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October 13 - December 31, 2007
Son of a Bush
Reviewed by
Brad Hathaway |
Running time 1 hour - no
intermission
Admission $30 - two drink minimum
An unfocused and unpolished sketch comedy program |
Sporting all the trappings of a theatrical production, this slender assembly
of sketches of the sort usually found in improv and standup comedy clubs
lacks the polish and focus that usually marks the genre normally titled
revue. The great title would lead you to expect an evening full of jokes at
the expense of our current President with a wide range of material relating
to his foreign policy, his domestic policy, his public image and many of the
people both in his administration and in the Congress. But, while the
evening begins with a comic impersonation of the chief executive at the
podium delivering a string of malapropisms, it quickly veers off
to any number of different, non-Bush topics and never plumbs the comic
potential of its putative subject. |
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Storyline: A series of eight sketches over a
short hour includes a few comic songs, a press conference and debate, some
improvisation on suggestions from the audience and sketches such as the
Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms Museum's version of history and an Iraqui game
show.
John Simmons has been with the group
since its founding in 1979, but seemed unfamiliar with some of the material
and at a loss for a comeback on a number of improvisations. He handles all the parts for men in the collection
of sketches. He does a fair George W. Bush imitation when he has material to
deliver but some of his Bush shtick is in an improv mode and there it is
hard to tell if his deer-in-the-headlights stare is a put on of Bush or a
reaction to the lack of an idea for a punch line. When he moves on to handle
chores as a motivational speaker or a game show host there isn't much of a
distinction between his new personas and his Bush impersonation. It almost
comes across as an imitation of Bush imitating a game show host.
The higher energy comes from relative
newcomer to Gross National Product, Christine Thompson who joined the troupe
in 1991. She does a good Hilary Clinton and throws herself into the
motivational speaker role with such mania that the performance itself is
briefly funny even when there doesn't seem to be a joke behind it.
The show is performed before a rudimentary
set of panels with bunting, a central curtain and two podiums. Lighting was
something of a distracting problem on opening night since the spotlights
were tightly focused but the cast rarely hit their marks. As a result some
of the early material was delivered from next to rather than in spotlights.
A number of cues for both audio and lights seemed to either come late or too
early. As the cast and crew gets more familiar with the material some of
this roughness should be overcome.
Written by John Simmons and Christine
Thompson with contributions by John Moody, Joel Perry, Doug Cox and David
Doyle. Music by Scrumley Koldewyn. Design: John Rager and Dave Johnson
(set) Teresa Ruby (lights) Willie Doyle (sound). Cast: John Simmons,
Christine Thompson. Voice over contributions from John Dryden and the
Daily Feed, Willie Doyle, Scrumley Koldewyn. |
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October 12 - November 10, 2007
Primary Urges
Reviewed by
Brad Hathaway |
Running time 1:25 - one
intermission
A sketch comedy musical on the theme of the Presidential primary election
process
Price - $25 |
City In A Swamp Productions mounts a musical lampooning of the system political
parties use to pick a presidential nominee with a six member cast, most of
whom have experience on stage in the annual Hexagon spoof shows. This may
not come as too much of a surprise since the book, lyrics and music are by
the team of Howard Bennett and Nicholas Zill, also long-time Hexagon
contributors. Here the formula of clever triple rhymed songs to brief catchy
tunes and a slender thread of a plot makes for a slightly over-long but
nonetheless pleasant evening.
Storyline: Congressman Floyd Flotsom, "The Least Important Member" of the
House of Representatives, is bitten by Presidential ambition and succumbs to
the Primary Urge. His staff come up with policies to tout. (How about
Medicaid for pets? They call it "MediKitty.") He employs the aid of an image
advisor who devises new approaches to "Character Assassination." His wife
presumes he'll have affairs while on the campaign trail but doesn't want him
to confide in her. All falls apart, however, when he gets close enough to
victory but snatches total defeat at the very last moment.
The cast is engagingly agreeable as they
prance their way through comedy shtick, impersonations of Hillary Clinton,
Barack Obama, Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani. None of the impersonations are
"spot on" but, at the same time, none need to be to get the gags across.
Most don't carry much of a tune either, which is a bit more of a problem
given the fact that there are twenty songs packed into the hour and a half.
Those songs are all brief ditties, each with
a catchy tune and one specific joke. Each serves a purpose in its scene and
the book is actually more coherent and flows better than in many spoof shows
of the type.
The most notable feature of the material is
the arrangements by Barbara Twigg for the three member band, especially the
delightful use of Kirt Vener's clarinet and bass clarinet. The bass clarinet
provides heft for many of the numbers and is even used in an oom-pah role
for a polka that makes the moment seem like a visit to a Bavarian beer hall.
