“CURTAIN CALLS”
By Pat Launer
02/02/05
Whatta week! visits from Die Fledermaus, Romeo,
Juliet and others:
Barbara Cook, Brian Stokes Mitchell and the Karamazov
Brothers.
And a trip to NTC, a blossoming culture center,
for sure,
And the tsunami benefit, Artists for
Rambam
was definitely into numbers. The 12th century Jewish philosopher, considered the most influential Jewish thinker
of the Middle Ages compiled the Torah's 613 commandments
and formulated a credo of Judaism expressed in thirteen articles
of faith. [Rambam is the Hebrew acronym of Rabbi Moses ben Maimon,
aka Moses Maimonides]. Okay, I’m grasping here, trying to find some real
connection between the man who wrote the original “Guide for the
Perplexed,”
and the show by the Flying Karamazov Brothers entitled “Life: A Guide for the Perplexed.”
Let’s
see, it’s about mid-life crisis (so that relates to the Middle Ages, right?).
And it contains a number of numerical sequences – the seven stages of man
(that’s from Shakespeare, though; hmmmm…), and a number of Rules of Life. And
there’s an ancient text, but it all really doesn’t add up. Does anyone care? Is
anyone counting? It’s not really about reason when the guide for life dispenses
such pearls of wisdom as ‘Everyone Drops’ (it’s the Middle Age thing again) and
‘Life is Coincidence,’ not to mention ‘Learn to Trust’ and ‘It’s Never
Over.’ But for the flying Ks (who don’t
fly, though everything they touch does), the most important rules of the game
are #1 ‘Everyone’s a Juggler’ and #6, ‘Life is Improvisation.’ That’s their
credo.
They’ll
juggle just about anything, and they’ll riff on any situation. And oh yes, they
never met a pun they didn’t beat into the ground until it died a horrible
death. They’re clever, of course, and fantastic, incomparable jugglers. But a
little goes a long way, and two acts is a bit too much for me. But for what
it’s worth (what IS it worth, anyway? What’s it all about, Alfie??), there’s
fun to be had as Dmitri (aka Paul Magid) who speaks Ladino, which is medieval
Judeo-Spanish (aha! Another link!), makes his way through this dusty old tome
that’s been Fed Ex-d to him and comes to grips with his middle-aging through
repeat visits from the Men With A Bit of Gray In The Beard Association -- which
precipitates a remark about “foreign white invaders – like Iraq.” There are a
few other pointed political comments, which were generally met with
enthusiastic responses. In between the
parables for self-realization, the foursome (the other mega-talents, in
descending age order, are Howard Jay Patterson, Mark Ettinger and Roderick
Kimball) sing a sperm song (“We are the Men of Epididymis”), refer to the first
fateful letter from AARP as the ultimate sign of age, play multiple instruments
(their own and each other’s, all while juggling) and generally go wild for a
couple of hours to the vast amusement of the audience. Maybe there’s a kernel
of truth and usable info in there (“Every exit is just an entrance somewhere
else,” “You end alone in the night”), but it may be buried in the avalanche of
cross-cultural, multi-century references -- to Hammurabi and Tennessee
Williams, Popeye and Hieronymous Bosch. Not to mention the juggling and the
puppets and the commedia dell’ arte and the slapstick pratfalls and
pies-in-the-face. But it’s all done in great fun, and if you come in with that
mindset, you’re likely to go out humming the Epididymis song. Despite the
inspiration from the work of a great thinker, this doesn’t call for deep
contemplation. Only a spirit of what-the-hell merriment and a love of juggling
(BYO items to juggle; they request audience submissions).
At the Lyceum Theatre, though February 6.
“Die
Fledermaus” means ‘the bat,’ and it is a moment of humiliation in that
particular party costume that sparks the endless series of vengeful practical
jokes that pepper the beloved, 1874 Johann Strauss operetta. This is the fourth
The
opulent sets and costumes, borrowed from the San Francisco Opera, are beautiful
to behold. The Symphony, making its debut with the Opera (under the baton of
Valéry Ryvkin), sounded rich and full, excellent especially in the huge string
section which provided a lush backdrop for all those wonderful waltzes. The en pointe choreography (Peggy Hickey)
was a bit uninspired, but the corps de ballet’s execution was outstanding. The
voices of the principals were outstanding.
