Running time 2:10 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for a rocking good time
 

Storyline: In 1978, at the age of 83, blues singer Alberta Hunter staged a comeback after an absence from the club or concert stage of over 20 years. Once she had been the toast of the jazz age but for the prior two decades she had been a nurse in a New York Hospital. When she was forced to retire from nursing because of her age, however, she returned to the club scene with an engagement at The Cookery in Greenwich Village, where she again captured the spotlight until her death some five years later.

Playwright and director Marion J. Caffey has developed an appreciative, burnished look at Alberta Hunter through snippets of her very full life and about 20 different songs that were either important to Hunter’s long career or were written by her. The production premiered in 1997 and has been produced in 36 theatres across the country. The historical snippets provide subtext for her formative years in Memphis and her rise through pure perseverance and singing talent through the tough worlds of Chicago, New York and Europe from the 1920’s to early 1950’s. The audience learns of the critical importance of her mother, the affects of race and racism on her career and the more deeply personal aspects of her intimate life and her love for women that almost killed her career. Caffey tried to make these facts more than dry history by having the older Hunter interact with others important in her life throughout the production. While the information is so clearly critical, in some instances the history lesson faded from view quickly as the audience waited for the next song to be sung. But oh the songs that Caffey selected for Cookin’! A wonderful soupcon of down home blues, of early jazz, of church music and several bawdier late hour songs that really do bring the house down.

In the featured role, Jackie Richardson has “the world in a jug with the stopper in her hand.” She is not trying to be a reincarnation of Alberta Hunter, nor does she seem to try to impersonate Ms. Hunter. Rather, Richardson is who she is: an infectious, hands up-in-the-air, vigorous blues belter … a songstress who makes an audience of all ages and all cultural groups tap their feet and shift their heads from side to side. She has a deep, rolling voice that could call God down from Heaven. Her eyes are dramatic props that pop with life and feelings. She is unsurpassed in singing when she throws every body muscle, every arm moment, and every facial expression into dramatizing the words, no one can mistake the meanings and emotions behind them. She becomes almost possessed at these moments. The songs include those well known to all audiences - Sweet Georgia Brown, Darktown Strutters’ Ball, When the Saints Go Marching In. Then there are selections that may be less familiar to some such as the songs of a more intimate sexual nature like My Handy Man, Rough and Ready Man and The Love I Have for You.

This show is far from a one person act. Janice Lorraine is one lithe bouncy singer, dancer and impersonator of women and men, whores and church choir girls. She is a dazzling presence who stops the show, first with dead-on impersonation of Louis Armstrong, voice and all, and then when she twists her lips into a configuration that seems physically impossible. When they sing duets, Lorraine’s voice against Richardson’s is a joy. Finally the four-piece band under the musical direction of William Knowles does not miss a beat and is a live presence throughout the evening.

Written and directed by Marion J. Caffey. Musical arrangements by Danny Holgate. Musical direction by William Knowles. Design: Dale F. Jordan (set and lights) Marilyn A. Wall (costumes) Bettie O. Rogers (hair and wigs) Steve Baena (sound) Colin Hovde (photography) Jessica Winfield (stage manager). Cast: Jackie Richardson, Janice Lorraine, . Musicians: Tony Addison, Yusef Chisholm, David Cole, William Knowles.

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Running time 2:10 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for a rocking good time
 

Storyline: In 1978, at the age of 83, blues singer Alberta Hunter staged a comeback after an absence from the club or concert stage of over 20 years. Once she had been the toast of the jazz age but for the prior two decades she had been a nurse in a New York Hospital. When she was forced to retire from nursing because of her age, however, she returned to the club scene with an engagement at The Cookery in Greenwich Village, where she again captured the spotlight until her death some five years later.

Alberta Hunter may not be as well known around the country as Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington or Billie Holiday who have all had shows of this type devoted to them. Ella is currently on view at Arena Stage's temporary home in Crystal City just three and a half miles from MetroStage. In fact, it is now possible to spend an afternoon with one and an evening with the other for a time-twisting jazz reunion of mind-blowing proportions. Arena also gave us time with Billie Holiday a few years back with Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill which featured the musical arrangements of Danny Holgate who provides the same service here. The genre can be a delight when done well, and this time out it is done very well indeed.

Two time Tony Award nominee (for her work as Sarah Brown in the all-black revival of Guys and Dolls in 1974, and again in 1977 for Raisin) Jackson originated the role of Alberta Hunter in this production when it premiered in Florida in 1997. It is clear that she knows the ins and outs of the piece so she can punch up just the right points and skip over some of the less-successful bits. With a wig that recreates Hunter's do circa 1978 and a dress that looks like it just stepped out of a YouTube video of the songstress making her comeback at The Cookery, the resemblance is uncanny. The key test with one of these musical reminiscences is the quality of the music itself, and here Jackson shines indeed. She sells these numbers with pizzazz and establishes a level of rapport and teamwork with her co-star, Janice Lorraine, that is a pleasure to witness.

Lorraine is a Washington native with a long list of national tours and regional roles. She teamed with Jackson to handle the role of young Alberta as well as all the other characters in the story during its 2002 production in Connecticut. She says she doesn't know how many times she's performed the piece but whatever the number, the level of her performance is a tribute to both determination and professionalism. She works just about as hard as an actress can, switching from comic vignettes where she impersonates the owner of The Cookery, Barney Josephson, to serious moments as Alberta as a child, and sings and dances as Alberta in the early days of her career, and even takes the microphone in the person of Louis Armstrong for a joyous duet with "Alberta" on "When the Saints Go Marchin' In." That is a musical highlight of the show but certainly not the only one. With numbers such as "My Castle's Rockin'," "I'm Havin' A Good Time," "The Love I Have For You," "Downhearted Blues," "Rough and Ready Man" and "I've Got a Mind to Ramble," all of which were written by Hunter, as well as "Darkstown Strutters' Ball," "Sweet Georgia Brown," "Always" and a frankly hilarious rendition of the randy "My Handy Man" the show is just pure good time.

Written and directed by Marion J. Caffey. Musical arrangements by Danny Holgate. Musical direction by William Knowles. Design: Dale F. Jordan (set and lights) Marilyn A. Wall (costumes) Bettie O. Rogers (hair and wigs) Steve Baena (sound) Colin Hovde (photography) Jessica Winfield (stage manager). Cast: Ernestine Jackson, Janice Lorraine. Musicians: Tony Addison, Yusef Chisholm, David Cole, William Knowles.

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Running time 1:40 - no intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for a rousing rock musical
 with three fabulous performances
Click here to buy the CD

Storyline: As his thirtieth birthday approaches, a struggling composer living in a dilapidated apartment in the SoHo district of Manhattan, waiting on tables at a Greenwich Village diner while writing songs for musicals he hopes will merge musical theater and rock music, despairs of having that big breakthrough. His girlfriend may take a job out of town, and his best friend may be succeeding in the world of high finance but faces a crisis of his own. What is that sound he keeps hearing? It seems to go "Tick, Tick ... Boom!" as time gets away from him and his world is about to explode.