Music by Howard Bennett. Book and lyrics by
Nicholas Zill. Musical accompaniment and arrangements by Barbara Twigg.
Choreography by Nkemjika Ofodile. Cast: Marilyn Bennett, Mary Jean Bruno,
Michael Bruno, Rachael Goldman, Michael Miyazaki, Doug Smith. Musicians:
Stan Ismart, Barbara Twigg, Kirt Vener.
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October 19 - November 2, 2007
Naked Cabaret: The
Secret's Out
Reviewed by
Brad Hathaway |
Running time 1:10 - no
intermission
A four vocalist/one keyboard cabaret program in the form of a therapy
session
Price - $18 |
This show, first mounted for the Capital Fringe
Festival, plays Friday nights at the Warehouse. The nakedness of the title refers to emotional, not physical
exposure. Four experienced professional cabaret performers tackle fifteen
emotionally revealing songs illustrating their innermost secrets. Between
songs, they read secrets written out by members of the audience, some of
which are hardly secret ("I'm a grandmother"), and others seem to be
revelations probably better left unrevealed ("I haven't cleaned my bathroom
in a year.")
Storyline: The goal of a therapy session is for everyone to get "a little
bit naked" (sung to the tune of "Everyone's A Little Bit Racist"). The
nakedness, of course, is of the emotional kind and does not involve the
removing of any clothing.
The songs cover a wide range from show tunes
like Lee Adams and Charles Strouse' "How Lovely to be a Woman" from Bye
Bye Birdie to Flaherty and Ahrens' musicalized version of a comedy
routine "Funny/The Duck Joke" from My Favorite Year and cabaret
material from Shire and Maltby's "I'll Get Up Tomorrow" to Jason Robert
Brown's "Someone To Fall back On."
The four cabaret artists are:
- Terri Allen, frequently featured at
Horizons' and a performer in her own one woman show Deep Thoughts and
Dark Chocolate.
- Steven Cupo (Helen Hayes Award for the
musical Cabaret at Signature, frequently seen at Signature, Arena
and other venues around town)
- Emily Leatha Eerson, who moved from New
York City to the Potomac Region, is active with the DC Cabaret Network and
has performed in Stop the Presses II and Cabaret and Cabernet
at the Kennedy Center.
- Lonny Smith who hails from Brainerd
Minnesota, home of Linda Eder and Paul Bunyan. Over the last four years
he's been seen on and heard from the stages of the Kennedy Center (The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer) the American Century Theatre (Call Me
Mister) MetroStage (Closer Than Ever) and Toby's Dinner Theatre of
Columbia (Jekyll & Hyde).
George Fulginiti-Shakar accompanies the
quartet from a keyboard set up in front of the stage, facing the singers.
This allows the closest collaboration between vocalist and accompanist.
Sometimes that collaboration is subtle and most people in the audience may
not even notice, as when he sings along as part of the backing for Terri
Allen's rendition of her "Telephone Song." At other times, it is more
obvious as when a vocalist forgets a lyric and asks for a prompt. He even
gets into the act, being called up to reveal his own secret.
Directed by Judy Simmons and Steven Cupo.
Musical direction by George Fulginiti-Shakar. Sound and lights by Ron Squeri.
Cast: Terri Allen, Steven Cupo, Emily Leatha Everson, Lonny Smith. Note: Judy Simmons will join the cast in
November.
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March 23 - April 22, 2006
Irish Authors Held
Hostage |
Reviewed March 24
Running time 1:30 - no intermission
t A Potomac Stages pick for a fast paced comedy with musical accompaniment
Price: $20
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The author of most importance in this send up of the pretensions of authors
isn't even Irish. He is John Morogiello, Maryland playwright and author of
this series of sharp vignettes that, in director Martin Blanco's swift and
sure presentation, hit all the right buttons to get as many laughs as the
material contains and then yield to the next outrageous incident. Morogiello
not only crafted the material, he's the brightest member of the sharp cast
of four who quickly switch roles and costumes to keep the evening moving
while the on-stage Irish musicians try to keep from cracking up.
Storyline: Eleven short scenes mine the humor
in a series of hypothetical hostage situations. Each involves a legendary
Irish Author being held by a hostage taker with a different cause or reason.
Pity the poor hostage takers who are no match for the literate intelligence
and absolute self absorption of the authors!
From J. M. Synge's non-stop blabbering to
Brendan Behan's practicality (he left Ireland because the supply of Irish
Authors there exceeds the demand "but they are clamoring for them on 7th
Street NW!") and from Oscar Wilde making a pass at his captor to George
Bernard Shaw's reluctance to quote from his own works because his estate
would require royalties that would bankrupt the production, each vignette
quickly captures the essence of the author being lampooned and contrasts it
neatly with the terrorist, criminal or mental case most likely to respond in
the most volatile way to that peculiarity. A first amendment chanting gun
freak who declares "If you keep infringing on my God given right to a gun
I'm gonna shoot this guy" must contend with Joyce's undecipherable gibberish
while Samuel Beckett's captor is a fellow named "Godot" who must get the
incident over because people are waiting for him! The more you know about
Irish authors, the funnier the material is, but a degree in Irish literature
isn't required, for Morogiello builds enough information into the text to
clue you in to each important element.
