and his wife spend their 48th summer in their house in the woods on Golden Pond in Maine, well aware that his health is fading and that this may be their final summer in the house which has seen so much of their personal history. Their divorced daughter comes to visit, bringing the new man in her life and his 13 year old son. The daughter and her new man go off on a trip together which turns out to be their wedding trip, leaving the boy behind who establishes a bond with the professor that rejuvenates him, giving the couple reason to look forward to whatever time health allows them to still have.

When it was first announced that James Earl Jones would appear with a well known and highly regarded co-star in this warmly human comic drama, it was widely assumed it would be a night to remember. When it was announced that the well known, highly regarded Diahann Carroll had to drop out due to an injury, and that she would be replaced by the equally well known, highly regarded Leslie Uggams, it would be mind boggling to think that a single patron might ask for a refund. Ms. Uggams does a fine job, but nothing she could do would keep this from being Jones' show. With only one week of rehearsal, she turns in a clean, clear and crisp performance that is the mark of a true "pro." It would be interesting to see just how her performance will have deepened by the end of the short run.

The supporting cast is just as strong as it needs to be to hold its own with Jones on the stage. Peter Francis James is a nice foil for Jones in the prototypical "suitor meets future father-in-law" scene which has more zingers for Jones' character per minute of stage time than any other scene in the play. James even manages to summon the backbone needed to assert his intention to sleep with his intended, delivering a number of straight lines for Jones to punch with a blend of pizzazz and aplomb. The best of the bunch is young Alexander Mitchell, fresh from his Broadway work on A Raisin In The Sun. He seems to have the talent and determination to make a go of this business which means that fifty years from now he can regale his colleagues and fans with stories of how he once shared the stage with James Earl Jones. He won't be prevaricating when he says he managed to hold his own.

That stage, by the way, is a lovely set designed by Ray Klausen with a backdrop of Golden Pond itself. (Just what we were to read into the fact that the backdrop was contained in a frame is not for this reviewer to say. Let each member of the audience ponder it on his or her own!) That backdrop, as lit by Brian Nason, shimmers and ripples with the currents on the pond while clouds waft over the surrounding wooded hills and the moon comes out at key moments. Dan Moses Schreier provides original music as lush and lovely as the score of a movie while adding the sound of a loon at just the moments specified in the script. All of the loveliness of the physical production, however, is simply an effort to avoid being totally eclipsed by James Earl Jones. The effort is successful enough to get through the evening but few, if any, members of the audience will recall anything but Jones' fabulous performance in a week or two. 

Written by Ernest Thompson. Directed by Leonard Foglia. Design: Ray Klausen (set) Jane Greenwood (costumes) Brian Nason (lights) Dan Moses Schreier (original music and sound) Scott Suchman (photography) Kelley Kirkpatrick (stage manager). Cast: Craig Bockhorn, Peter Francis James, James Earl Jones, Alexander Mitchell, Linda Powell, Leslie Uggams.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 

Reviewed July 22
Running time 2:35 - one intermission
Winner of the Usher's Favorite Show Award for July, 2004
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: Genteel Amanda has been abandoned by her husband and disappointed by her grown offspring. Her daughter is slightly crippled physically but severely crippled emotionally while her son, the breadwinner of the household, longs to get out of the house and out from under her stifling control. She places enormous importance on an otherwise meaningless event when her son brings a co-worker home to dinner. With her expectations unreasonably high, the failure of the evening is too much for her to bear.

From the moment of Field's entrance it is quite clear that she could dominate the stage, taking the evening out of the hands of her colleagues, but that she has no intention of pulling such star-billing rank. Instead, she rapidly establishes a rapport, first with Harner whose character has already been very well established in his introductory narration, and then with Jennifer Dundas, who plays her daughter, a character of seemingly paper-thin significance to match her sense of self worth but one that, in Dundas' hands emerges slowly.