This is a substantive musical with a message about using the life you have to the fullest. It is a message made all the more poignant given the history of its development and the story of its composer. A semi-autobiographical musical, it was written by Jonathan Larson as he approached (and then passed) his own thirtieth birthday struggling to write musicals that would use rock music in theatrical ways. He put it aside to concentrate on another project, the one that became Rent. It is now Broadway legend that a burst aorta caused his death just as he was on the verge of phenomenal success. His death actually came on the night of the final dress rehearsal of the off-Broadway production of Rent that was such a hit that it transferred to Broadway virtually unchanged and has run there since 1996. Not only did it win the Tony Award for Best Musical, it earned Larson a posthumous Pulitzer Prize. It is now the seventh longest running musical in Broadway history and it is still adding to its of (thus far) 4,785 performances. After Larson's death, David Auburn, the playwright who would later win the Pulitzer for his own play Proof, converted the solo-show that Larson had put aside into the fully formed musical we see today with its message of working toward your goals and being true to your mission in life.

MetroStage has mounted many satisfying small musicals, from the hilarious Musical of Musicals: The Musical to the rousing The Last Five Years, and revues from the outstanding Closer Than Ever to one-performer semi-cabarets like Ellington: The Life & Work of the Duke. With this one, it adds to the list and even tops much of what went before. Matthew Gardiner, the resident Assistant Director at Signature Theatre moves over for this show from Arlington to Alexandria and from Assistant Director to full Director duties. He paces some of the early scenes a bit slowly and allows a few distracting glitches. For example, for the song establishing the youthful sexual attraction between the composer and his girlfriend, Smith sings "The green green dress / 20 buttons and a strap / the green green dress / what a pleasure to unwrap." Yet the green dress Curry wears has no buttons! Early distractions, however, give way to emotionally involving staging as the show progresses, and the impact of the final four songs is impressive. It is all handled with the four person band on stage behind the three performers. The balance between all seven is such that the rock sound is strong and even heavy at the appropriate moments, but every word can be understood and every rhythm and counter-theme is clear. Kudos for much of this belong to both musical director Derek Bowley and sound designer Matt Rowe.

Curry, who just finished the limited run of Petite Rouge off-Broadway, has grown into a fine musical leading lady after some impressive work at Toby's Dinner Theater (especially her Helen Hayes nominated performance as Aida) Imagination Stage (The Araboolies of Liberty Street)  and here at MetroStage (Three Sistahs). She has three roles to play in this show, the girlfriend, a member of the cast of the composer's musical who makes a play for him, and his agent. She distinguishes between them without overdoing it, and she handles both rock and ballad duties with flair. Her "Come To Your Senses" would be a highlight in any show. Matt Pearson plays the best friend/former roommate and has his own moments to shine. But perhaps the most impressive time for all three comes quietly in the lovely "See Her Smile" when Smith is in the lead but the vocal support from both Pearson and Curry is sublime.

Music, lyrics and book by Jonathan Larson. Script consultant - David Auburn. Directed and choreographed by Matthew Gardiner. Musical direction by Derek Bowley. Orchestrations and vocal arrangements by Stephen Oremus. Design: Adam Koch (set) Sasha Ludwig-Siegel (costumes) Mark Lanks (lights) Matt Rowe (sound) Colin Hovde (photography) Jessica Winfield (stage manager). Cast: Felicia Curry, Matt Pearson, Stephen Gregory Smith and the voice of Steph-- Sond----. Musicians: Derek Bowley, Jon Jester, Mike Kozemchak, Steven Walker.

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Running time 2:05 - one intermission
A musical of sibling bonding with a rock/gospel score

Storyline: Three sisters are all that is left of the Bradshaw family of Washington, DC in the autumn of 1969 as they gather for the third year in a row for a funeral. Two years ago it was Mamma. Last year it was Daddy. This year it is their only brother. After the funeral they return to the family home, share some wine and some memories, learn more about each other and a few things about their past.

Mitchell is in fine voice here, and her smooth sense of dignity (leavened with humor and loosened just a tad in response to a shared bottle of wine) is impressive. She's also the tie that binds the two other siblings. The "sistahs", played by Curry and Fox, each have stronger emotional ties to their oldest sister than they do to each other. Each can get under the skin of the other and - as siblings often do - they do so with a touch of malicious glee. Each sings well and each has a number of solo moments that work very nicely. However, it is when two or more voices are joined together that the score really takes off.

The work of one third of the cast is not the only thing that is new here. The book has been revised a bit and the score has been re-worked as well. New songs - or at least different song titles - show up on the song list, and the order of some of the songs has been altered. Comparing a show with a memory is always difficult, but we have retained strong impressions of the premiere version we saw some five years ago. It was nominated for the Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Musical. We designated it a Potomac Stages Pick and praised it for its sense of restraint. (Click here to read our review of the original production.) The adjective "restraint" doesn't come to mind in the current production.

Design elements are very different. The new set is less a recreation of a typical home in Washington, DC, than it is a suggestion of that home with windows but not walls and tree shapes "outside" both in silhouette and in focused light patterns. This lack of realistic specificity is carried over into the rest of the production. While the original specified its location as Washington DC and its time as Autumn, 1969, the new version simply hints at time and place. While Tony Angelini's sound design on the original boosted the vocals over the three-piece band with an attempt at natural sound, Steve Baena's approach for the new production is to impose echo even though the cast is accompanied by a single, less intrusive keyboard played by composer/music director Hubbard. Only Erin Nugent's new costume designs seem as specific as to time, place and character as in the original, and her costumes are very good indeed.

Music by William Hubbard. Book and Lyrics by Thomas W. Jones II. Story by Janet Pryce. Directed by Thomas W. Jones II. Music direction by William Hubbard. Design: Jonathan Williamson (set) Erin Nugent (costumes) Jason Arnold (lights) Steve Baena (sound) Colin Hovde (photography) Jessica Winfield (stage manager). Cast: Felicia Curry, Crystal Fox, Bernardine Mitchell. Accompanist: William Hubbard.

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Running time 1:45 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for a high-spirit laugh filled romp
Winner of the Ushers' Favorite Show Award for May
Click here to buy the CD

Storyline: One simple plot is performed "in the style" of each of five major Broadway musical writers or teams. The plot is that old standby of melodrama involving the young girl who can't pay the rent, the evil landlord who would take advantage of her, the older and wiser woman who provides advice and the young man who rushes to the rescue. The show is done first in the style of Rodgers and Hammerstein (titled Corn! - devotees of Oklahoma! will note the exclamation mark). Then the same plot is given the treatment expected from Stephen Sondheim (A Little Complex), Jerry Herman (Dear Abby) Andrew Lloyd Webber (Aspects of Junita) and finally Kander and Ebb (Speakeasy).

