Running Time 1:45 - no intermission
A mild evening of spun confection
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: Haley Walker, a divorced single mom with a love of shoes, moves from Texas to New York City and re-enters the dating scene while she runs a restaurant for the Romanian mafia as their front to launder money. Haley seems to confide only in a very few about her string of rotten romances with men as she tries to find Mr. Right.

Playwright Theresa Rebeck has written for the stage (Omnium Gatherum, finalist for 2003 Pulitzer Prize) and for television. Her television credentials include Brooklyn Bridge and Dream On, each a 30 minute sitcom. She also wrote for L.A. Law,  Law and Order and NYDP Blue. Bad Dates is a sweet little bonbon with plenty of dark chocolate covering rich creamy ice cream, but with an unexpected savory and chewy center. Rebeck has given her one-woman show a quiet sense of daring in how she has the character speak so intimately with, rather than to the audience as if sharing coffee together. This is not an angry anti-male riff, but rather something much gentler. There are very few enormously side-splitting lines.  Rather, this has a warm humor, something like the old Mary Tyler Moore show a bit updated more than the harder outlook of Sex and the City. There are lines such as “men will sleep with anyone, even someone they don’t like, while women won’t.” Perhaps. As directed by Lee Mikeska Gardner, this is a pleasant evening, with lots of motion and action and business before one’s eyes, given that it is a one-character show depicting the bedroom of a New York City apartment. What you see and hear is what you get under the confident direction of Gardner.

Melissa Flaim, a local actress and vocal coach, has appeared in a number of Potomac Region theater productions. She plays her character as one who is frazzled, passionate, and too impatient with herself. She “dresses” her character with life; as if she has not memorized the lines from a script but is recalling her own real life memories. Flaim is a tall woman, with long legs that she shows off under a comfy terrycloth bathrobe for any number of scenes. Her steady presentation is natural, with little fakery or dramatic cleverness. Her vocal skills are heard in the way she can lengthen any and all words to make a single syllable go on forever. There is no bitchiness in her delivery, even in the attempts at sharper humor, and she is in constant motion as she dresses and undresses with nary a missed line … and all as if she is dressing before a close friend in her bedroom. Flaim is particularly skilled in her ability to depict the pain of attempting to wear too small shoes as they strangle her toes. Then again, maybe the shoes used at stage are too small or that the moment is just too totally real to her. At the final blackout, Flaim has discovered an unexpected male protector in a situation where such a human being is useful. She finds herself in a police station with the Romanian mob after her for skimming money from the restaurant she runs for them. Flaim plays this as a quietly revelatory situation … that someone would be there for her at this time. She is warm and tender as she contemplates providing him with coffee for his efforts. How very real; just coffee at this point in time, nothing more.

The Multiz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab is a fitting intimate setting for Bad Dates. A well-crafted bedroom awaits the audience as they take their seats. A quibble though. The set, which is supposed to be a woman’s apartment feels and looks too male. The color scheme is beiges and there are few if any touches such as flowers, or colors such as rich pinks, deep purples, or dusty rose. Only the walls and not even all of them, have some color and that is a sea foam green. The pre-show music runs the gamut from acoustic guitar to the upbeat and finally to club music with a strong dance beat.

Written by Theresa Rebeck. Directed by Lee Mikeska Gardner. Design: Milagros Ponce de Leon (set) Melanie Clark (costumes) Andrew Griffin (lights) Jarett C. Pisani (sound) Stan Barouh (photography) William E. Cruttenden III (stage manager). Cast: Melissa Flaim.

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

Running time 1:30 - no intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for superb performances of a superb play
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: A Roman Catholic nun who runs a parish school suspects that the young parish priest has established an inappropriate relationship with one of the boys in the school, but she has no proof. How should she deal with the situation?

The storyline above doesn't tell you exactly what the "inappropriate relationship" might be - neither does the author. He's not setting up a concrete "whodunit" or even a "what's-he-done." Instead, to see what Shanley's intent is, look to the the subtitle: "A Parable." The moral dilemma facing Sister Aloysius is that she has doubts, not proof. She has duties and responsibilities too. The time is 1964. Today's revelations of pedophilia among clergy dating to that period make this a highly topical play, but its approach to the central question is timeless. No wonder Shanley received both the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for best play.

Shanley's script presents just four people as it lays out its conundrum. There's the sister herself. What a role! No simple stereotype of a set-in-her-ways, officious official. This nun is a widowed woman with a strength based on her discovery late in life of the certainty of the church, a certainty tempered by a lifetime of seeing how temporal things work. Cherry Jones won the Tony Award for her performance in the role. Here at Olney, Brigid Cleary gives every bit as strong and impressive a performance. Potomac Region theatergoers were fortunate to have Jones perform when the touring version of the play came to the National last year. Those same theatergoers should journey out to Olney to experience Cleary's take - just as insightful, just as affecting and just as human - but quite different.

James Denvil, as the charming, youthful priest, and Deidra LaWan Starnes as the mother of the youth in question, are every bit as marvelous as those who toured the nation with the play and Patricia Hurley, as the young teacher in the school who surfaces the initial suspicions, is even better. With a marvelous set by James Wolk and a nimble sound design by Jarett Pisani, this production is proof that regional theater in the Potomac Region is a match for theater anywhere - and that includes the vaunted environs of New York's Broadway!

Written by John Patrick Shanley. Directed by John Going. Design: James Wolk (set) Howard Vincent Kurtz (costumes) Dennis Parichy (lights) Jarett C. Pisani (sound) Stan Barouh (photography) Renee E. Yancey (stage manager). Cast: Brigid Cleary, James Denvil, Patricia Hurley, Deidra LaWan Starnes.

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

Running Time:  2:40 one intermission
An enjoyable family musical
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: Fiddler on the Roof  is loosely based upon the stories of the Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem (1859-1916) with his everyman character Tevye. Tevye lives to keep tradition alive. It is tradition that provides safety from the infringements of the adjoining world. But, the outside world comes crashing down on him, his family and his tiny village of Anatevka. Always buffeted, Teyve must come to terms with the unexpected in his life. Like a fiddler playing on a roof, Tevye must find his balance.

Director John Vreeke has a difficult artistic task. How to revive a show that so many know from an Academy Award winning film and a play that has been revived four times on Broadway, including as recently as 2004?  With musical director Christopher Youstra and choreographer Gabrielle Orcha, a production has been developed with their own creative outlook without irritating those who come to see what they remember (read “tradition”) rather then something new and off-putting. This is also not a stripped down revival with second rate actors and voices; this production has 25 cast members and a small 5-piece band all up on the stage and in full view. The lyrics and music by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick include audience favorites such as the opening number, "Tradition," that draws the audience into the show immediately with its tale of how life is to be lead with unchanging assigned roles and responsibilities. With the full cast singing (assisted by microphones) the feel is one of a big production number.  "Sunrise/Sunset" is the emotionally touching poetry of a parent’s feelings pouring forth at the letting go of a child. The night time hallucinations of "Dream of the Tailor" includes delightful large puppet heads and arms used expertly in this one tricked-up scene.