Director Gregory Mosher approaches the play as two interlocking parts. One part is the story of Amanda's relationship with her children which is at the hear of the piece. The other, however, is the story of the daughter and her lack of a relationship with the co-worker her brother brings home for dinner. It is telling that he is identified in the cast of characters as simply the "Gentleman Caller" when the dialogue gives his full name as Jim O'Connor, for it is as the "Gentleman Caller" that he is important in the story of Amanda, while it is as Jim O'Connor that he is important in the story of her daughter, Laura. Identify him as you will, the performance of Corey Brill in the role is bright, sharp and has just the right touch of humor.

The visual impact of the production is marvelous. John Lee Beatty's fully detailed two-rooms of the family's home is flanked by stairs and fire escapes making its status as a tenement quite clear, while surrounding the entire structure with the skyline of St. Louis and the dance-hall across the street from which wafts John Gromada's sounds of a dance band (was that a hint of the theme from Picnic at one point?). Jane Greenwood's costumes are just right for time, place, economic fortunes and social pretensions. Only in the rather over-done gimmick of having the portrait of Amanda's absent husband change, as if it were a slide show, did the design distract.

Written by Tennessee Williams. Directed by Gregory Mosher. Design: John Lee Beatty (set) Jane Greenwood (costumes) Tom Watson (wigs and hair) Aaron Copp (lights) John Gromada (original music and sound) Joan Marcus (photographer) Jeanette Buck (stage manager). Cast: Corey Brill, Jennifer Dundas, Sally Field, Jason Butler Harner.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 

Reviewed June 17
Running time 3:05 - two intermissions
t A Potomac Stages Pick for superb acting
in a classic of the American stage
Click here to buy the Script

Storyline: The cat of the title is Maggie, the childless wife of Brick, the youngest son of Big Daddy whose family has gathered to get the results of Big Daddy’s cancer exam. Brick, a former athletic star in school has turned to drink and their marriage has degenerated into a sham for reasons partially revealed during the play. The marriage of Big Daddy and his wife Big Mamma has been a cruel sham for a long time.

The first of three acts belongs to Mary Stuart Masterson who, as Maggie, burns with a passion and sense of desperation in the face of her husband's passionless degeneration and neglect. Masterson masters the trick required by Williams stage directions in which he says "her voice is both rapid and drawling . . . always continuing a little beyond her breath so she has to gasp for another." She uses this seeming idiosyncrasy as a spring board for demonstrating the unique mixture of  regret, passion, pride and love that makes Maggie such a compelling character. The depth of feeling established in her first act gives her the basis for the strength she demonstrates in the climax. She plays most of her scenes with Jeremy Davidson as the disconsolate inebriate Brick, who drinks to get to the point where he hears the "click" in his head that signals release from the pain of memory. The role of Brick is always a difficult one for so much of it is played in support for either Cat or Big Daddy but Davidson makes it a solid presence throughout the entire play.

After Masterson's first act, the rest of the play belongs to George Grizzard as Big Daddy. From the moment he first strides on stage early in Act II his growl is a force to be feared, and he is the power in this typically Williams-ish dysfunctional family. He commands the space around him, dictating everyone else's place in the cosmos simply by force of will. Only Davidson's Brick seems partially immune from his total domination. Since Brick doesn't want anything from Big Daddy he's free to say what he thinks and feels, even if he is trying to avoid thinking or feeling at all. Big Daddy's dismissive contempt for Big Mamma comes across loud and clear from Grizzard, but Dana Ivey's take on Big Mamma waivers after an impressive first scene. She gets more out of the line about "a marriage on the rocks" than any I've seen, but it sets up a too strong willed matriarch to make her relationship with her husband consistent over the course of the play. Finally, Grizard's scream of emotional agony when he realizes the truth of the diagnosis of cancer is the kind of moment that sends chills down your spine, and his exit is a superb mixture of resignation and resolve.

Lamos' direction is a lesson in clarity, imposing a solid sense of storytelling on all the forces involved but avoiding any distracting excesses. Emily Skinner and T. Scott Cunningham benefit most from this clarity as their smaller roles as Big Daddy's other son and his ever-pregnant wife are given telling moments of their own which blend into the story rather than standing out as exceptions to the central narrative. John Lee Beatty's gorgeous bedroom set and Jane Greenwood's elegantly right costumes complete the sense of place, while John Gromada's soundscape draws the audience into the world of Big Daddy, especially during the storm sequence when the forces of nature outside are matched only by the force of Big Daddy's will inside the house.