Eric Rockwell and Joanne Bogart developed this affectionate but very funny lampoon. They began their collaboration at the very heart of musical appreciation: the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop which was established to foster the development of new talent in the field. Nowhere could the chemistry be more conducive to a hoot of a send-up of the genre. The show first played the tiny off-Broadway space in the basement of a modern church, the York Theatre on New York's Lexington Avenue. It was nominated for both the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical and the Drama Desk Outstanding Musical, Music, Lyrics and Direction Awards.

Under the tight direction of Larry Kaye not a minute goes by without a visual, verbal or musical gag, keeping the laughter flowing throughout. The young lovers are real-life man and wife Janine Gulisano-Sunday and Russell Sunday, who are often seen together on stage at Toby's Dinner Theatre in Columbia. She is a four time Helen Hayes Award nominee for West Side Story, Brigadoon, Danny & Sylvia and Jekyll & Hyde while he was also nominated for a Helen Hayes Award for Jekyll & Hyde at Toby's where he has performed the leading roles in Miss Saigon, Aida, Kiss Me, Kate and Damn Yankeess, among others.

The evil landlord is Bobby Smith who is just about as very funny as he was as the snail in A Year With Frog and Toad at Roundhouse a year ago, only this time he has more to do, and thus, gets even more laughs. Speaking of laughs: Donna Migliaccio is just about as funny as she has ever been in these mini-musicals, and that is saying quite a lot. She's the "Aunt Eller" character in the Oklahoma! spoof, the star with name recognition but no talent in the Mame takeoff, and a Cabaret girl like you've never seen before in the Kander and Ebb Cabaret-ish Speakeasy. It is her contribution to the Sweeney Todd moments in the Sondheim spoof that are most inspired.

Music by Eric Rockwell. Lyrics by Joanne Bogart. Book by Eric Rockwell and Joanne Bogart. Directed by Larry Kaye. Choreographed by Nancy Harry. Music direction by Dan Kazemi. Design: Allison Campbell (sets) Erin Nugent (costumes) Terry Smith (lights) Steve Baena (sound) Colin Hovde (photography) Jessy Timmins (stage manager). Cast: Janine Gulisano-Sunday, Dan Kazemi, Donna Migliaccio, Bobby Smith, Russell Sunday.

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Running time 1:30 – 1 intermission
A musical review

Storyline: One man performs songs from Nat King Cole's lengthy and notable career.

Those expecting to see a performance along the lines of the movies Ray or Walk the Line where Ray Charles and Johnny Cash were brought to life on the silver screen will be disappointed. The history of Nat is provided though segments of rhyming verse that tie one song to the next. Mr. Malary never truly becomes Nat King Cole on stage, not for a lack of dressing smoothly as Mr. Cole was known to do, nor for the lack of a swinging backup band. Rather it’s the telling of the story of his life coupled with the singing of his songs, and nothing more beyond that.

This still leaves a lot of room for a very entertaining evening. Everyone knows these songs -- some ("That Sunday, That Summer") not as well as others, and others so well known that everyone is invited to sing along ("Ramblin’ Rose"). It’s hard not to get up and dance when the talented band takes the lead during classics like Route 66 and "On the Sunny Side of the Street," and every couple leans a little closer together when the strains of "Unforgettable," "When I Fall in Love," and "I Wish You Love" issue forth. Mr. Malary does have a good voice and his love of his subject is apparent, but he never quite achieves the sultry clear tones that made Nat King Cole the master of cool that he was.

Still, in the end, the show suffers from its masquerade. If it were purely a lounge act, or even a jazz club review, there would be more interaction between Mr. Malary and the audience, and this would have made for a much more fun evening. As it is, sticking to the script and the flow of the show, and keeping its premise of being a stage review of the life of Nat King Cole limits the amount the audience feels that they can become a part of the show, and this limits the enjoyment of the evening. On leaving, the strongest feeling you have is the need to go home and listen to these wonderful songs once more by the original master.

Music by Nat King Cole. Book by David Scully. Musical Arrangements by John Engerman. Directed by David Hunter Kock. Music direction by William Knowles. Design: Brandon Guilliams (set) Jason Mann (lights) Steve Baena (sound) UNKNOWN (photographer) Elaine Randolph (stage manager). Cast: David B Cole, Yusef Chisolm, William Knowles, Jimi Ray Malary.

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t A Potomac Stages Pick for a delightful script and a pair of outstanding leading performances
Running time 2:15 - one intermission
Winner of the Ushers' Favorite Show Award
for September 
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: A ten year old girl living on the western coast of Canada finds a man washed up on the shore just after her pet goldfish has died. Could this stranger who can't seem to remember who he is or where he came from be the reincarnation of her pet, and can he bring about resolutions of the problems of her dysfunctional family?

Gregg Henry directs this constantly intriguing, highly entertaining play by Canada's actor, playwright, director Morris Panych. The two lead performances are at one and the same time the strongest and the most memorable. The opening image of Susan Lynskey wearing swimmers goggles starts the piece off with just the right sense of whimsy as she creates the character of a precocious youngster of ten trying to cope with a troubled home life by expending her energies trying to understand the death of her pet goldfish. She's got an eye for detail, a memory like a trap and a sharp tongue. Lynskey manages to be both highly entertaining and very believable as a ten year old without being overly cute or cuddly. The character may be Lilly Tomlinish but the performance is pure Lynskey. Russotto is the strange man she discovered on the beach. Taking his cue from the way his story emerges slowly in the script, Russotto takes his time adding detail to his portrayal. Tiny movements become mannerisms and a blank stare is replaced by a knowing look over time, but he does not push it too fast. His quirkiness is a pure delight and these two leads work together marvelously.

Support comes principally from Kathleen Coons and Bobby Smith. Coons is the little girl's mother, who has just about had it with her husband, her home and even her daughter. Smith is the father who has withdrawn into his own private world of mathematics and geometry as a defense against having to actually interact with real people. The fifth member of the cast, Susan Ross, isn't given a lot to do as the tippling boarder in the household, and she over-does some of what she does have, but there's little damage from that and she does get to deliver some funny one-liners.

Most of the action takes place in a sparsely finished living room, but panels in the rear wall occasionally become transparent, revealing some key plot developments in the bedrooms and bath in the house. This allows Henry to smoothly transition to brief events behind the panels without disrupting the flow of the story. An extremely careful lighting plot with its occasional under-water ripple as well as some very nice touches in the sound design, including a gurgle here and a bubble there, keep the feeling of fantasy alive even as the storyline takes more dramatic, even somber turns. The cumulative effect is a delight.