Rick Foucheux is Tevye, the husband and father who argues not only with his wife, daughters and neighbors, but with God Almighty as well. With his baritone voice, his singing is what it should be; not sweet and striking but substantial and a bit off center. In his "If I Were a Rich Man," the upbeat lament of a man without money, the words don’t matter as much as the charm of Foucheux as he delivers it. Sherri L. Edelen plays Golde his wife with a broad comedic outlook. She fills the theater with her strong presence. When Edelen has the chance to sing solo or bring her voice to the fore within a larger group, the beauty of her signing voice is magnetic. As the daughters Patricia Hurley, Jenna Sokolowoski and Margo Seibert are each a charmer in her own way. When they sing together their harmony is captivating. The daughter’s suitors are Paul Downs Colaizzo as a way-too-timid local tailor who marries the eldest; Andrew Boza as the radical and intellectual teacher from the big city who marries the middle daughter, and Evan Casey as the non-Jewish Russian who courts the younger one through the love of books. It is their marriage that is a major faith-related crisis for Tevye - does he follow tradition and consider his daughter dead to him since she married outside of her faith, or does he forgive her and give his blessing? Andrew Zox is the mute “fiddler” who, with his lithe body, makes his presence felt throughout the production.  Finally, in the wedding scene toward the end of Act I, there is the marvel of a small kick line of dark clothed men with dark hats, arms entangled, moving up and down, sometimes with their knees touching the floor, dancing expertly, each with a bottle on his head. Absolutely magical!!

The set is elevated from the floor with a long ramp for Tevye to pull his cart to the main stage area and for the townspeople and Russian troops to enter and leave. In one procession of townspeople, as the house lights are dimmed, the lighted candles carried by the townspeople are simply stunning. The set area is loaded with trap doors and elevators that are used to give additional movement and dimension to the production. The 5-piece band including adept fiddler and clarinetist is tucked into a corner of the main stage area, but dressed as townspeople in full view of the audience. Note: The Fiddler title comes from a surreal painting by Marc Chagall … the fiddler is a metaphor for survival, through tradition and joyfulness when life is uncertain.

Music by Jerry Bock. Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick. Book by Joseph Stein. Directed by John Vreeke. Music direction by Christopher Youstra. Choreography by Gabrielle Orcha. Design: Jon Savage (set) Howard Vincent Kurtz (costumes) Charlie Morrison (lights), Jarett C. Pisani (sound ). Cast: Kate Arnold, Rachel Blaustein, Andrew Boza, Sara Brunow, Evan Casey, Paul Downs Colaizsso, Michael A. Crea, Jamie Eacker, Sherri L. Edelen, Rick Foucheux, James Garland, Lily Goldberg, Karlah Hamilton, H. Alan Hoffman, Patricia Hurley, JJ Kaczynski, Timothy Dale Lewis, Amanda Montell, Natalie Perez-Duel, Zack Phillips, Carl Randolph, Ron Sarro, Kyle Schliefer, Margo Seibert, Mary C. Sheehan, Jordan Silver, Chris Sizemore, Jenna Sokolowski, Mike Vires, Harry A. Winter, Andrew Zox.

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

Running time 2:35 - one intermission
A solid production of an American classic
Click here to buy the novel

Storyline: At the height of the great depression, two traveling, migrant ranch workers are once again on the road, traveling to a new place, fleeing their sketchy past, hoping to find some permanent work and earn enough money to buy their own ranch. To own land is to save themselves from the vagaries of having no family to bring them love, attention and validation. One is physically strong but with intellectual disabilities, the other is the close brother on the road who looks out for both of them, or at least tries to.

John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men was written in 1937. It ran for 207 performances on Broadway and won a New York Drama Critic’s Award. It was about an America far different from today. The Depression still affected both urban and rural populations, but the rural poor needed a spokesperson - they found it in Steinbeck, among others. The play is a message play and wears that mantle directly and proudly. It is a play that has you leaving the theater talking and thinking about the final act of the protector toward his physically strong but emotionally challenged companion. Steinbeck was an early left-leaning torch bearer for rural America and Of Mice and Men preceded a full body of work leading to his selection for a Nobel Prize in 1962. But, his language, which once must have been startling and confrontational, is now less so. It seems burnished rather than angry and edgy.

Alan Wade’s directing is solid throughout. His choices let the story tell itself and the veteran cast is first rate with several standouts. Christopher Lane has the complex task of playing Lennie, an intellectually disabled man-child with the strength to kill, but the inability to modulate either his physical strength or his voice. He is excellent in his work. Richard Pilcher is a good physical presence traveling with Lennie, but the conflicts of being Lennie’s road companion and the “why” of their relationship don’t emotionally come across.  And when he is confronted with the major decision of the play, there is somehow a missing visual or physical conflict in him. The moral challenge that director Wade mentions in his program notes seems missing in action. Jeff Allin, as the world weary, laconic ranch hand, is especially adept. Keith N. Johnson, as the African-American “other” on the ranch, gives a fearful, restrained portrait of a man who has learned to not trust white folk and with good reason. He wears his loneliness for all to see as a defensive posture.

One of the main characters is less fulfilling. Carl Candelario, as the supposed hot-headed husband and son of the ranch owner, comes off as having little or no swagger or perceived muscularity in his manner. He is a bully who would not be believed on the school yard, and he seems to care little about his young wife, except as an object. In this production the death of a dog has more emotional wallop and affect on the dog’s owner (played by John Dow) than a wife’s end. Margo Seibert (as the young wife) plays the role nicely, not so much as a tart or floozy, but as someone who in her own loneliness and desire to get away from an abusive family marries the first ticket out. The technical work as a recreation of the time and place is top-quality. Carl Gundenius' set moves from a simple background of fences to ranch-hand rooms, barns and back to fences in a wonderful evocative manner with a few interesting theatrical affects to evocate a large canvas of the outdoors or larger buildings or even a camp fire. Jarett C. Pisani's incidental music and sounds establish the right atmosphere, and Charlie Morrison's lighting provides a hint of the big sky or the dark night. But, while Kathleen Geldard's costumes are spot on; they are just too clean. They look new rather than used; there is no grit or dust or dirt. Even the hats have no sweat spots on them. And not even stubble of a beard shows when first we see the travelers on the road. A kudo to Olney: The company has developed a relationship with DC area schools and is welcoming more than 3,000 students over the run of the production to see Of Mice and Men.  Ah yes, one last thing, the title. From Robert Burns poem To a Mouse, “the best laid schemes o’mice an’ men/Gang aft agly [oft go astray].”

Written by John Steinbeck. Directed by Alan Wade. Design: Carl Gundenius (set) Kathleen Geldard (costumes) Charlie Morrison (lights) Jarett C. Pisani (sound) Stan Barouh (photography) William E. Cruttenden III (stage manager). Cast: Jeff Allin, Carlos Candelario, John Dow, Keith N. Johnson, Christopher Lane, Robert Leembruggen, Richard Pilcher, Margo Siebert, and R. Scott Williams.