Noёmi Nadelmann as the put-upon wife, Rosalinde, and Siphiwe
McKenzie as her amusing and upwardly mobile chambermaid, Adele, sang
beautifully and acted just as well, with excellent comic timing. Also highly
comical were John Osborn as the eternally singing suitor, Alfred, and John Del
Carlo as Prison Warden Frank. The baritone brothers Edelmann (Peter as Eisenstein
and Paul Armin as Dr. Falke) did pleasing work as well. Guest actor J. Sherwood
Montgomery chewed up the scenery to the audience’s great delight. Aslo in the
OTT department was the Count Orlofsky, who, despite his diminutive size, made a
huge entrance with two Russian Wolfhounds or borzoi). Typically a ‘pants role’
played by a woman, this Count was portrayed
by a countertenor (Brian Asawa), whose voice is lovely but whose
overaggerated, over-extended speech patterns made his spoken output virtually unintelligible.
The highlight of the evening was the ‘surprise guests’ at Orlofsky’s soirée:
San Diego Opera favorites Jerry Hadley, Sheryl Woods, the dashing Rodney Gilfry
and the rich-voiced Richard Leech. Gilfry and Leech even cavorted with the
dancers. Lovely touch. Each performance will have different guest performers.
Overall, a lovely, festive, celebratory evening and event. Happy Anniversary,
SDO – you DO make music worth seeing!
At
the Civic Theatre, February 4, 6, 9.
Did
you know that Friar Lawrence was the central character in “Romeo and Juliet”? Well, he is now… or he was, at Poor Players. Ace
actor-director Richard Baird cast himself in the secondary clerical role and
suddenly, he became the fulcrum of the piece and the one who takes an
impressive emotional journey and lives to tell the tale. Odd choice… but Baird
is such a potent onstage presence, he probably would’ve stolen the show even if
he didn’t seem to have more lines than almost anyone. Things were a tad askew
in this production. Though all the right moves were there, there didn’t seem to
be much animal attraction between Romeo and Juliet. Brandon Walker played Romeo
as quite a hothead, but there wasn’t quite enough emotional nuance in the
performance.
Rachael
Van Wormer made an adorably impulsive, love-drunk Juliet, with enough spunk,
spine and resolve for both of them. Van Wormer radiates warmth and displays
admirable emotional breadth, but she needs to develop her vocal tone and range.
Her Juliet was an irresistible adolescent, with all the requisite expressive
excesses. Grace Delaney was quite amusing as the Nurse, with her delicious,
full-on Irish brogue (reportedly difficult for some folks to comprehend). Tom
Haine was solid as Capulet, but much more heated, abusive and seemingly
misogynistic than I’ve ever seen him. As his wife, Julie Clemmons played one
note (pissed off). Max Macke did his usual comic turn as Mercutio and
reappeared as a surprising Apothecary-as Street Person; he needed a tad more
power and profundity as Mercutio, the thoughtful and doomed friend of Romeo,
but his Queen Mab speech was lovely and his death scene poignant. John Aviles
was quite the firebrand as Tybalt, but he tended to rush and swallow his words,
and that decreased their energy and intensity.
Under
Baird’s muscular direction, there were many magical moments. The opening, for
instance, with a bit of Puccini as background (beautifully sung by Maile
Stephenson), spotlighted the Friar (appearing instead of a Chorus) setting the scene
and foretelling the star-crossed story. In a slo-mo mime, the lovers move from
dreamy dance to a heap of corpses, as the grieving fathers kneel over them and
reluctantly shake hands. Lovely image. The boys-will-be-boys scenes were
convincingly testosterone-driven, milking every sexual innuendo imaginable. The
mixing and taking of the poison made for wonderful scenes. There was a lot more
cigarette smoking than necessary (especially in such a small, close space as
the Adams Avenue Theatre) and even (as the Poor Players have done before) a
little dope-smoking – but by the Friar?? The smoking jacket and golf clubs for
Lord Capulet were hilarious, but the 40s look of the show wasn’t clearly
justified (and a Big Band version of “Bei Mir Bist du Schoen” still seemed out
of place). A few dramatic excesses were unnerving or annoying, but Baird surely
brings the Bard to life in intriguing and inventive ways – ways that
consistently appeal to and attract young people, and that’s a boon for us all.
Next
up for the company – “
Speaking of being worth the trip, going up to the
Orange County Performing Arts Center (
Cook originated the lead ingénue roles in the
Broadway productions of “
And then there was solo Stokes. He was in
magnificent voice, his mellifluous baritone soaring through the house, though
it was Cook who sang without a mike at one point (“flying without a net,” as he
put it, admiringly). He did some jazzy, scat-infused standards (“Cheek to Cheek,”
“Make Someone Happy,” “How Long Has This Been Going On”), perhaps in
preparation for his cabaret debut which started this week at Feinstein’s at the
Regency in New York. Then he hit the
The highlight of the evening for me was going
backstage and meeting the whole Mitchell clan. Local theater-lover Carroll Jean
Anderson is a close friend of the family and she introduced me to everyone –
father George, brother George, stepmother Dee, and Stokes’ sister and niece,
who attends a performing arts high school in northern
Meeting Stokes was a total treat; he was as
gracious and charismatic offstage as on (see photo), and had a warm personal
word for everyone. If you ever get a chance to see him perform – in anything! –
don’t miss it. He is one vibrant, galvanic mega-talent. And he seemed to feel
honored to be teamed with Cook to play that beautiful house with its wonderful
acoustics. This was truly a night to remember.