Written by Morris Panych. Directed by Gregg Henry. Design: Nicholas Vaughan (set) Deb Sivigny (costumes) Kevin Laughon (properties) John Burkland (lights) William Burns (sound) Colin Hovde (photograhy) Elaine Randolph (stage manager). Cast: Kathleen Coons, Susan Lynskey, Susan Ross, Michael Russotto, Bobby Smith.

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Running time 1:45 - one intermission
An enjoyable biographical sketch
using the songs of the Duke

Storyline: A roughly chronological presentation of the songs made famous by Duke Ellington illustrate the story of his career.

As an evening of standards from the mind of the Duke and his collaborators (including, most significantly, Billy Strayhorn) this two-act set includes all the highlights you would expect from the Duke's popular catalogue. From the well known ("Sophisticated Lady," "Duke's Place," "Drop Me Off in Harlem," "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)," "Satin Doll," "Take the A Train" and "Lush Life") to the obscure ("Rocks in My Bed") with a few instrumentals along the way ("Azure," "In A Sentimental Mood") the music just keeps flowing. While there is a nod in the direction of the Duke's attempts at more serious composition - especially his sacred concerts - the concentration is on the big band material that was the core of his cannon.

Jimi Ray Malary, in a progression of sharp evening outfits that captures some of his subject's sartorial suavity, adopts the manner and style of the Duke who made smooth style a trademark. In the process, Malary becomes the Duke. Vocally, he seems a blend of the great singers who fronted the Duke's band from Al Hibbler to Herb Jeffries and even a touch of Joe Williams, although the voice that comes to mind most readily is that of Billy Eckstein. It is a soft silken sound that is at its best on the lovely "Something to Live For".

Musical backing is provided by Knowles on the piano, Yusef Chisholm on Bass, Gregory Holloway on drums and Ron Oshima on saxophone. Chisholm gives some heft to the blend, Holloway does some very nice things with mallets (although his rim shots are not always precise) and Knowles keeps things in synch with Malary. But it is Oshima's work that stands out, and, indeed, provides the real jazz of the evening. He can grind and groan, he can fill in behind a vocal or piano figure and he can swing. He does that and more in these two and a half hours.

Written by David Scully. Directed by David Hunter Koch. Musical direction by William Knowles. Musical arrangements by John Engerman. Design: Brandon Guilliams (set) Jason Mann (lights) Steve Baena (sound) Jay Westhauser (photography) Delia Taylor (stage manager). Cast: Jimi Ray Malary.

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Reviewed April 30
Running time 2:15 - one intermission
A chamber musical on an historical theme

Storyline: In 1870 on her estate at Nohant in central France, the outspoken author who has risen to fame under the pen name George Sand, struggles with whether to speak out on the tumultuous events as the Franco-Prussian War breaks out, the monarchy under Emperor Napoleon II falls and a third French republic is formed. Her staff and houseguests, the actress Sarah Bernhardt, the author Alexandre Dumas the younger and a handsome young prince, provide all the entertainment and intrigue she really wants but she feels a duty as well.

Book and lyrics are by a Chicago-based team, Patti McKenny and Doug Frew. They have achieved more clarity in the lyrics than in the book. The lyrics use some traditional musical drama formulas to link themes together ("Where's the Fire?" opens and closes the first act, three settings of  the song "Tyranny" establish the dilemma that faces Sand, and a trio, "George Sand Silent," re-establishes the state of events to open the second act). The music by Linda Eisenstein samples a few musical styles from the historical period but relies more on modern show music formats. While there are a few musical references to Sand's one-time lover, Chopin, the score sticks with the more tried and true show tune most often. The melodies seem hefty enough to carry the scenes in which they are set, but the orchestration rarely provides the harmony or rhythmic elaboration that can turn a simple song into something more complex and fulfilling.

The songs get fine vocal delivery by the cast. Kat' Taylor commands the stage as Sand and has at least three very strong musical moments, "Go Where The Girls Can't Go", "Love is Green" and the title song. Brian Childers booms out "The Voice of the People" as the Prince, Meegan Midkiff has a lovely solo as Sarah Bernhardt on "A House This Fine" and Greg Violand, as the son of the author of the best selling novel The Count of Monte Cristo, does a fine job singing "Not Monte Cristo" although the song really would benefit from a bit more information on the fascinating Alexandre Dumas, the younger to get the the most out of  the wit of the song.

Sand was one of France's great cultural heroes of her age, an age that included many great French painters such as Cézanne. Still, the use of painting frames for the set is a bit obscure. Shards of picture frames are the principal motif of Jen Price's set with a door or a table sliding on and off as required. The costumes are evocative of the time and place of central France of the 1870s and they capture the social range of the characters from domestic servants to nobility. Designer Howard Kurtz provides Taylor with trouser outfits that emphasize the commanding posture she adopts. The placement of the small chamber orchestra off stage works well for this intimate theater, but director Brett Smock and his sound designer Steve Baena still opt for individual wireless microphones for each of the cast members. This allows the sound system to control the balance between vocals and orchestra but robs the audience of the direct experience of the voices which would be so satisfying in this small theater.

Music by Linda Eisenstein. Book and lyrics by Patti McKenny and Doug Frew. Directed by Brett Smock. Musical direction and orchestrations by Michael D. Flohr. Design: Jen Price (set) Howard Kurtz (costumes) Kevin Laughon (properties) Matthew J. Fick (lights) Steve Baena (sound) Greg Violand (fight choreography) Stan Barouh (photography) Rebecca l. Trotter (stage manager). Cast: Brian Childers, Jason Hentrich, Meegan Midkiff, Mary Jayne Raleigh, Kat' Taylor, Greg Violand.

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Reviewed January 28
Running time 1:55 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for a rocking, emotional musical experience

Storyline: Success on all levels has marked the apparently charmed life of a young woman who has earned fame as a singer, launched a movie career, married a charming man and given birth to a lovely child. It all comes crashing down when her husband confesses that a homosexual affair has left him HIV positive.

This is the breakout performance we've been expecting from Felicia Curry since her first foray onto local stages, mostly at Toby's Dinner Theatre in Columbia where she starred in Aida, She starts the show with her wail of "So You Wanna Know About My Life" and her highlights just keep coming with "I Ain't Supposed to Be Here" and, most particularly, "Bed of Steele and Stone" tearing up the place. She's a striking presence and maintains a high energy level throughout in a role that keeps her on stage nearly all evening long.

TC Carson, best known for his role as Kyle Barker on Fox Television's Living Single, is a fine match for Curry in the role of the husband with a secret life on the "downlow" underworld of homosexual liaisons of men in heterosexual marriages . His biggest number, the impassioned final plea to save the marriage "I Choose You," tears at the heart. Gary E. Vincent is affecting as the husband's gay lover and leads a rousing "Don't Ask (Don't Tell)."