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

Running time 2:40 - one intermission
t Potomac Stages Pick for a handsome staging of a compelling drama
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: The true story of East German spy Günter Guillaume, who finagled himself onto the fast track of West Germany's Social Democratic Party organization just as they came to power under the leadership of Willy Brandt in 1969. He ingratiates himself into the intimate circle of the Chancellor himself, achieving access to information of great interest to his handlers from the East.  When Guillaume is finally exposed after 18 years undercover, Brandt's career is destroyed, partially due to revelations that he failed to take action on the first warnings of infiltration into his office's operation.

Two of Frayn's previous plays seem the products of very different talents. Noises Off is a superb example of farce, a comedy that has kept audiences in stitches in productions ranging from scholastic to professional. It has been produced constantly since it first opened in 1982. Nothing could be much further away from that laugh-a-minute extravaganza than his 1998 intellectual puzzle play based on an obscure incident in World War II, the meeting of  physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg in Denmark. Copenhagen has been performed in the Potomac Region a number of times, often with satisfying results as was the case with the 2004 production staged here by Jim Petosa on another superb set by James Kronzer. Democracy is of the Copenhagen school. Indeed, the two Olney productions under Petosa could have made a fascinating pair in repertory.

Thaiss' Guillaume is a giddy lightweight in a world populated by serious, self-absorbed men. He practically giggles with each stroke of good fortune and bounces while they plod around the stage. But he manages to keep his wits about him and avoid drawing the attention that might threaten his success. The serious westerners include dour Vincent Clark, acerbic Hugh Nees and distracted James Konicek. The avuncular single easterner, Guillaume's handler from the East German Ministry for State Security, is played with a smooth polish by James Slaughter. He's always present, hovering on the edge (always the eastern or right hand edge, at that) until that moment when Guillaume's cover is blown and he is arrested. Then, suddenly, Slaughter's character is no where to be seen.

As performed with Thaiss as Guillaume and Andrew Long as Willy Brandt, this is a play about the hopes, dreams and fears of Guillaume as he gets closer and closer to Brandt, whose government he is spying upon. Thaiss shows us more than just Guillaume's charm, he touches on the internal conflicts that test him as his relationship with Brandt evolves. Long, always a pleasure to watch for his consistently well thought out approach to his own character's inner thoughts, seems to float through the play as a strong presence but not as the real subject of the drama. Indeed, as portrayed, it appears that Willy Brandt is a strong personal presence floating through his four and a half years as Chancellor as the beneficiary - but not necessarily a shaper - of the forces of history. How valid a point of history this might be, others will have to judge. It certainly is a valid point of drama and provides an intriguing and satisfying examination of human frailties.

Written by Michael Frayn. Directed by Jim Petosa. Design: James Kronzer (set) Pei Lee (costumes) Daniel MacLean Wagner (lights) Jarett C. Pisani (sound) Stan Barouh (photography) Renee E. Yancey (stage manager). Cast: Clinton Brandhagen, Vincent Clark, Nick DePinto, James Konicek, Andrew Long, Eric Messner, Hugh Nees, Richard Pilcher, James Slaughter, Jeffries Thaiss.

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

Running time 2:25 - one intermission
t Potomac Stages Pick for a well designed, well acted production of Donald Margulies' fictionalized look back at the Brooklyn he left behind to pursue playwriting
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: A Brooklyn born and raised novelist deals with his first best seller, his first movie contract, the death of his father and the demise of his marriage - all at the same time.

Margulies has had great success writing plays under commission for the South Coast Repertory Theatre in Orange County, California and the Actors' Theatre in Louisville, Kentucky. Three of his plays have made the short list for the Pulitzer Prize, and Dinner With Friends won it in 2000. This six-scene two-act play is fairly formally structured. Each of the first five scenes are emotionally important encounters this Brooklyn Boy has with a single character who is important at a crucial moment in his life. Each gives Morella a great deal to react to, and he avoids overdoing those reactions in a finely tuned performance that feels natural and human.

First it is the hero's dying father, played by Howard Elfman, who has a marvelous ability to communicate attitude through body language while reclined in a hospital bed with most of his body covered by a blanket. Then Ethan T. Bowen plays a former buddy from childhood. Bowen tends to spit out his lines a bit too abruptly, but perhaps that is a Brooklynism with which non-Brooklynites are not familiar. The most touching scene of the play, and the one that is best played, has Lee Mikeska Gardner as his estranged wife bringing an end to their marriage as gently but firmly as she possibly can. After intermission, things get a bit lighter for a while as two young actors make their Olney debuts with panache. Emerie Snyder is sharp as a groupie this newly-famous author takes back to his hotel for a night, and Paul Cereghino gives a nifty take on a teen-magazine coverboy of an actor who wants to star in the hero's movie. Halo Wines makes the most of a somewhat miswritten scene as his movie producer.  No successful producer would have used the negative pitch she does to get a new writer to change an element of his first script instead of stroking his ego with suggestions for increased "universality" in his "wonderful story."

The Mulitz-Gudeslky Theatre Lab has been decked out with a revolving stage which rotates to reveal rooms in a hospital, a hotel, a home, a cafeteria and a Hollywood producer's office. Each is distinctive but each seems very much part of the same world. As fine as those rooms are for each of the scenes they contain, it is the space between them that provides the visual connecting tissue to match the dramatic ties between the scenes in Margulies' tightly woven plot. Morella is seen walking "the space between" the sets in his evolution from scene to scene. The device avoids what might otherwise seem an excessively mechanical structure of the play as the story progresses. As it is, the play doesn't jump from scene to scene, it flows.

Written by Donald Margulies. Directed by Jim Petosa. Design: James Kronzer (set) Howard Vincent Kurtz (costumes) Daniel MacLean Wagner (lights) Jarett C. Pisani (sound) Stan Barouh (photography) Tim Burt (stage manager). Cast: Ethan T. Bowen, Paul Cereghino, Howard Elfman, Lee Mikeska Gardner, Paul Morella, Emerie Snyder, Halo Wines.

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

Running time 1:55 - one intermission
A rollicking farce performed in high style
v brief partial nudity
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: A wife who is certain of her husband's philandering ways wants vengeance and engineers her own dalliance with a younger man. Things go awry, however, when their paths cross at the younger man's apartment house at number 13 on the Rue de L'Amour.

Farce, like soufflé, rises only when tremendous skill is combined with exact measures of specific ingredients. Georges Feydeu made a study of the structure of farce and mastered its peculiarities. In fact, it was the structure of the style that fascinated him and he polished his craft as perhaps no other French playwright of his time. Certainly, none was close to being as successful at it as he was during the two decades surrounding the year 1900. This example of his output comes from early in his career (1892, the same year as his first big hit, Champignol in Spite of Himself) and displays a certain excitement over the possibilities of the genre that he has obviously just begun to believe he can master.

The central triangle here is the fine trio of Ashely West and her two men, Lawrence Redmond as her husband and Jeffries Thaiss as the young doctor who so wants to help her wreck revenge by cheating on her cheating husband. West goes through the paces without ever seeming to loose either her dignity or her self control, which provides the comic contrast to both lustful suitor Thaiss and pompous husband Redmond. The support is strong as well, particularly with Halo Wines as a Countess who looks like a sticky clump of cotton candy, and Vincent Clark who sputters with a delightful sense of confusion.