Written by Tennessee Williams. Directed by Mark Lamos. Design: John Lee Beatty (set) Jane Greenwood (costumes) Tom Watson (hair and wigs) Brad Waller (fight choreography) Howell Binkley (lights) John Gromada (sound) Joan Marcus (photography) Elaine M. Randolph (stage manager). Cast: T. Scott Cunningham, Jeremy Davidson, Aakhu TuahNera Freeman, George Grizzard, Lexi Haddad, M. Justin Hancock, Dana Ivey, Mary Stuart Masterson, Nathan Pratt, Caitlin Redding, Brian Reddy, Emily Skinner, Erin Elizabeth Wall, Jeorge Watson, Harry A. Winter.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 

Reviewed May 13
Running time 3 hours 5 minutes
Winner of the Usher's Favorite Show Award for May, 2004

Storyline: After having lost the family estate and her welcome in the small Mississippi town of her birth, fragile Blanche DuBois has no place to turn for sanctuary other than her younger sister's home in New Orleans. When she arrives she's shocked to find her sister's home is a rundown one-room flat where she lives with her decidedly blue collar, rough-around-the-edges husband. As she spends a summer on the couch she's stripped of her remaining pretensions of gentility and even sanity.  

Every production of Streetcar rises or falls on the performance of its Blanche. Here Patricia Clarkson creates a super-fragile Blanche DuBoise with a marvelously effective first act. When her Blanche first arrives she is all but exhausted by the journey to New Orleans and all but destroyed by the realization of her sister's living conditions. Clarkson pulls a neat trick by having her character gain strength after a bit of a rest and a chance to absorb the shock. This momentary blip in the steady decline throughout the evening gives Clarkson a higher peak from which to launch her character's ultimate fall. It works beautifully until the middle of the second act when there is no matching blip from the early stages of her flirtation with her brother-in-law's poker buddy, played with restraint by Noah Emmerich. She continues her decline without much variation but with a sense of inevitability that is nearly hypnotic.

Adam Rothenberg's take on brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski is a bit long on charm and short on carnal animalism, making the fascination he holds for both Amy Ryan as his wife and Clarkson as Blanche seem driven more by the playwright's decisions than by the characters' emotions. With Ryan to play against, he makes clear his primal need for his wife, symbolized by the famous wail of "Stella!" which draws her back into his arms even after abuse. Still, the fateful combination of attraction, suspicion and loathing between him and Blanche never approaches the sexual intensity it needs. Of the four principals it is Ryan who gives the most satisfying performance capturing both Stella's reliance on her husband and her devotion to her sister. 

Jane Greenwood's costumes are so spot-on, so illustrative of time, place and character and so natural - right down to the attention to the scuffs on the shoes - that the illusion is complete. Scott Lehrer's soundscape is at times breathtakingly appropriate ,not only with its echoey jazz wafting up from beyond the windows of the apartment but in the sounds of tenement life such as the ring of the phone in the Hubbell's apartment upstairs. John Lee Beatty's meticulously detailed set is revealed in all the conditions of day and night ranging from bright morning to rainy evening through Howell Binkley's evocative lighting. Some of the mechanics of stagecraft are too visible, the set is ringed by a veritable proscenium of theatrical lights and there is a relentless infusion of mist as if to remind us that this is a steamy locale. It says something when a director has to use a machine to infuse a level of steaminess into one of Williams' steamiest plays.