The book for the musical is rather predictable but proceeds well through its story, using song to advance the plot as well as to reveal the attitudes and thoughts of the characters. The choice of title, with its dismissive slang for a homosexual, is a strange choice in today's theater community. The score, however, includes a less simplistic view of the conflicts the characters have. And that score, as delivered by the high powered cast and supported by a rocking combo of keyboard, bass and, drums, drives those conflicts and emotions home. The drum work of Quincy Phillips is particularly notable.

Music composed by William Hubbard and J. D. Steele. Book and Lyrics by Javetta Steele and Thomas W. Jones II. Directed by Thomas W. Jones II. Music direction by William Hubbard. Choreography by Patdro Harris. Design: Dan Conway (set) Jim McFarland (costumes) John Burkland (lights) Leigh Mosley (photography) Karen Storms (stage manager). Cast: TC Carson, Felicia Curry, Roz White Gonsalves, Tracy McMullan, Monique Paulwell, Gary E. Vincent. Musicians: Yusef Chisholm, William Hubbard, Quincy Phillips.

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Reviewed October 16
Running time 1:30 - no intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for pure charm
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: A playwright misses his late mother and wants one more chance to have the pleasure of her company. He recalls five different conversations he had with her at different times during his youth and finally finds a way to repay her in part for her role in developing his talents and interest in literature and the theater.

Flye is at the heart of this piece and makes it a very human heart indeed. The character she creates has enough capacity to frustrate and irritate her son to keep the portrait from being cloying, while filling the hall with the tenderness and love that his recollections bring to the fore. She's funny as well, delivering Tremblay's flood of tiny details and strong memories with energy and flair, but never descending into shtick.

As fine as Flye's performance is, it is well matched by Bruce M. Holmes in the supporting role of the son. Supporting is the proper term here, for his primary function is support for the actress playing the mother. He is a sounding board, the character to whom she is talking and his reactions trigger hers. He begins the evening as a narrator with the almost too cute opening explanation for the show, but segues into the memory play gracefully. He retakes a position of prominence for the final effect which is nicely rendered and terribly touching. In between, he sits to the side of the stage much as the dutiful son would do while Mum lectures, instructs, corrects and - occasionally - praises.  

Director John Vreeke has Holmes enter from the rear of the hall and deliver much of the opening explanation on his feet before he gets to his chair by the side of the stage. He has him return to the middle of the hall at the end as he unveils set designer Daniel Conway's final effect. These two off-stage transitions work well to draw the audience in and emphasize the fact that essence of the play is memory. It also concentrates the attention on Flye for the bulk of the evening. She hardly needs such an assist from the blocking, however. She takes the stage just as the stage directions in the script specify: "(she) takes over the stage the minute she arrives, she fills it, dominates it, makes it her kingdom. It is her space." Indeed, it is. 

Written by Michel Tremblay. Translated by Linda Gaboriau. Directed by John Vreeke. Design: Daniel Conway (set and lights) Rosemary Pardee (costumes) Veronica Lancaster (sound) Christopher O. Banks (photography) Kate Kilbane (stage manager). Cast: Catherine Flye, Bruce M. Holmes.

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Reviewed August 19
Running time 1:00 - no intermission
A look at the experience of our
 troops in Iraq

Storyline: Ten American soldiers in Iraq tell stories of their experiences as an eleventh pulls them together in a narrative of the memories of the danger, duty, camaraderie, honor and horror of war zone experience. Some, but not all of the stories, involve an oh-so-routine mission to provide security for a shipment of mail to the troops, a mission that was ambushed half way to success.

Those expecting a blind endorsement of the current administration's policies in the middle east will be disappointed. Similarly, those expecting a diatribe over the same administration's policies will be disappointed. This isn't a treatise on our goals or our methods in Iraq, but rather, an examination of what we are asking of our troops. As site specific as its language and its desert-colored combat outfits may be, its emotional content applies just as much to Vietnam or any other conflict where young men are given overwhelming power and the authority to bring it to bear against an indigenous population of mixed loyalties.

Note that the description above involves just men. Nowhere in this one hour will you meet any of the women who are deployed to the desert. But the eleven men do represent a mixture of backgrounds, ranks and races from the young narrator on his first tour in danger to more experienced types, and from a private who fixates on a single severed foot in a field of carnage to the sergeant who describes the way sand and blood mix into a gruesome paste to the extremely green lieutenant who feels his responsibility for all the consequences of his decisions in a mission gone horribly awry. A solid ensemble cast brings each of the characters to life as each gets a few minutes in the spotlight.

Jen Price makes an interesting Potomac region debut as a set designer. It is almost too interesting, for her assembly of shapes behind a plain platform, as lit by Matthew J. Fick in his Potomac region debut as a lighting designer, is so intriguing and visually arresting that it distracts at times. The distractions don't last long, however, as the stories these men relate are strong enough to pull your attention back time and again.

Written by Sean Huze. Directed by Brett Smock. Design: Jen Price (set) Matthew J. Fick (lights) Debra Kim Sivigny (costumes) Matt Rowe (sound) Kevin Laughon (stage manager). Cast: Joey Collett, Michael Kevin Darnall, Benjamin Fernebok, David Greenfield, Jonas Grey, Craig Klein, Keven Robinson, John Slone, Theodore M. Snead, Darius A. Suziedelis. .

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Reviewed June 18
Running time 1:30 - no intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for two great vocal performances of an outstanding musical score
Click here to buy the CD

Storyline: Catherine reviews her five year marriage to Jamie in her memory from its end when she receives the letter in which he returns his wedding ring. With each song her memory goes back further - from breakup to attempted reconciliation, honeymoon to wedding, courtship to first meeting. At the same time, in alternating songs, Jamie's story is told in normal chronology - meeting, courtship, wedding, happy early years, frustrations, infidelity and breakup. Only in the middle - at the proposal/wedding - do the two come together to play out a scene together and sing a duet.

Jason Robert Brown is one of the most talented of the current crop of young musical theater composers. He set himself quite a challenge when he began to write this show: write a two-person, sung-through story told from two perspectives which run in opposite orders, only converge in the middle and retain a sense of balance and proportion throughout. It is an almost mathematical problem solving exercise, especially since he added the constraint of alternating between characters. (First her. Then him. Then her. Etc.) That he succeeded as well as he did is a testament to his tremendous talent. Each number serves its purpose exceedingly well and does so in often unorthodox and surprising ways. Brown, whose Songs for a New World made a splash when he was 26, and whose score for the Broadway musical Parade won him a Tony award at age 29, proves himself up to the challenge he set for himself as a composer and a lyricist, for there are delights a plenty in the sixteen songs that make up the show. However, the structure is so formal that, as a musical's book, it needs the help of a strong director to provide some clues to what is going on through the staging.