Dennis Parichy's bright lighting design is probably brighter than gaslight really was in the 1890s, but its warmth is a perfect compliment to James Wolk's confections, the two one-room sets with the squiggly art nouveau style of an Alphonse Mucha print in more shades of pink than you would think possible. The lip of the stage is lined with footlights which are used to exaggerate the effect. The atmosphere of the piece is nicely enhanced by the playing of up-tempo, cheerful music hall music in the lobby and the auditorium before the show and during intermission.

Written by Georges Feydeau. Translated by Mawby Green and Ed Feilbert. Directed by John Going. Design: James Wolk (set) Liz Covey (costumes)  Nicole Paul (wigs) Dennis Parichy (lights) Jarett C. Pisani (sound) Erin Feliciano (photography) Renee E. Yancey (stage manager). Cast: Ethan T. Bowen, Vincent Clark, Nick DePinto, Patricia Hurley, Brandon McCoy, Christopher Poverman, Lawrence Redmond, Jeffries Thaiss, Ashely West, Halo Wines.

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

Running time 1:45 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for simple, joyful
 musical entertainment

Storyline: None. This is a revue built on the songs composed by Eubie Blake, the jazz musician and composer of the 1921 musical Shuffle Along. Twenty-two of his songs, with lyrics by a wide range of collaborators, are included in the evening.

Director/choreographer Tony Parise has restructured the 1978 format, saying that "The stamp of the 70s was all over the show." He wanted something more authentically of the ragtime era, rather than something that looks like one era viewed through the lens of another. He altered the running order of the songs, dropped a few to make the show shorter and tighter and created a nicely varied pair of song sets separated by an intermission. Each builds its own excitement, although the first one is the more impressive of the two. This is because it is in the first set that a series of numbers by various women in the cast builds one on top of the other. The second has some more of this but has more of the men, and they aren't quite as strong as the women when it comes to selling a torch song or landing a comic number.

Among the real strengths of the cast are Fredena J. Williams who sells "I'm A Great Big Baby," " Roz White Gonsalves, who delivers a winning "My Handyman Ain't Handy Anymore," and Kara-Tameika Watkins whose "Daddy" gives the audience a look at just why so many New Yorkers drove up to Harlem in the 20s to hear the fresh sounds of the day. There's considerable talent among the men as well. D. William Hughes gets low and down with a soulful blues number "Low Down Blues" (which turns into a duet with Gonsalves' "Gee, I Wish I Had Someone To Rock Me In The Cradle of Love") in the second set's highpoint. Randy Aaron gets a strong audience reaction from his well executed tap routine on "Hot Feet."

Visually, the show offers a bright, warm, colorful feeling given the pinks and reds of Charlie Morrison's lighting plot with just a dash of blue highlights on Nanzi Adzima's period costumes. Daniel Conway's set consist primarily of an elevated platform roughly in the shape of a piano on which Christopher Youstra's small jazz band sits. That band goes uncredited in the program, but mention should be made of the sharp tuba work in the orchestral number in the first act, "Baltimore Buzz." Spiral staircases down to the stage and slide-on set pieces complete the structural side of things while projections of pictures of Eubie Blake or covers of sheet music form the backdrop.

Music by Eubie Blake. Conceived by Julianne Boyd. Directed and choreographed by Tony Parise. Conducted by Christopher Youstra. Design: Daniel Conway (set) Nanzi Adzima (costumes) Charlie Morrison (lights) Jarett C. Pisani (sound) Stan Barouh (photography) Carey Stipe (stage manager). Cast: Randy Aaron, Loretta Giles, Roz White Gonsalves, L C Harden, Jr., D. William Hughes, Carole Denise Jones, Kara-Tameika Watkiins, Fredena J. Williams, Devron T. Young.

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

Running time 2:30 - two intermissions
t A Potomac Stages Pick for bright and lively comedy
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: In 1920s London, a society woman deals with her husband's infidelity not by seeking either divorce or revenge but, rather, setting her sights on achieving economic independence so that she can declare sexual independence. She has no desire to end a highly satisfying partnership with her husband, she just wants to take control of her own life so she can enjoy both the pleasures of the home and the adventures of the world - just as men want to do.

Julie-Ann Elliot's fluid movements, erect posture and sharp enunciation sets a standard for high-society British comedy. Her performance as the wronged wife who refuses to see her husband's behavior as either despicable or damaging to her personally is rock-solid. A number of her colleagues match her for their sense of belonging in the drawing room world of London in the 20s. Ashley West is even brighter and a touch flightier, as befits her role, while Nancy Robinette makes her usual hay with an aside or a direct comment.  Allyson Currin as the sister who can't wait to break the bad news is properly acidic. Both Michael McKenzie, as the philandering husband, and John Wojda, as a returned former suitor, manage to avoid seeming too much like weak ninnies, while Maugham's stronger women plot and plan and generally move the story along.

It should be noted that James Slaughter was out for the performance we reviewed. Olney's Producing Director Brad Watkins made the announcement before the show that there would be a replacement in the smaller role of West's husband and that the replacement would be himself. The audience was won over by the self-depreciating humor of the announcement and went along for the ride when he played his one scene with script in hand. It was one of those moments in live theater that makes you so very glad you weren't home stuck in front of a television.

On the design side, the overall impression is marvelous and the concepts delightful, but in both set and costumes, something just misses being fabulous. James Wolk's set is everything you would want for this woman's drawing room - elegant, color coordinated and oozing both wealth and charm. But outside the window it appears to be night time while all three acts take place in the afternoon. Liz Covey's costumes for all the women are a delightful and colorful survey of the highest of high fashion from the flapper era. For the men, on the other hand, the designs seem marvelous but the fit a bit off and the construction a bit crude. Michael McKenzie's suits look like they should hang just as Cary Grant's do in Hollywood's finest representation of a gentleman's wardrobe, but a bulging half lining and a drooping cuff break the spell.

Written by W. Somerset Maugham. Directed by John Going. Design: James Wolk (set) Liz Covey (costumes) Anne Nesmith (wigs) Dennis Parichy (lights) Jarett C. Pisani (sound) Stan Barouh (photography) Renee E. Yancey (stage manager). Cast: Bob Barr, Allyson Currin, Julie-Ann Elliott, Helen Hedman, Michael McKenzie, Nancy Robinette, James Slaughter, Ashley West, John Wojda.

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

Running time 2:00 - one intermission
A family show with some charm
Click here to buy the CD

Storyline: This is a fairly simple re-telling of the fairy tale of "the girl of the cinders," ill-treated by a selfish stepmother and victimized by her two stepsisters. With the help of her Fairy Godmother, she goes to the ball where she and the prince meet and fall in love. She flees as the clock strikes midnight but he tracks her down through the clue of the glass slipper she lost as she fled.