Morogiello's spirited performance is matched
by his trio of compatriots. Terence Heffernan's North Korean captor whose
inability to say "lyrical" renders O'Casey's material "ryracle" is funny (no
Molly Malone here, just Morry Morone) but his Basque terrorist who is
infuriated by repeated references to him as Spanish is a classic. Lori Boyd
makes both Emily Bronte and Lady Augusta Gregory fitting opponents for their
captors, and Terrence Aselford sharply differentiates between his gun nut,
Transylvanian Irishman Bram Stoker with his garlic, and a bemused Brendan Behan.
The Warehouse's Second Stage, the little room
next door to the main facility, is a great venue for the piece, small, close
and intimate. Adding a great deal to the atmosphere is the use of musicians
to play Irish music before the show begins and between each vignette while
the cast members make their costume changes. There are six musicians listed
in the program, any two of which may be performing on any particular night.
The evening this reviewer attended it was Tina Eck and Matt Shortridge and
their spirited jigs were a delight, giving a lively feel to the pre show
time when you can read producer J. Thaddeus Burian's program notes providing
quick bio material for most of the authors - he limits his write up on Bram
Stoker to simply "He was Irish? Well, I knew he wrote Dracula but..."
Written by John Morogiello. Directed by
Martin Blanco. Music direction by Tina Eck. Design: Elizabeth Kemmerer, John
Morogiello, GraphicInfoDesign.Com (set) Lori Boyd (costumes) Elizabeth
Kemmerer (photography) Sheila Samaddar (choreography and stage management).
Cast: Terence Aselford, Lori Boyd, Terence Heffernan, John Morogiello.
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July 21 - August 8, 2004
Fifteen
Rounds with Jackson Pollock |
Reviewed July 23
Running time 2:25 - one intermission
A production of Hyacinth Theater Co. |
There are really two themes in this world premiere of Bruce Clarke's play
based on the later life of one of the important figures of modern art in the
20th century: his art and his fame. The portions of the play that delve into
the revolutionary approach to painting that sparked his rise to fame are
interesting and even, at times, fascinating. The portions that examine the
affect of that fame on his life, his marriage and his ability to continue
breaking new artistic grounds is more predictable because it is a subject
that has been treated so often in plays about the corrupting influence of
success - artistic or otherwise. If you don't already "get" Pollock's drip
style of painting (which he preferred to call the "pour" style even if it
did sound like "poor" and, thus, was avoided at all costs by his art dealer
and promoter) you may emerge from this rather lengthy performance with a new
appreciation for his works.
Storyline: This bio-play examines the rise to fame of the modern artist who
developed the "drip style" of painting and the impact of success on his
ability to continue developing as an artist.
The image most likely to linger from this
rather wordy play is a visual one, not a verbal one. It is the image of Ian
LeValley, as Pollock, circling a canvas he has spread on the floor while he
drips, splashes and pours paint in an effort to create arrangements of
color, texture and composition without any images. While there are some well
stated explanations of what he was trying to accomplish in the dialogue
Bruce Clarke has written, they are made redundant and almost insignificant
by the success of the visual impact of LeValley's motions in Delia Taylor's
staging. At the moment of creation, Pollock's creative process is there to be
seen, understood and appreciated.
The rest of the play, its effort to deal with
the corrosive impact of success on Pollock's marriage to fellow artist Lee
Krasner, his struggle between the temptation to produce more of the same in
order to get wealthier and better known and the desire to advance even
further in his art, and his own battles with alcoholism is predictable. It is
well staged and the cast including Kerri Rambow as Krasner, William Cook as
Wellem deKooning and Frank Britton as the photographer trying to document
the work process that produces such unusual for their time paintings is
quite good.
The Warehouse seems a particularly
appropriate venue for such a show. Its lobby is an art gallery specializing
in the more modern, more avant-garde works of local artists, and its
performance space, complete with exposed wooden beams, happens to be
very much the look you would expect in the interior of a barn in rural
eastern Long Island in the 1950s where Pollock did most of his important
work. The theatrical impact is enhanced by the straightforward lighting
design of Lawson Earle and a rich soundscape including original incidental
music by Michael John Kapler.