Written by Tennessee Williams. Directed by Garry Hynes. Movement by Karma Camp. Design: John Lee Beatty (set) Jane Greenwood (costumes) Tom Watson (hair and wigs)  Howell Binkley (lights) Scott Lehrer (sound) Joan Marcus (photography) Paul-Douglas Michnewicz (stage manager). Cast: Cynthia Benjamin, Michael John Casey, Patricia Clarkson, Noah Emmerich, Robert Michael McClure, Amy McWilliams, Adam Rothenberg, Amy Ryan, Tony Simione, Joshua Skidmore, Catherine Weidner.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 

Reviewed December 13
Running time 2 hours 50 minutes
t A Potomac Stages Pick for
sumptuous classical theater

Storyline: A gentleman from Verona marries the daughter of a wealthy gentleman of Padua whose reputation is far from that of gentlewoman - she’s known as Kate the Cursed, a shrew of the highest magnitude. He’s determined to mold her into his idea of an ideal wife, obedient and submissive. Meanwhile, the multiple suitors for her younger sister’s hand compete for the lovely girl they always felt was the prize of the family now that the girls’ father’s determination to have his eldest daughter wed first no longer keeps her out of circulation. 

No curtain hides the set as the audience files into the Eisenhower. Pre-show examinations reveal an assembly of doors and two ranks of balconies, one of which houses an orchestra of seven musicians. But this isn’t going to be Cole Porter’s Kiss Me, Kate, the musical about a troupe presenting a musical version of The Shrew. The players are there to provide suitable Elizabethan tunes to set the mood and period for this production set in its natural time and place. As the show unfolds, the set proves its versatility as a playing space for a story that takes place in a variety of locations and as a frame for some intriguing visual effects including scudding clouds and a fluttering snowfall.

This production provides what one has come to expect from one of the premiere classical theaters in the world: clarity of direction, energy in the presentation, and distinctive performances from a cast of superb craftsmen down to the most minor of roles. We have come to expect that because we live in a city with another of the premiere classical theaters in the world, the Shakespeare Theatre. They haven’t done this play since the 1994-95 season, however, so it was high time for a classical production to renew our acquaintance with and appreciation for one of Shakespeare’s earliest hits.

Jasper Britton gives the role of the tamer of this shrew a different interpretation than most, presenting a disheveled and slightly desperate gentleman whose macho pride is nearly matched by his need for a companion to share his life. Alexandra Gibreath matches this with a Kate that comes to want a partnership even if it is on a basis that modern feminists find objectionable. The strength of their mutual need and their mutual attraction gives their battle a heft not seen in many other productions.

Written by William Shakespeare. Directed by Gregory Doran. Music direction by Michael Tubbs. Design: Stephen Brimson Lewis (set and costumes) Michael Ashcroft (movement) Tim Mitchell (lights) Paul Englishby (music) Martin Slavin (sound) Steve Pyke (photography) Elaine M. Randolph (stage manager). Cast: Tom Anderson, Jasper Britton, Paul Chahidi, Esther Ruth Elliot, Ian Gelder, Alexandra Gilbreath, Christopher Godwin, Christopher Harvey, Daniel Hawksford, Rory Kinnear, John Lightbody, Oliver Maltman, Eve Myles, Bill Nash, Keith Osborn, David Peart, Nathan Rimell, Nicolas Tennant, Simon Trinder, Beth Vyse.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 

Reviewed November 4
Running time 2 hours 35 minutes

Storyline: Two brothers die of heart attacks at the same time and meet in the anteroom of heaven where they renew sibling bonds despite a lifetime of rivalry which is reviewed in flashback. They have in common a life long ability to bounce back from adversity and reach for the next great opportunity in the pursuit of “The American Dream,” but their approaches are decidedly different as one is a sometimes visionary architect and developer while the other is a con man and schemer.

The score is identifiably Sondheim. Particularly, it is Sondheim in his lighter moods. Each number offers melodies, harmonies, tempos and rhythmic structures crafted to the needs of the message and mood of the scene into which they fit; and the lyrics, as all Sondheim lyrics are, are literate, precise, full of imagery and reflective of the thought process of both their writer and the character. Sondheim never uses almost the right word or makes a word carry almost its natural meaning -- unless, of course, it is a pun or a joke. As they always are, these Sondheim lyrics have been polished to a seamless shine. But they, and the melodies that they sit upon so well, are in service to scenes that are at times unfocused and confusing and, by the end, don’t seem to add up to a consistent story that simply demands to be told. Without that, Bounce feels more like a stylishly staged musical revue built on a collection of Sondheim songs.