There are more delights than disappointments in the show so lets begin with them. Erin Driscoll is as pert and pretty as you could wish in the title role and delivers a nice rendition of "In My Own Little Corner." As the Fairy Godmother, Deb G. Girdler uses a refreshing openness starting with a take-the-audience-into-her-confidence opening speech about turning off cell phones and continuing right on through the delightful comic song "Impossible" in which she comes to the conclusion that "impossible things are happening every day." Also notable are Chris Sizemore as the Herald and Christopher Flint as the King who is concerned over the cost of the ball. Best of all, however, are Jenna Sokolowski and Michele Tauber, who are very funny as the step sisters. Their "Stepsisters Lament" is a gem.

The strengths in these performances, and in Waldrop's version of Hammerstein's charming script, combine with the songs that Rodgers and Hammerstein composed that range from "Ten Minutes Ago," "A Lovely Night" and "Do I Love Your Because You’re Beautiful?" as well as a waltz for the ball as fine as any Rodgers ever wrote. But, that waltz is played here by a five piece orchestra that doesn't even include a violin. The keyboard synthesized violin setting is no substitute for the lushness the music demands.

There are serious disappointments on the stage as well. First among them is the performance of Will Ray as the Prince. Perhaps he was directed to adopt an ungainly manner that seems awkward, but he certainly never seems charming. The character isn't called "Prince Charming" but he should be charming anyway to motivate the love that springs to instant life when he and Cinderella meet at the ball. Vocally, Ray is just not strong enough for great love songs like "Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful?" The inconsistent sound amplification does considerable damage to some of the songs and scenes as well. For example, Chris Sizemore's booming voice fills the theater with the announcement that "The Prince Is Giving A Ball" but the reactions of the citizens disappear as some seem left without an operating microphone. The resulting irregularity gives the show an amateur feel from the very beginning which it is rarely able to overcome.

Music by Richard Rodgers. Book and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Book adapted by Mark Waldrop. Directed by Mark Waldrop. Music direction by Christopher Youstra. Choreographed by Michele Mossay-Cuevas. Design: Michael Anania (set) Sekula Sinadinovski (costumes) Karlah Hamilton (wigs) F. Mitchell Dana (lights) Mark Anduss (sound) Stan Barouh (photography) Renee E. Yancey (stage manager). Cast: Sara Brunow, Erin Driscoll, Christopher Flint, Deb G. Girdler, Karlah Hamilton, Patricia Hurley, Laura Kelley, Michael Kenny, Timothy Dale Lewis, Monica Lijewski, Matthew McGloin, Will Ray, Michael Vitaly Sazonov, Margo Seibert, Chris Sizemore, Jenna Sokolowski, Michele Tauber.

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

Running time 2:40 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for second act laughs
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: When a loud and extroverted Englishman brings his quiet, introverted countryman for a quiet weekend in a Georgia fishing lodge, he tells the locals not to try to talk with him because his friend knows no English. As a result, however, they discuss their secrets with each other in the quiet man's presence and he learns more than he bargained for, discovering a deep dark plot to take over the lodge for use as a headquarters for the Ku Klux Klan. He comes out of his shell as he engineers a fabulously funny way to thwart the plans of the bigots.

Two factors combine to make this a good production. Yes, Kaczynski is one of them, but there's something else going on here that may escape your attention until you sit down to think about the evening. Then you may realize that the first act is so jam packed with plot and character explanations that it shouldn't be as easy to swallow as it is. The credit for the pleasure goes chiefly to director Stewart F. Lane, who manages to keep the first hour from seeming like a lecture. The material here isn't really that funny, but he lets his talented cast play it to the edges of tomfoolery without crossing over into territory that could be a turnoff.

Surrounding this foreigner with the likes of blustery Field Blauvelt, sweet Rusty Clauss, lovely Lindsay Haynes, smooth Clinton Brandhagen and lumbering Delaney Williams, and placing a concerted focus on the very funny Ben Shovlin works like a charm. Shovlin is particularly good as the somewhat dimwitted young man with an innocence that is matched by goodness. This comes as no surprise to those who still treasure the moment he played "Lady of Spain" on a tuba for the Washington Stage Guild's An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf earlier this year. The man seems to have a genius for earnest silliness.

It would all come to naught, however, were Kaczynski unable to escalate the comedy in the second act. Here, he gets to play a comic riff of major proportions as he makes up a story in his own nonsense language before proceeding on to the marvelously staged confrontation where his character becomes the prime mover in a superbly funny finale. Never fear, Kaczynski's got the chops to pull it off. Go, and enjoy.

Written by Larry Shue. Directed by Stewart F. Lane. Design: James Kronzer (set) Anne Kennedy (costumes) Charlie Morrison (lights) Jarett Pisani (sound) Stan Barouh (photography) Jess W. Speaker III (stage manager). Cast: Field Blauvelt, JJ Kaczynski, Rusty Clauss, Clinton Brandhagen, Lindsay Haynes, Delaney Williams, Ben Shovlin.

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

Running time 2:30 - one intermission
An affecting look at a family torn by bipolar disorder
Performances in the Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab

Storyline: A high ranking official of the Department of State who has controlled his manic depressive illness through medication abandons the treatment just as he has the chance to lead the US effort to arrange peace in the middle east. The reemergence of the symptoms has serious consequences on his performance and on his marriage to an artist whose work is just beginning to earn her nationwide recognition.

Wurtzel creates a pair of independent, highly stressed people for this examination of a marriage under pressure. Bipolar disorder may be the trigger for the troubles of the moment, but she avoids making this a play about a disease. It is, instead, a play about relationships and about people with individual strengths and weaknesses. Wurtzel's knowledge of the symptoms of the disorder may be thorough, and her exploration of the havoc they can wreak on the lives of the people it affects may be highly accurate. She may even have the art world of major exhibit galleries well in hand. But she doesn't get the realities of government service quite right, which is a problem in a production here in the nation's capital. Indeed, a second complete play could be devised on the topic of how the State Department would deal with the situation of an Undersecretary acting for the Secretary in a high-visibility negotiation exhibiting the manic behavior seen here. Wurtzel sets up the situation but leaves it unexamined and unresolved as she maintains her concentration on the private lives of the couple.

The very dramatic swings of mania and depression that are the symptoms of the disorder give Christopher Lane the opportunity to reach for very different extremes in his portrayal. He is a very commanding presence in any part, and to his credit, he avoids excesses that would take this performance to extremes. Marybeth Wise is a fine counterpart to his swings, working her way methodically through the increased concern that her character feels for her husband and their marriage right through to the final confrontation. Leo Erickson is smooth and polished as the Secretary of State and Halo Wines strikes a number of nice notes, especially in one of her two supporting roles, that of Lane's mother. Petosa has brought one of the graduates of the Boston University School of Theatre which he chairs for his first role on a full Olney production. Tim Spears is impressive as the couple's stressed-out son.