Jane Pesci-Townsend directs this production. She brings some of the same strengths to the project that Brown did, a great feel for the structure of a song, an appreciation for when to let movement or mannerism make a point, and when to avoid either as a distraction from a musical moment. What she doesn't do, however, is use the stage to help the audience understand the structure of what they are seeing. Given that the program doesn't explain the concept of the show, those who don't know in advance that this is two views of the same story told in opposite order will spend much of the first half hour of the ninety minute piece wondering just what is going on.  A simple "storyline" paragraph such as the one above can help a great deal. Pesci-Townsend's staging complicates that process as both characters use both sides of the stage rather than being confined to their own side except when they get together physically for the duet in the middle.

Still, Olvera and Bush provide fabulous vocal performances and also create clear characterizations of two young people who seem to have entered into marriage before they found out much about life. Olivera belts with exciting energy and Bush delivers patter with panache. From an acting standpoint, Bush has the easier task because the forward chronology of his story lets him show his attractive side first. His character is a talented young man on the rise who has learned to use charm to get his own way throughout life. Olivera, on the other hand, has a character who is shallower, perhaps less talented and whose story is told in a reverse chronology that shows her in pain before it shows the charms that captured his attention in the first place. Each fills the evening with musical thrills in front of the on-stage orchestra of piano, violin, cello, bass and guitar. That particular mix of instruments, especially in Mr. Brown's highly detailed orchestrations, gives the entire piece a richness that fills MetroStage's intimate space. Indeed, it makes a perfect case for establishing a new rule that you should never do a romantic musical without a cello. Olivera and Bush wear ear-mounted microphones not because they couldn't belt out the loud parts over the orchestra but because the quieter moments would be masked by rich strings. The balance achieved by amplification works well for this modern song-cycle.

Written and composed by Jason Robert Brown. Directed by Jane Pesci-Townsend. Musical direction by Howard Breitbart. Design: Jane Pesci-Townsend (set) Howard Vincent Kurtz (costumes) Colin K. Bills (lights) Matt Rowe (sound) Christopher O. Banks (photography) Alix Claps (stage manager). Cast: Mark Bush, Tracy Olivera. Musicians: Howard Breitbart, JiHea Choi, Jean Finstad, III, Edward Lewis-Smith, Jeffry Newberger.

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Reviewed April 24
Running time 1:30 - no intermission
General admission seating
Sophocles was never so easy to follow
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: The story of Electra's captivity in the house of the murderers of her father Agamemnon (her mother Clytemnestra and her new step-father Aegisthus), and the final, awful vengeance wreaked by her supposedly slain brother Orestes, is set in a distinctly modern setting where Electra is kept in house arrest by an electronic anklet that triggers the gates to slam shut whenever she approaches.

Mendenhall has a way of combining rage with anguish to produce a feeling of emotional overload that certainly fits Electra's situation. Her torment is not just an intellectual exercise in mythology, it is an agony worn right on the surface. It is a good thing that this is a fairly short play, for such intensity can only be handled in relatively small doses. Indeed, before the joyous release triggered by her discovery that her beloved brother is not really dead, but has, in fact, returned to achieve the vengeance she has longed for, her pain begins to grate. She might have started a bit high on the emotion meter, but she certainly needed to be at the peak to make the release work as well as it does.

For a play supposedly spotlighting its star, it is notable that two of the supporting actresses manage to develop their parts with depth and individuality. Rana Kay is particularly at home in the modernistic setting of this production with its electronic surveillance devices, sirens and chain link fences. Her demeanor as Electra's sister is a sharp contrast with Mendenhall's initial fury, grounding the play at a more sustainable level in her briefer but welcome scenes. Maura McGinn is suitably brittle as Clytemnestra, who is brought down by her own hubris as well as by Orestes' vengeance.

The Orestes of this production is Ted Feldman, a stage presence strong enough to justify Mendenhall's grief over his reported death and virile enough to make his personal involvement in terrible vengeance believable. Brian Hemmingsen, who can be fascinating enough to steal an entire show, is surprisingly bland as Aegisthus, the personification of evil in Electra's world. That world, as envisioned in James Kronzer's skewed Greek temple/mansion/prison set, is often fascinating and well worth a visit.

Written by Sophocles. Adapted by Frank McGuinness. Directed by Michael Russotto. Design: James Kronzer (set) Deb Sivigny (costumes) Lisa Ogonowski (lights) Matt Rowe (sound) Christopher O. Banks (photography) Taryn Colberg (stage manager). Cast: Kate Debelack, Ted Feldman, Brian Hemmingsen, Keith N. Johnson, Rana Kay, Maura McGinn, Dallas Darttanian Miller, Debra Mims, Doris Thomas.

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Reviewed February 13
Running time 1:50 - one intermission
General admission seating
Click here to buy the CD

Storyline: A quartet backed by a jazz trio works their way through twenty-nine songs of the 1930s and 40s. Included are such hits as "In the Mood," "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" and "Minnie the Moocher" as well as such lesser known numbers as "Hit That Jive Jack," "Java Jive" and "I Need a Little Sugar In My Bowl."

The quartet of singers offer strong individual personalities and song styling techniques. William Hubbard sells his numbers with great good humor. Yvette Spears' thick sound is satisfying on the songs requiring a touch of soul, Lori Anne Williams makes up in energy what she sometimes lacks in clarity and no one works harder than Darryl Jovan who sparks many a number. The instrumental trio is sharp on the up-tempo pieces and funky when digging in to the bluest numbers.

Unlike so many revues which feature a string of solos by individual cast members with an occasional ensemble number, this show is composed almost exclusively of group arrangements, and under Jones' direction, they are highly choreographed throughout. At least at the start of the six week run of the show, these singers haven't developed anything approaching the sound of a group. Their harmonies don't yet blend and they sometimes sound like they are singing an arrangement of a song for the first time. Each knows his or her own part flawlessly and delivers it with assurance, but they are searching for a vocal unity that so far escapes them. As hard as they are working, however, it is clear that they will be much better later in the run.

Carl Gudenius places a strangely paint-splattered scaffold and wheeled construction staircase on his stylish set of patterned floor and a band stand. The wheeled staircase provides the opportunity to create different arrangements for different songs but has the drawback of having some of the cast frequently holding on awkwardly while the stair shimmies, shakes and slides around. Howard Kurtz' costumes are a creative compromise between the very strong styles of Harlem club society of the thirties and forties.

Conceived by Fran Charnas. Directed and choreographed by Thomas W. Jones II. Music direction by William Knowles. Musical arrangements by Tom Fitt, Gil Lieb and Dick Schermesser with additional orchestrations by Corey Allen. Additional arrangements and orchestrations by William Knowles. Design: Carl Gudenius (set) Howard Kurtz (costumes) Colin K. Bills (lights) Matt Rowe (sound) Christopher O. Banks (photography) Ariane Chapman (stage manager). Cast: William Hubbard, Darryl Jovan, Yvette Spears, Lori Anne Williams. Musicians: William Knowles, Gregory Holloway, Yusef Chisholm.