ON TOUR
..Lots of firsts this
month at the La Jolla Playhouse, with the opening of the new
Her slight comic piece concerned a smart,
intuitive, bespectacled young geek on his 11th birthday. His goal in
life is to become his baseball hero, Yoshiro, but his mother wants him to be
Yo-Yo Ma (“Athletes don’t wear glasses,” she tell him. “Musicians do”). It’s
all about personal identity and standing up for who you are (glasses or not).
The striking Crayola-colored set (designed by UCSD’s Melpomene Katakalos), was
inspired by the work of
Poor nerdy, lisping, klutzy Bay is something of a
loser. But weird stuff starts happening on his birthday; a rabbit communicates
with him, he’s visited by an alien and then, thanks to some ‘Cosmic 8th
Dimension Jelly Beans,’ he goes hurtling through the space-time continuum and
gets the opportunity to re-fashion his life. Needless to say, when he plays out
all his fantasies and alters his past, everything else in his life is affected
and the result (present and future) is less than satisfying. Fortunately, he
gets the chance to reverse the changes. And he comes to realize that “you can
be just be what you are and stop being what everyone expects you to be. Maybe a
scientist or a musician. You can be both!” Good lessons for the grammar
schooler, and important for older kids, too. But the play seems geared to
youngsters, and I can’t quite see it playing to junior high school students.
The cast is game, (Rhys Green, Amir Kahstoo, Danielle Kohne, Jeannine Marquie)
and the sound effects they create are really fun. Ogie Zulueta, an engaging
Equity performer, is a terrific hip hop dancer and a talented actor, but
singing doesn’t seem to be his forte. The songs were generally less thrilling
than the dialogue, but the musical interludes (composed by Florence Yoo) were
enchanting. The kids in the Saturday morning audience were loving it all, and
that’s the true test of success. This is what reaching out to youth is all
about: teaching them something about life through theater and giving them a
really good time. That’s what’ll bring ‘em back.
…
I got a sneak preview of the Promenade
at NTC in Point Loma. NTC
Foundation president Alan Ziter and ace marketing director Toni Robin (newly
reunited from their triumphant Performing Arts League days) gave me the cook’s
tour of the spectacular site. The plan is to make these 26 still-beautiful
historic buildings, flanked by four acres of lush landscaping, into San Diego’s
flagship for arts, culture, science and technology. It’s a huge undertaking,
but if anyone can spearhead a mammoth task like this, it’s Ziter. The project
should be completed by 2010, with some buildings opening this year. Ultimately,
the plan includes meeting, rehearsal and performance spaces for dance, theater,
music and visual arts, with additional areas for conferences, fairs and all
manner of mixed-use potential. The possibilities are endless, especially for
uniting science and culture, art and technology. For more than 75 years, the
Naval Training Center turned out hundreds of thousands of Navy recruits. “I got
my start at NTC” is what alums have said for decades, and that’s precisely the
motto Ziter is shooting for again, with a slightly different spin; this time,
the launching pad will be arts training, high tech education (High Tech High
will be on site) and cultural exposure. Ziter is giddy with excitement about
this “big blank canvas” that allows him to indulge his prodigious imagination.
Some buildings will open this year; the project should be completed by 2010.
Ziter fought to keep the name and branding, but with a twist; he hopes that,
with the revitalization of the site, NTC will come to signify “Now That’s
Culture!”
LEAN ON ME
If you missed Artists
for Asia, you missed the chance
to see the theater community come out in full force, to give their hearts,
hope, love and talent to a worthy cause. The turnout on Feb. 1 was excellent, the
energy was high and the performances were terrific. Kudos to Jenni Prisk and
Robert Dahey for making it all happen and go so smoothly. There were some Xx
performances, and I introduced them all with a rap number (backwards baseball
cap and all) that named all the participants. Many were backstage and didn’t
get to hear it, and others in the audience asked to see it. So, here you go…
Yo… y’know, we’re lucky to be livin’ where
the weather is so balmy
So we’re here to help less fortunates, the
victims of tsunami
The man says do what you do best, to give
to the rest
So artists who are blessed are gonna put it
to the test.
And I don’t think that there are many; in
fact there aren’t any
Who could pull this all together like
Robert and Jenni.