Milogros Ponce de León's striking set gives the entire project a sense of serious heft. Since the events of the play are primarily presented through the viewpoint of the wife, her workshop area is the central feature of the set. Large windows at the back and tall towers of brick walls connected by industrial scaffolding makes an eye-filling locale although the Secretary of State commenting on it being such a lovely home seemed a bit strange. The image of an abstract sculpture, a work-in-progress, dominates the artist's studio through many of the scenes, but it is the image of Christopher Lane hovering over the area on the scaffolding that remains in the mind - especially as lit so dramatically by Donald Edmund Thomas.

Written by Irene Wurtzel. Directed by Jim Petosa. Design: Milagros Ponce de León (set) Kathleen Geldard (costumes) Donald Edmund Thomas (lights) Jarett Pisani (sound) Stan Barouh (photography) Renee E. Yancey (stage manager). Cast: Therese Barbato, Leo Erickson, Christopher Lane, Tim Spears, Halo Wines, Marybeth Wise.

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

Running time 2:35 - one intermission
A portrait of political polarization driven by self interest
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: A respected medical doctor who serves on the staff of a Norwegian health spa discovers the presence of contaminating bacteria in the spa's water supply, and tries to get the town officials, including his brother the Mayor, to undertake the necessary corrective actions. They, on the other hand, see the discovery more as a threat to their economic well being than to the health of their patrons, and conspire to silence him.

You can't escape the comparison to Peter Benchley's novel Jaws, which Steven Spielberg made into such a compelling movie. Of course, here the threat to public health and safety on the one hand and to the economic fortunes of a small town on the other is something considerably smaller and harder to detect than a shark. Indeed, the play dates to 1882, a time when not everyone understood or accepted the germ theory of illness which Louis Pasteur had proposed just a decade before. Thus, the doctor's father-in-law can't quite comprehend that there are "invisible animals" coming from his slaughter house to threaten the health of tourists "taking the waters" at the town's new spa. What Benchley and Spielberg made amazingly taut, nail bitingly tense and scary enough to keep a generation of beach goers out of the surf, however, is tame and stale here. There's no suspense at all, although it may reinforce some people's reluctance to venture into a town meeting.

It is left to the actors to make the evening watchable, and there are a host of fine actors in this cast who draw your eye and give you reason to sit up and take notice. The aforementioned James  Slaughter, for one, adds to his rather impressive list of fine performances at Olney. Christopher Lane builds to moments of high dudgeon with skill and when he lets loose, he really lets loose. Jeffries Thaiss may not find any opportunities for subtlety, but he is marvelously smarmy as the newspaper editor who believes you print moral stories in the back pages so your readers will believe the lies you print in the front. On the other end of the spectrum lies Kip Pierson, whose portrayal of the editor's assistant goes too far in its intensity, reminiscent of Strother Martin at his most orgasmic, and Julie-Ann Elliot, who, despite considerable charm and dignity, still can't quite overcome a script that calls for her to respond with alacrity to to an instruction from her husband "Katherine. Have the floor scrubbed where he spat!"

Whoever is responsible for the design decision to place lights under the floor surrounding the stage should get a special mention, for it lends such an ominous feel to so many superbly appropriate moments as Petosa blocks the scenes to place his actors standing over them at just the right times. It may have been James Kronzer who designed the set in such a way as to have the lights ring the playing space, even at the rear of the stage under the thresholds of the four huge doors that are the principal feature of the design. Or it may have been the suggestion of lighting designer Daniel MacLean Wagner. Of course, it may have been Petosa's idea all along. Whichever, it is a fine example of the effectiveness that results when all the members of a design team are working together in concert.

Written by Henrik Ibsen. Translated by Rolf Fjelde. Directed by Jim Petosa. Design: James Kronzer (set) Howard Vincent Kurtz (costumes) Daniel MacLean Wagner (lights) Jarett Pisani (sound) Stan Barouh (photography) Jess W. Speaker, III (stage manager). Cast: Bradley Bowers, Julie-Ann Elliott, Tim Getman, Lindsey Haynes, Carter Jahncke, Christopher Lane, Sean McCoy, Kip Pierson, Richard Pilcher, James Slaughter, Jeffries Thaiss.

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

Running time 2:30 - one intermission
Scenes from the life of a political cartoonist who refuses to compromise his view of truth
Click here to buy the script

Storyline: The career of a political cartoonist is sketched through vignettes ranging from his battlefield experience in World War I, his resistance to the control of the political watchdogs of the Soviet union, and, after his emigration to England, similar efforts to censor his work for a London paper. Late in his career, he summarizes it all in the line "Look for truth and, when you find it, shout it. That's my politics."

Barker is said to have based his character of the cartoonist on Victor Weisz, born in Berlin to a Hungarian-Jewish family. Weisz was too young to have been on the battlefields of World War I, however, and he didn't emigrate to the Soviet Union when he fled Germany, he headed for Britain. Still, his left-leaning, anti-autocratic views and his acidic brush are in keeping with the portrait painted here. Barker gives him some biting lines, none more important than those spoken about is own work. "The cartoon is the lowest form of art, and therefore, the most important form" and "I feel it, therefore it is (art)." The border between audience and play is blurred in this production with the cartoonist actually taking a seat in the front row in a scene or two. This results in blocked sightlines more than a merger of observer and observed, however.

Usually, the test of a fine performance by an actor is "the arc," the way the character grows, or at least changes, over the span of time of the play. Here, it is just the opposite as Paul Morella builds a portrait of a man who steadfastly refuses to change. Normally, of course, "change" is equated with "growth" and a man who is no wiser at age 80 than he was at age 20 could be said to have been a failure. In Barker's conception, however, the artist Morella portrays is a paragon of intellectual integrity holding out against all pressures to compromise, to betray "truth." Change wouldn't be an improvement, it would be a betrayal, and Morella's artist simply will have none of it. The steadfastness of his character is captured in Pei Lee's costume design for the show - all the other performer have multiple costumes for their multiple parts, but Morella stays in his stained and threadbare outfit for all the scenes from the battlefield in World War I to the offices of a London newspaper in the 1980s.

The supporting cast is comprised of local professionals and students from Middlebury College in Vermont where the co-founder of the Potomac Theatre Project and director of this production, Richard Romagnoli, is the Chair of Theater. As might be expected, the professionals are the most impressive, creating strong sketches of the characters who come in and out of the story. Richard Pilcher, Helen Hedman and Nigel Reed are each a pleasure to watch as they do their work. Among the students, Rishabh Kashyap stands out, especially in the opening scene when he's Morella's battlefield buddy in the Carpathian Mountains on the Eastern Front at the end of World War I. He and Morella work exceptionally well together in that opening blast of words and emotions that kick things off.

Written by Howard Barker. Directed by Richard Romagnoli. Design: Alexander Cooper (set) Pei Lee (costumes) Justin Thomas (lights) Matthew M. Nielson (sound) Stan Barouh (photography) Keri Schultz (stage manager). Cast: Jonathan Ellis, Helen Hedman, Rebecca Kanengiser, Rishabh Kashyap, Jeanne LaSala, Paul Morella, Richard Pilcher, Nigel Reed, Alec Strum.