The book for this musical is by John Weidman with whom Sondheim wrote both Pacific Overtures and Assassins, and who also wrote books for musicals such as Big, and Contact. Musicals, particularly Stephen Sondheim musicals, are highly collaborative efforts and Bounce is a product of teamwork between the composer/lyricist, book writer and director. Here the director is the legendary Harold Prince, with whom Sondheim collaborated on such landmark musicals as Pacific Overtures, Company, Follies, and Sweeney Todd. Put them all together and this is a legendary team working on a project that had intrigued Sondheim since the early 1950s, before he’d written his first Broadway lyrics (West Side Story) -- turn the real-life story of the Meisner Brothers who were instrumental in the real estate boom in Florida in the early part of the Twentieth Century into a musical comedy.

The cast includes a hard working Richard Kind who never seems to become the character of the architect and Howard McGillin who bounces through the part of the con man without making much impression, as well as two women who make a positive impression when they are on stage but never seem to have much to do with the story being told. Michele Pawk is a girl the brothers meet in Alaska during the gold rush and Jane Powell is the boys' mother. Powell’s character comes across as one that must have a fascinating story behind her but it isn’t told in this show. The cast cavorts before a brightly efficient setting designed by Eugene Lee which uses cloth drops for the buildings the brothers inhabit or build. Jonathan Tunick has provided his usual impressive orchestrations for this new Sondheim score but the vocals and dialogue are delivered through Duncan Robert Edwards’ audio design which sounds thin and treble heavy. It renders the fairly delicate voice of Gavin Creel as a young man that catches the architect’s eye nearly unintelligible at times.

Book by John Weidman. Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Directed by Harold Prince. Music Direction by David Caddick. Choreographed by Michael Arnold. Design: Eugene Lee (set) Miguel Angel Huidor (costumes) David H. Lawrence (hair and wigs) Howell Binkley (lights) Duncan Robert Edwards (sound) Jonathan Tunick (orchestrations) Liz Lauren (photography) Matthew Leiner (stage manager.) Cast: Gavin Creel, Richard Kind, Herndon Lackey, Howard McGillin, Michele Pawk, Jane Powell.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 

Reviewed June 5, 2003
Running time 1 hour 40 minutes
Ticket price $35 - $45

Storyline: Barbara Cook sings "It’s Not Where You Start," "It Might As Well Be Spring," "Wonderful Guy," "This Nearly Was Mine," "The Gentleman Is A Dope," "Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man," "Bill," "Nobody Else But Me," "It’s Wonderful," "I Got The Sun In The Morning," "Love Makes The World Go Round," "Her Face," "Very Next Man," "You’re A Builder-Upper," "Too Good To Be True," "Time Heals Everything," "Look What Happened To Mabel," "Everybody Says Don’t," "Another Hundred People," "So Many People," "In Buddy’s Eyes," "You Could Drive A Person Crazy," "Send In The Clowns," "The Trolley Song" and then goes of mike to fill the hall with an unamplified encore.

This program isn’t as focused as was her last visit to the Kennedy Center. Then, it was part of the extraordinary Sondheim Celebration and she was presenting a survey of his work and the work of others whom he included in his list of songs he wished he had written. Here, she is taking a broader view of the classics of the American musical theater (almost all the songs come from Broadway shows rather than from musical films or tin pan alley pop songs). Some of the songs that were part of last year’s concert are in this one and they all sound just as good - "The Trolley Song," "You Could Drive A Person Crazy" and “In Buddy’s Eyes" in particular.

Her delivery remains unmatched and she inhabits the stage with a comfortable confidence that keeps the focus on the material. She doesn’t shy away from telling a story or two or offering a knowing comment but she doesn’t use much time up with such non-musical elements. There are probably 90 minutes of singing in the 100 minutes between the moment she starts singing unseen behind the curtain until she takes her final bow. Her demeanor is marked by an open honesty including acknowledging errors such as when she forgets a lyric - she even had a stage hand bring her the sheet music for one song.