In the wake of the trauma, we’ll give you
high drama,
Comedy and songs that would amuse the Dalai
Lama.
In between the songs and humor, there’ll be
dancers and jivers
And more serious presenters with the words
of the survivors.
Harrowing tales that make you happy where
you’re living,
..And put you in the mood for some
intermission giving.
The first piece is a knockout, and you can
bet upon it
It’s Jonathan McMurtry, master of the
Shakespeare sonnet.
And then survivor stories – swim upstream
with Brian Salmon/ Then go Diep with Mr. Huyhn,
And the Moxie gals, Jo Anne and Jen, will
put their two cents in…
And then, something unique will come from
Monique/ and Julia Kelleher will raise her voice above the din.
And then a song from another dark and
decadent day:
Jeremiah Lorenz croons a tune from
“Cabaret.”
Next segment’s kinda witty/ Priscilla has a
ditty
And then Castro, Scott and Connors kindly
do us the honors
Make us do the laughter limbo, with
‘Kimberly Akimbo.’
And they’re followed by chicanery, some antic
Dane and Duanery.
After that it won’t be hard, to move on to
the Bard;
We’ve got some R&J/ for you today;
Rachael’s the talker and Brandon’s the
Walker
And they’ll look pristine/ followed by the
figurine/ of that naughty libertine --
name of David McBean.
And then, the musical play-man, our own
cabaret-man, piano-exploder, the great Todd Schroeder…
So that’s act one, it sounds like fun, and
you know the entertainment has just begun
Then you’ll have a chance/ to do the dance/
of taking out your wallet from your purse or your pants.. and come on, giving
till it hurts, the cash will come in spurts
And then you’ll be prepared for one more
act of ‘just desserts.’
Act two starts strong, with Balinese
Legong; that’s Indonesian dance that shows you right from wrong/ and weak from
strong
And then, you can prepare/ for more from
people who were there, who witnessed their share of the watery nightmare.
Trina, TJ and Jason are a trio con brio
With Yolanda and D’Ann, and Emily and Leo.
And then, look alive/ for a speech from
Henry V,
As Poor Player Richard Baird makes you give
a damlet/ with some awe-inspiring words from that Great Dane, Hamlet..
Then, prepare for a little pick-me-upper/
Linda, Seema ‘n Erin will ‘Sing for their Supper,’
And Ron Choularton, that gaffer of wit/
recites a smash-hit with true grit, see if you can guess it:
But don’t look at me, I can’t give
it away; and he’ll only say … it’s “Not Soft, Not Day.”
Oh yes, and then, we’re back to drama
again, with a scintillating scene from ‘Of Mice and Men’
As Joshua fits the battle of Daren Scott,
who hasta hear ‘bout rabbits whether he wants to or not.
Then Ron’s back on ‘Vigil’ and Melissa’s
‘Breaking Down,’ and they’re followed by Phil Johnson, that quintessential
clown.
It’s a cinch/ then in a pinch/ we get an
‘Angry Inch’/ as the sexy Jeremiah just tightens the winch,
And all the while Linda Libby and her
honey, Mooney, keep him rockin’-and-rollin’ and not soundin’ Claire de Lune-y.
So that’s my rap, about tonight/ they’re sick,
they’re phat they’re hella tight
Yo dawgs, they’re wack, and their talent
will amaze ya,
So chill, here come/ the Artists for Asia….
WORD….…
©
2005 Patté Productions, Inc.
NOW, FOR THIS WEEK'S 'NOT
TO BE MISSED' LIST:
“Die Fledermaus” – gorgeous (if lengthy) opening to the Opera’s 40th season.
Wonderfully sung, beautifully designed
“Einstein Comes Through” – a world premiere co-written by director David
Ellenstein. Still a work-in-progress, but a puzzling if sometimes fascinating
contemplation of healing through escape and ultimately, self-confrontation.
Timed perfectly to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Theory
of Relativity.
At
“Take Me Out” – funny, thought-provoking play about the coming-out of a sports
superstar… Baseball, comedy, drama -- and a big Bonus! -- all those naked men!
At the Old Globe
Theatre, through February 20.
“Of Mice and Men” – Renaissance Theatre’s searing production of the
John Steinbeck classic. Marvelously acted, directed and designed. At 6th
@ Penn Theatre, through February 12.
“Burn This” – highly combustible theater. An offbeat love story that seethes at
Cygnet Theatre; through February 13.
“Wrinkles” – three generations of high-powered, hard-nosed Southern women reveal
secrets they didn’t know they shared. Outstanding performances. At Diversionary
Theatre, through February 19.
This week, the Groundhog predicted another long
season of great theater!
©2005 Patté
Productions Inc.