Written by Bruce Clarke. Directed by Delia
Taylor. Original music by Michael John Kapler and Ian Monro. Design: Lawson Earle (lights) Michael John Kapler (sound
effects) Meg Taintor (stage manager). Cast: John Bauer, Frank Britton, William Cook, Ian LeValley,
Tarpley Long, Paul MacWhorter, Kerri Rambow, Timothy Sharman. |
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August 6 - 24, 2003
Love in Exile |
Reviewed August 13
Running time 2 hours 40 minutes
Price range $20 - $24 |
A fine cast and a solid design give Robert Albert Kapler’s play about V. I.
Lenin, and his days as an exile before the Russian revolution a solid
premiere, but the play itself has limitations that keep the evening from
being as entertaining, interesting and rewarding as it might otherwise have
been.
Storyline: In the years leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917,
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, known as Lenin to his followers, lived in exile
with his wife. He falls in love with a wealthy and sexy volunteer in his
Bolshevik movement. The conflict between his relationship with his wife and
his attraction to the recruit as well as the pressures of leadership place a
strain on him. His dreams keep taking him back to the injustices his family
suffered in the time of the Tsars that lead to the deaths of his father and
brother and his own compulsion to see a new system of social justice
established.
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decade after the fall of the Soviet Union, the fascination over its founding
and the sources of the East-West struggle that dominated the entire
twentieth century is a fit subject for drama. A Walk in the Woods and
Proof spring to mind as particularly successful examples. The
personal side of an important leader’s life can be the springboard for
interesting examinations of human qualities. Here, though, the only reason
the central character is interesting is his historical associations. The
drama of conflict between marital commitment and adulterous attraction is
stilted in the text and the cast is unable to rise above that limitation.
That
cast features Paul McLane, looking very much like the Lenin he portrays. His
short cropped hair, his bald pate, his goatee and his compact stature are
all just right for the part. His performance is a sort of luke warm
representation of a man who maintains his outer shell at all costs which,
while appropriate for Lenin as written by Kapler, masks the emotional
turmoil that is the essence of the story. Both women in his life are given
more emotionally charged performances. Georgia Schlessman is the most
emotionally complex as Lenin’s wife, while Jamie Boileau does well with both
the sexiness that attracted Lenin and the devotion to the cause which Kapler
writes for the mistress.
Gregory McLellan takes advantage of the Warehouse Theater’s high ceiling and
exposed girders to create a two level set that reflects the two levels of
action of the play: the reality in Lenin’s homes, classrooms and meeting
halls at ground level and the dreams of his childhood that haunt him
hovering overhead. The cast of the dream sequences features a particularly
dashing Darien Bates as Lenin’s doomed brother. Down at floor level, Frank
Britton captures some of the angst of Lenin’s side-kick who is also
attracted by the sexy recruit, and Alex Zavistovich turns up the intensity
in his few brief scenes.
Written by Robert Albert Kapler. Directed by Ingrid Cornell. Design: Gregory
McLellan (set) Matthew Rowe (sound) Michael John Kapler (music) Tiffiny
Wolins (choreography) R. C. Bates (stage manager). Cast: Darien Bates, Jamie
Boileau, Frank Britton, McKenna Cole,
Paul McLane, Claire Myles, Sebastian Rodriguez, Georgia Schlessman, Andrew
Schneider, Daniel Staicer, Alex Zavistovich. |
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November 5 - 27, 2001
My Presidential Journal |
Reviewed November 6
Running time 1 hour 40 minutes |
Rachel Gardner is in the business of developing new plays and here she has
one on the fast track. At Signature Theatre she has the Signature Stages
program which nurtures new works and she is active at Charter Theatre, a
company that produces only new plays. Often "new" plays have been in the
works for years before they are ready for a directed reading or are ready
for a premiere. But Rick Fiori’s My Presidential Journal is a product
of the past year and needed to get up on its feet and in front of an
audience before its subject matter is history rather than current events.
Storyline: A group of politically involved young people react to the
prolonged fight over the results of the Presidential Election of 2000. A
series of vignettes deals with the endless recounts, the behavior of the
candidates and their supporters and the media circus surrounding the
struggle from Election Day to the final decision.
Rick Fiori’s script is a collection of loosely related gags well
assembled into what feels like an extended Saturday Night Live episode. At
over an hour and a half it just approaches being too long but doesn’t quite
go over the line. It is filled with jokes but rarely does it pull a gag that
doesn’t serve the scene it is in.
Perhaps because Fiori is a performer (here he’s one of the cast of five)
and a director, he has written the individual characters with an eye to
playability. Each has a distinct personality, which makes it easier for the
actors to make them believable in the short time each vignette allows. As
director of the evening’s activities, Gardner keeps things moving at a fast
but not frenetic pace. Whoever deserves credit – Gardner, Fiori or the cast
members – there are many very funny small touches of stage business that
fill any gaps in the script.
The result is a very funny evening for only $12. It is playing Sunday –
Tuesday at 8 PM. |
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