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

Reviewed May 27
Running time 2:25 - one intermission
Winner of the Ushers Favorite Show Award for May
t A Potomac Stages pick for superb design,
 direction and acting
v Includes brief nudity
Click here to buy the script

Storyline:  History records that the deformed John Merrick was plucked from a Victorian freak show to be protected and studied in a hospital in 1884. He became a mover in London’s high society before his death in 1890. Bernard Pomerance’s Tony Award winning play explores serious issues of social values and human worth.

It was the playwright's fortuitous choice to have the horribly deformed "elephant man" portrayed by an actor without any help from makeup or special prosthetic devices. Because the concentration on Merrick's humanity is achieved through this lack of artifice, it requires an actor of inordinate talent, skill and taste. Some chose to play it with only a hint of deformity, usually with a limp and a twisted arm. Here Scott Fortier twists much more than an arm. In the early scene where his discoverer, Dr. Treves, presents his case at the London hospital where he practices, Fortier's posture and facial muscles take on the characteristics described. While none of the "grotesque protuberances" actually grow on Fortier's slight frame, his arm appears to shrivel up into his chest, his head seems to fall of its own weight over onto one shoulder and his face contorts to the extent that he is only barely able to speak. Yet speak he does, delivering with apparent difficulty but great dignity - and not a little humor - the lines Pomerance gives Merrick to reveal the intellect, the poise and the innate humor of the man. It is the mark of Fortier's own intellect, poise and humor, that, having saddled his performance with the weight of its own version of elephantiasis, he manages to let the humanity of his subject shine through.

Valerie Leonard has polished the humor as well as the compassion in her performance of the first woman capable of seeing beyond the surface deformity to treat Merrick as a human being with charms, strengths, weaknesses and needs. Christopher Lane returns to the Olney stage to assume the role of Dr. Treves and he gives it a dignified if less fully rounded interpretation than Finnegan brought to Catalyst's version. The rest of the cast double or even triple on smaller roles. (Even Leonard does a bit of doubling, appearing as one of the two "pinheads" in the freak show.) James Konicek creates both a marvelously pompous Bishop and a superbly selfish handler of freaks at the freak show. John Dow and James Slaughter give rather mechanical performances as, among others, the hospital director and a financier, which results in the opening sequence of the second act being a bit confusing as to just how it relates to the case of John Merrick. Leonard and Fortier promptly get the show back on track, however.

A new design team handles their duties no less satisfyingly than did the Catalyst team. One key feature of the production that has changed but remains extremely effective is the use of an oboist as accompanist. At Catalyst the small playing space necessitated placing the oboist directly on stage. Here, a different oboist, Martha Goldstein, is placed below and to the side but still very visible. She's playing music she has improvised around a few evocative classical pieces (one by Shumann) rather than playing the original score composed for the Catalyst production by Jesse Terrill. Music has always been a feature of the play. The original Broadway production had a cellist playing works of Bach, Saint-Saëns, Elgar and others, while the revival had incidental music composed by Philip Glass. Goldstein's improvisations give a period-proper feeling to this story of Victorian London and adds to the allure of the production.

Written by Bernard Pomerance. Directed by Jim Petosa. Design: Jon Savage (set) Kathleen Geldard (costumes) Stacey Wilson (wigs) Charlie Morrison (lights) Jarett Pisani (sound) James Slaughter (dialect coach) Stan Barouh (photography) Tim Burt (stage manager). Cast: John Dow,  Scott Fortier, James Konicek, Christopher Lane, Valerie Leonard, Barbara Pinolini, James Slaughter. Musician: Martha Goldstein.

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

Reviewed April 15
Running time 2:35 - one intermission
A bright and tuneful '30s musical
Click here to buy the CD

Storyline: Cole Porter’s 1934 musical comedy is set at sea as the SS America sails out of Manhattan. The hero has stowed away in order to be with the girl he loves who is sailing to England to fulfill her mother's dream - she's to marry an English Lord. A runaway gangster, who is embarrassed to be only public enemy #13, helps the hero impersonate public enemy #1 who has missed the boat. In this way, our hero hopes to avoid being discovered as a stowaway and locked in the brig where he can't woo his sweetheart. Everyone on board falls under the spell of this "celebrity" except for one - the girl he loves.

The show itself has an interesting history, one of those Broadway legends of a show saved at the last minute. When it began rehearsals in 1934 it was a light musical comedy about a ship wreck with a book by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse. Before it opened, however, the passenger liner S.S. Morro Castle caught fire off the coast of New Jersey with the loss over 100 lives. With newsreel footage filling the new movie houses with pictures of the beached and burned out hulk, this was no time for jokes about a ship wreck. Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse (young men who went on to write such big hits as The Sound of Music) were called in to re-write. This production uses a 1962 script prepared for an off-Broadway revival that starred Hal Linden which added a few lesser known Porter songs like "Heaven Hop" and "Let's Misbehave" (both from 1928's Paris) and "Friendship" (from 1939's Du Barry Was a Lady.)

Director Brad Watkins keeps things moving at a fair pace but avoids skipping over the skimpy plot-setting material, That is a good thing since the convoluted twists and turns need to be clear in order to be easy to dismiss. If you are spending your time trying to figure out just why the nightclub singer is perfect for a revival gospel number, you won't have time to enjoy just how well she belts out "Blow, Gabriel Blow." It appears that sound designer Matt Nielson struggles mightily with the inherent brittleness of Olney's new theater, and, despite a few glitches with the wireless microphones, does a commendable job. Still, the show has a sharpness that makes many of the sequences seem like tap numbers even when they aren't meant that way. Watkins does make a few missteps, however, as he tries to zip up that which is already zippy enough. The big tap number "Heaven Hop" is staged, for example, using stage fog. The idea must have been to simulate having the chorus tap dancing on clouds, but the effect is simply to obscure their feet, and, as Gower Champion found out, the sight of tapping feet is a crowd pleaser.

Kevin Bernard makes a smooth leading man who can croon and swing a dance partner across the stage with style. Laura Schutter is his partner in this, and while she has a good voice and can dance nicely, she lacks some of the youthful vivacity that would make the part a delight. Strangely, there is one in the cast who seems just perfect for the role but is, instead, playing the second-banana comic role - Erin Driscoll. At the performance we attended the starring role of the night club singer which was written specifically for a young Ethel Merman, and, therefore, has fabulous songs to belt out to the balcony, was handled by understudy Kristen Jepperson. We can't report on how good Karlah Hamilton is in the role - but we can say that Jepperson is fully up to the task and sells her numbers with all the energy they require.

Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter. Book by Guy Bolton, P.G. Wodehouse, Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. Directed by Brad Watkins. Musical direction by Christopher Youstra. Choreography by Ilona Kessell. Design: James Wolk (set) Howard Vincent Kurtz (costumes) Larry Munsey (wigs) Charlie Morrison (lights) Matt Nielson (sound) Stan Barouh (photography) Renee E. Yancey (stage manager). Cast: Kevin Bernard, Michael Bunce, Debra Buonaccorsi, William Cortez-Statham, John Dow, Erin Driscoll, Ray Ficca, Erica Hamilton, Karlah Hamilton, Evan Hoffmann, David Jennings, Kristen Jepperson, Karl Kippola, Eva Kolig, Rachel Kopf, Rachel Lee, Jonathan Owen, Ernie Pruneda, Mishi Schueller, Laura Schutter, Steve Tipton.