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Reviewed October 24
Running time 1:05 - no intermission

Storyline: On their first wedding anniversary a young couple - she a high school English teacher, he the school's librarian - gather in the school's gymnasium with a group of acquaintances they hope will become their good friends. They need new friends because of a tragedy that is revealed in the course of the one-act play.

This is the U.S. premiere of this play by Canadian playwright Sean Reycraft. It was mounted last year at Toronto's Theatre Passe Muraille where MetroStage Artistic Director Carolyn Griffin saw it while on a Canadian Government-sponsored exchange program. (The Canadian Embassy is sponsoring this production.) The text is replete with the kind of false starts and incomplete details that are the mark of real life conversations under stress.

Brotons and Kyd make an attractive pair of newlyweds and the chemistry between them makes it easy to slip into the belief that they have, indeed, just completed a year's worth of forming the bond of man and wife while dealing with a tragedy of undisclosed proportions . . . undisclosed at least until the end after the audience has had the opportunity to get to know and like this couple. It makes the ultimate disclosure all the more affecting. But the play isn't really about the disclosure, it is about the process the couple has gone through attempting to absorb the enormity of it and finding a way to proceed with their lives.

The evening of the press opening the company had a technical difficulty which resulted in the performance being given on the attractive set that Tracie Duncan designed but without the embellishment of the lighting devised by Colin K. Bills. His lighting design was only used for about five minutes and it would be unfair to render a judgment, although the pre-show and early show glimpses were promising. The set is probably also better judged only when seen under the intended lights. But this is not a design-dependent play. Its value is in the text and the personalities of the two characters. In that it is fully satisfying in the hands of Brotons and Kyd whether under theatrical lighting or simply overhead work-lights.

Written by Sean Reycraft. Directed by John Vreeke. Design: Tracy Duncan (set) Kate Turner-Walker (costumes) Colin K. Bills (lights) Matt Rowe (sound) Ariane Chapman (stage manager.)  Cast: Toni Rae Brotons, Marcus Kyd.

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Reviewed May 22
Running time 2 hours 20 minutes
t A Potomac Stages Pick for a rousing good time

Storyline: The career of Mahalia Jackson is the framework for an evening featuring her blend of gospel and spiritual music. Just enough biographical material is woven into the evening to keep this from being a mere revue based on her repertoire.  But you are never more than a minute or so away from another song.

Mahalia is subtitled "A Gospel Musical" and it lives up to its name. There aren't any new songs written for characters to voice their inner thoughts, although there is one "Jim Crow Blues" penned by the playwright which advances the story in the early going. The rest of the music is the music that Ms. Jackson performed in venues ranging from churches to Carnegie Hall. It is the rousing, emotional music that made her famous, and it is marvelously sung by Ms. Mitchell and her colleagues. The script is just detailed enough to give the audience a survey of the lady's life and work while Ms. Mitchell gives the audience a chance to feel that they know the lady as she was off-stage.

Carol Mitchell-Leon, who directed the piece in Georgia, mounts this version with a fine sense of pace, neither rushing too fast nor lingering too long on a point. While Mitchell is the lead character throughout the evening, Hubbard and Clark cover all the other roles - Clark is Jackson's aunt and also her longtime accompanist Mildred Falls, Hubbard is her cousin and the blind organist as well as Dr. King. They alternate between the stage right piano and the stage left organ in support of Mitchell's vocals.

Matt Rowe's sound design is particularly noteworthy even given the fact that Mimi Epstein's sound design for the Atlanta production of this show is cited as "original sound design." It is never an easy thing to take a design meant for a different space and make it work. Rowe, who has worked here at MetroStage before (Closer than Ever, Rough Crossing, etc) and is the House Sound Engineer for Signature Theatre, balances the voices, piano and organ in this irregular and rather echoey room with skill. Rarely does a voice seem to be coming from anywhere but the throat of the singer. As a result, there are few distractions from the impact of the music.

Written by Tom Stolz. Directed by Carol Mitchell-Leon. Music direction by S. Renee Clark. Design: Tracie Duncan and Carl Gudenius (set) Michael Reynolds (costumes) Dayana Yochim (properties) Adam Magazine (lights) Mimi Epstein (original sound design) Matt Rowe (sound) Christopher O. Banks (photography) Karen Storms (stage manager). Cast: S. Renee Clark, William Hubbard, Bernardine Mitchell.

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Reviewed April 10
Running time 1 hour 10 minutes

Storyline: Ayvazian's character begins by assembling artifacts from her life with her mother - a comb or a bell or a diary. Each triggers a memory which brings to life her mother, her father and her mother's companion/accompanist from a career as a concert singer. The exploration of her relationship with her mother expands to include the relationship between her mother and her father and the relationship that might have developed between her mother and her mother's friend. It touches on the possible sources of her own personality, her ability to establish relationships and her sexual preference, but the concentration is principally on her effort to recall her moments with her parents.

As a playwright, Ayvazian seems averse to providing much exposition in the early going. She simply starts with "Starting with . . ." and launches right into the event. A number of false starts result in returning time and again to "starting with" as Ayvazian's character considers exactly what it is she wants to consider. Such, of course, is the way memory often functions, and it becomes a theme for the entire one act piece. The result, however, is that the "what is going on here" stage, which most plays attempt to handle in the first scene, extends nearly throughout the entire piece. Indeed, Ayvazian regularly returns to "starting with" for nearly an hour of the one hour and ten minute play, and only gets to "ending with" at the very end.

Ayvazian is surrounded by a cast that does justice to the gentle dialogue of the play. The affection and warm recollections shared by Roberts as Rosemary and Jewell Robinson as her friend from the past is natural, effortless and charming, while Sam Groom has a light touch for the humor which defines the character of the father. His assertion that he is important because he is "a central figure" becomes the moral of the piece as it asserts that everyone is "a central figure."

The four are not alone on stage. John Hodian plays his own musical accompaniment on a partially visible piano stage left with Bet Williams at his side handling the vocal duties which suggest the impact of "Rosemary's" background as a touring concert singer. The play is in no way a musical, but they provide a musical setting that matches the understated charm of the physical setting. James Kronzer's set involves diaphanous drapes and a single bench. Chris Lee's lighting is subtle and effective while Marilyn Salvatore has provided soft pastel costumes for the memory characters and a sharper mixture of burgundy and reds for Ayvazian.

Written by Leslie Ayvazian. Directed by Olympia Dukakis and Nancy Robillard. Original score by John Hodian, performed by John Hodian and Bet Williams. Design: James Kronzer (set) Marilyn Salvatore (costumes) Dayana Yochim (properties) Chris Lee (lights) Matt Rowe (sound) Delia Taylor (stage manager). Cast Leslie Ayvazian, Sam Groom, Judith Roberts, Jewell Robinson.