Once again she is backed by her long-time music director, Wally Harper on piano and the precise rhythms and sensuous bowing of Jon Burr on bass. Harper seemed at his best with the numbers that feature a gentle swing such as “I Got The Sun In The Morning” and he has been accompanying her for so many years that they work as a unit. Burr, whose bow work was a compelling aspect of the Mostly Sondheim concert last year, gets less opportunity in that mode in this new set but what he does for “Send In The Clowns” is subtly spectacular. It is not a negative to point out that he also contributes silence for those moments when Cook is delivering a particularly touching quiet line or verse, he lets Harper support her alone, producing a focused attention in the contrast to when he is either plucking or bowing. Then, when he resumes, it defines the moments. Such are the elements of artistry.

Performers: Barbara Cook, Wally Harper, Jon Burr.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 

Reviewed February 6
Running time 2 hours 30 minutes
Price range $25 - $70

Storyline: A big Hollywood movie company comes to a small village in County Kerry on the west coast of Ireland where such classic films as John Wayne’s The Quiet Man and David Lean’s Ryan’s Daughter captured the glorious scenery. Two local lads get jobs as extras in the new movie being filmed. Their experiences with the cast, crew and the other extras come to a climax when another villager commits suicide on the next to last day of filming by drowning himself in a lake. It is clear that he intended to drown because he had filled his pockets with stones.

All the parts are played by two actors, in this case Bronson Pinchot and Tim Ruddy. When Marie Jones’ play had its first success it was in a tiny theater in Belfast, Northern Ireland. That success led to a run at the fringe festival in Edinburgh, Scotland which led to a London engagement which led to a Broadway run. With each advance, the play found itself in a larger theatre. But even on Broadway, it was only the 800-seat Golden Theatre. Now, the national touring version may have stretched things about as far as they can go with this engagement in the 1,100 seat Eisenhower. This is a play that requires immediate connection between cast and audience and it is stretched in this space.

Pinchot and Ruddy have differences and similarities. Both are strong physical actors and both are blessed with flexible faces and bodies that they can manipulate at will. But Pinchot’s approach leans more to mime and physical humor while Ruddy concentrates more on postures and mannerisms. He can switch from mincing in a gay stereotype for the second-assistant-director to a pronounced limp for the oldest surviving extra from The Quiet Man in a wink. Pinchot also switches characters with ease, using a vest as a prop which becomes a towel or a scarf to help him create the movie’s staring actress or the director.

Together they prance through the story at a brisk clip. The set is simply a backdrop of a film strip showing clouds (the movie’s director is concerned that the clouds aren’t Irish enough) and a lineup of empty shoes, a few pair of which are donned during character switches. But the Irish brogue, when filtered through their efforts to give different characters different voices, makes following the dialogue a chore. That is complicated by the absence of any costume changes other than slipping on an occasional jacket or taking off the vest. It takes real effort to keep it all straight – an effort not everyone in the hall found worth making.

Written by Marie Jones. Directed by Hugh Borthwick. Design by Jack Kirwan. Cast: Bronson Pinchot, Tim Ruddy.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 

Reviewed December 17
Running Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Price range $25 - $90

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Lyrics by Don Black. Adapted with additional lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr. Directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge. Music direction by Steve Marzullo. Orchestrations by Daryl Waters. Design: Edward Pierce (set and lights) Robert Guy (costumes) Kurt Eric Fischer (sound). Cast: Alice Ripley.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 

Reviewed February 28
Running time 2 hours 30 minutes

Written by Michael Frayn. Directed by Michael Blakemore. Design: Peter J. Davison (set and costumes) Mark Henderson and Michael Lincoln (lights) Tony Meola (sound). Cast: Len Carious, Mariette Hartley, Hank Stratton.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 

Reviewed December 13
Running time 1 hour 55 minutes

Written by Claudia Shear. Conceived by Claudia Sear and James Lapine. Directed by James Lapine. Design: Douglas Stein (set) David Lander (lights) Susan Hilferty (costumes) Dan Moses Schreier (sound.) Cast: Claudia Shear, Tom Riis Farrell, Bob Stillman.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 

Reviewed November 8
Running time 1 hour 35 minutes