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

Reviewed February 18
Running time 2:45 - one intermission
t A  Potomac Stages Pick for superb staging of an absorbing story
Click here to buy the script
Click here to buy the novella

Storyline: In 1850 the daughter of a wealthy doctor in New York's fashionable Washington Square is courted by a charming young man. Her father believes the young man is only interested in the fortune she inherited from her mother, who died in childbirth, and the additional fortune she will receive upon his death. She draws $10,000 a year from her mother's estate and will have an additional $20,000 a year upon her father's death for a total annual income that would equal two thirds of a million dollars today. She is, her father insists, plain and shy, and the only thing that could attract a charming suitor would be money.

Van Griethuysen's portrayal of the doctor is rich, smooth, dignified, detailed and full of touches that reveal a complex core under a polished exterior. It is a challenging role for an actor, for the doctor tries his best to maintain his privacy and not reveal his inner self even to the members of his family, yet the psychic scars that mar his character must be clear to the audience. Van Griethuysen lets you see and even feel those scars without violating Victorian decorum for a moment.

It helps, of course, to have the rest of the cast delivering high quality performances as well. In this, the production is very fortunate. Effie Johnson, as the daughter, makes the transition  from shy and retiring girl with no hope of believing anyone could find her attractive to giddy fiancée, and then from devastated victim to mature, commanding adult. Her posture changes with each transition as she almost literally develops a backbone. Jeffries Thaiss is almost too smooth as the suitor but turns that to his benefit as his character reaps what he sowed. Halo Wines is fun to watch as she twitters in the role of the elderly aunt and Julie-Ann Elliott is impressive in her one scene with Van Griethuysen as the suitor's sister who defends him and her family without violating her own principles of honesty and dignity.

This handsome production features costumes which capture both time and social standing and an impressive set that represents the pinnacle of upper class society in the finest neighborhood of the nation's largest city. The set stretches across the wide playing space of Olney's new mainstage to such an extent that it is almost too spacious, but the use of semi-transparent scrim to reveal not only the entrance hall behind one wall but then the city's skyline beyond the next, gives it an ethereal feel that allows such an expanse even if the real town houses along Washington Square would have drawing rooms something less than forty feet in width. The scrim also allows the lighting to create some of the most memorable of the stage pictures of Going's staging, the candle-lit disappearance up the main staircase of, first, the doctor and, later, the daughter. Both linger in the mind's eye.

Written by Augustus and Ruth Goetz. Adapted from the novella by Henry James. Directed by John Going. Design: James Wolk (set) Liz Covey (costumes) Anne Nesmith (wigs) Nancy Schertler (lights) Jarett Pisani (sound) Stan Barouh (photography) Jenna Henderson (stage manager). Cast: Julie-Ann Elliott, Patricia Hurley, Beth Hylton, Effie Johnson, Jesse Mays, Faith Potts, Jeffries Thaiss, Ted van Griethuysen, Halo Wines.

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

Reviewed November 26
Running time 2:15 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for a solid production of a well known musical
v Brief moments of violence
Click here to buy the CD

Storyline: The basic tale of Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist" is compressed into two and a half hours with sixteen songs. In a London orphanage, young Oliver has the temerity to beg for a second helping of gruel and is summarily sold off to an undertaker who needs a child mourner for his funerals. He escapes that fate only to be taken into a gang of pickpockets run by Mr. Fagan. He's wrongly arrested for picking a pocket when he was only observing the technique of his tutor, the Artful Dodger. In the meantime, barmaid Nancy has difficulties with her abusive lover Bill Sikes. When Oliver's accuser turns out to be a wealthy gentleman who, finding that he wrongly accused the lad, takes him under his protection, Bill Sikes sees a way to profit but Nancy comes to the boy's rescue with fatal results.

Dickens' sprawling story with dozens of major characters had to be compressed and streamlined in order to fit within the confines of a single evening. Bart used the techniques of British music halls with their broad characterizations, simple humor and energetic musical numbers to move the story along briskly. He kept Dickens' horde of urchins, giving a youthful vigor and charm to the piece, with Oliver himself singing the lovely "Where is Love?" and the Artful Dodger participating in the merriment with "I'd Do Anything."

The role of Fagan is the adult backbone of the story and any successful production requires a strong performance in the role. Andrew Long brings a positive attitude and a glimmer of humor to the part. His take on the second act big number for the character, "Reviewing the Situation," is refreshingly new. Supporting singers are very good as well with notable work by Stephen Carter-Hicks and Monica Lijewski who team up for "I Shall Scream" and Eleasha Gamble who adds her rich voice to the four-part "Who Will Buy?" two pairs of young performers alternate in the title role and the counterpart "Artful Dodger." The disappointment of the night is Brian Sgambati who seems completely wrong for the supposedly terrifying Bill Sikes. He should be horrifyingly threatening from the first notes of "My Name!" Instead, he is a slight presence. His voice doesn't boom. Indeed, if often doesn't even find the note.

Among the joys of this solid production are the playing of the quintet in the orchestra pit and the excellent reduction of the original orchestrations for just five players. Musical Director Christopher Youstra took the charts provided with the script which called for four reeds, four horns, two percussionists and a full string section and created parts for just one woodwind, one violin, a bass, a percussionist and a piano. His reduced charts enhance the color and lilt of the originals while providing every bit as much of the atmospheric support the score demands. It helps, of course, that he had Carolyn Agria who can handle flute, clarinet and bass clarinet with aplomb (her playing on "I'd Do Anything" is a joy) and Karen Galvin on violin who can do great underscoring when called upon, but can also duplicate the unique klezmer-style sound required for Long's marvelous solo on "Reviewing the Situation."

Music, lyrics and book by Lionel Bart. Directed by Brad Watkins. Choreography by Ilona Kessell. Music direction by Christopher Youstra. Fight choreography by Robb Hunter. Design: James Kronzer (set) Howard Vincent Kurtz (costumes) Anne Nesmith (wigs and hair) Charlie Morrison (lights) Stan Barouh (photography) Tim Burt (stage manager). Cast: Gregory Atkin, Jimmy Bellinger, J. Bradley Bowers or Ethan Langsdorf-Willoughby, A.K. Brink, Stephen Carter-Hicks, William Cortez-Stratham, Adam Donovan or Zack Phillips, Charlie Eichler, Helena Farhi, Eleasha Gamble, Katherine E. Hill, Wendell Jordan, Karl Kippola, Dana Krueger, Monica Lijewski, Andrew Long, Kelsey Mac, Mike Mainwaring, Madeline McCabe, Christopher "CJ" Rager, Brian Sgambati, Jordan Silver, Thomas A. Simpson, Lynn Sharp Spears, Andy Tonken, Meghan Touey, Zack Vaz, Bryan Williams, Peggy Yates.

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

Reviewed October 7
Running time 2:40 - two intermissions
A h