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Reviewed February 15
Running time 1 hour 25 minutes

Storyline: Deb Filler, who describes herself as a member of a very exclusive group - the Jews of New Zealand - tells a string of humorous stories about her life and her family which add up to a poignant portrait of her relationship with her mother. She does it while she prepares and bakes a loaf of Challa bread. By the end of the performance, the loaf is ready to eat and, after her curtain calls, she leaves it on the lip of the stage along with a cube of butter for the audience to sample. 

Filler has an instantly likeable personality. She bonds with the audience almost before she finishes her first bit which is a quick rendition of the song "She's Too Fat For Me" which will provide the opportunity to begin regaling all with stories of her struggle with weight control (or, in her term, body image problems). She is just a bit presumptuous in calling for audience participation ("sing it with me!") so early in the festivities but soon she has taken up position behind a counter and begun the process of kneading the bread dough while apparently absentmindedly reminiscing about her days in the family bakery in New Zealand.

For a while, the show seems an ethnically adjusted version of a Julia Childe television cooking show. It takes a while for it to become clear that the seemingly stream-of-consciousness string of stories is something more than a pleasant chat with an outgoing, interesting woman. She rambles on about her grandmother's tendency to fat legs, her father's inability to bake just one loaf of challah bread, and how she inherited her mother's hair ("it's our prettiest feature - and our thinnest").

As the evening progresses -- and the rather intimate confines of MetroStage's theater fills with the aroma of baking challah --  the stories all start to relate to her relationship with her recently widowed mother. By this time in her life, Filler is living in the United States while her mother is still in New Zealand. Indeed, Filler brings the story right up to her phone conversation with her mother she says she had just before coming to the theater for the performance. How she, nearly nine thousand miles away from home, can cope with her mother's needs in old age is the crux of the issue and it raises universal issues of familial relationships in an honest, humorous and very human act of self revelation.

Written by Deb Filler and Lowry Marshal. Directed by Irinia Brown. Design: Tim Mascall (lights) Christopher O. Banks (photography) Marjie Hashmall (stage management). Cast: Deb Filler.

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Reviewed November 16
Running time 2 hours 15 minutes

Storyline: Noel Coward (1899 - 1973) and Gertrude Lawrence (1898 - 1952) had careers that intersected time and time again as he gained renown as a playwright, composer and actor and she rose to the heights of stardom on the musical and comedy stage. He wrote such classics as Private Lives and Blithe Spirit for himself to star in opposite her. She excelled not only in these, but in non-Coward works such as Lady in the Dark and The King and I.

As Gertie Lawrence, Tracy McMullan is the portrait of sexy elegance that Coward obviously wanted Lawrence to be. For much of the first act she’s a vision in a silver gown designed by Kate Turner-Walker, and that vision could well serve as a symbol for the essence of elegance between World Wars I and II. McMullan is a great deal better singer than Lawrence ever was and she handles the light comedy quite well indeed. It can’t be held against her that she doesn’t have the stage presence of the original - who does? 

Carl Randolph brings Noel Coward to life in a fine approximation of his 1930s self. This takes a bit of getting used to for those who know Noel Coward from his television and film appearances dating to the 1950s and 60s. He even affects the hand-in-the-coat-pocket pose that was Coward’s trademark in middle age.  He is at his best with Coward’s classic patter song, the admonition “Don’t Put Your Daughter on the Stage, Mrs. Worthington” and acquits himself nicely in the dialogue scenes from both Private Lives and Blithe Spirit.

The show plays out on a slightly re-designed version of the set MetroStage built for the last show, Rough Crossing. Tracie Duncan does a fine job of turning an art deco ocean liner into an art deco stage with the required balconies for scenes from Private Lives.

Devised by Sheridan Morley. Words and Music by Noel Coward.  Directed by Nancy Robillard. Music direction and accompaniment by Alfredo Pulupa. Choreography by Stefan Sittig. Design: Tracie Duncan (set) Kate Turner-Walker (costumes) Dayana Yochim (properties) Ayun Fedorcha (lights) Matt Rowe (sound) Christopher O. Banks (photography) Marjie Hashmall (stage manager).  Cast: Tracy McMullan, Carl Randolph.

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Reviewed September 21
Running time 2 hours 10 minutes
t Potomac Stages Pick

Storyline: Two playwrights and a composer set sail on the SS Italian Castle from England bound for New York for the opening of their new musical comedy accompanied by the stars of the show. They have four days to re-write the ending but jealousies erupt as seductions are overheard and plots are uncovered. Through it all, the ship’s steward making his maiden voyage gets increasingly tipsy as he consumes more alcohol than he serves.

This is one of Tom Stoppard’s most easily understood and enjoyed plays. Every Stoppard play is filled with bright and clever dialogue but some require a familiarity with classical literature or at least with some of the obscurities of Shakespeare to fully appreciate the wit. Not so this play. Here, built on a framework borrowed from Ferenc Molnar’s Play at the Castle as refined by PG Wodehouse’s The Play’s the Thing, Stoppard brings his trademark precision to bear on the conventions of traditional comedy of manners to spoof the pretensions of theater people. No deep meanings here, just good brisk fun. It's the kind of frolic where you get lines like “I last worked at the George” - “Cinq?” - “No, it’s a hotel!”

That particular drollery, along with confusions over Starboard only being on the left when you are coming from the front of the “boat” or references to the smokestacks as chimneys come from Ian Gould as the newly employed ship’s steward who hasn’t quite got his sea legs and can’t quite get the terminology straight. His sense of comic timing is superb, not only for single lines which he delivers with aplomb but for longer lined comic bits that require prolonged buildups. In the early going, he’s the only one who seems to sway with the ship’s roll but later on, as the crossing runs into rougher weather, he seems the only one steady on his feet as his consumption of the passenger’s drinks has resulted in an inebriation that somehow matches the ship’s motion.

Michael Russotto and Jack Vernon team up as the writers who must manipulate the show’s co-stars, motivate the show’s composer and, at the same time, come up with a script that might actually work on Broadway. They are each delightful in their own way and they make a fine team together. Steven Tipton not only sets up some of the funnier gags of the first act with a speech pattern that creates confusion, he sings and plays piano as the show’s composer. Stoppard wrote lyrics for three songs for this show with Andre Previn providing the melodies. Tipton’s rendition of their “Where Do We Go From Here?” ends Act I and “This Could Be The One” provides a nice touch in Act II.

Written by Tom Stoppard, freely adapted from a play by Ferenc Molnar previously adapted by PG Wodehouse. Music composed by Andre Previn. Directed by Nancy Robillard. Design: Jos. B. Musumeci, Jr. (set) Michele Reisch (costumes)  Adam Magazine (lights) Matt Rowe (sound) Christopher O. Banks (photography) Jess W. Speaker, III (stage manager). Cast: Ian Gould,  Nichole Mestres McDonnell, Carl Randolph, Michael Russotto, Steven Tipton, Jack Vernon .