"CURTAIN CALLS" #218
By Pat Launer
11/09/07
There’s Magic Fire and A Screw Askew,
Tony’s in town and The Frogs are back, too.
Misty Watercolor Memories…
THE SHOW: The Magic Fire, Lillian Groag’s semi-autobiographical memory
play, a family dramedy written in 1997, set in
THE STORY: It’s a family story, about an eccentric group of
relatives and friends who ignore the political maelstrom swirling around them,
even though the Jewish side of the family escaped from Hitler’s
Lise, twice
divorced, is looking back on her childhood, her parents, her crazy relatives,
the family friend who was a risk-taking journalist and a beloved neighbor, a
General who turned out not to be what she’d thought at all. That time when she
was 10 seems to have shaped her life, and her
relationships with men (who could be trusted after all? The flawed father she
thought was perfect? Warm and caring “Uncle” Henri, who bought her gifts and
had deadly political secrets to hide?). She talks to her younger self, she
argues that scenes played out before her weren’t at all how things really
happened. Or were they? Memory plays tricks. People and events come in and out
of focus over time. The wistful, poetic play is a cautionary tale, particularly
potent for our times. It’s about “an immigrant in a country of immigrants.” And
in its subtle, lyrical way, it warns us that doing nothing when surrounded by
political malevolence is as dangerous as the acts being committed and avoided.
THE PLAYERS/THE PRODUCTION: The production is wonderful. Marty Burnett has designed a well-appointed
living room, backed by large windows that reveal the blood-red fire of weaponry
and symbolism (lighting by Paul A Canaletti,
Jr.). The sound (Chris Luessmann) is evocative. The costumes are beautiful; Terri
Park looks terrific in every stunning outfit designer Roslyn Lehman has
provided her. Marci Anne Wuebben, Li-Anne Rowswell and Dagmar Krause Fields
sport outfits as unconventional as their characters. And the men look dashing
as well – Jesse MacKinnon in his starched dress uniform, Jeff Anthony Miller in
his tux. Eye-catching all around.
But it’s the
uniformly splendid performances that really give this production color. When
the play was performed at the Globe in 1999, it was a star turn for Kandis Chappell, and the other actors were variable in
effectiveness. Under Kathy Brombacher’s deft and
sensitive direction, this is very clearly a tight, cohesive ensemble, and there
isn’t a weak link in this well-forged chain. Sandra Ellis-Troy has all the
reflective melancholy and regret of a woman hardened by life and memory. As her
beloved father, Miller cuts a smart, stalwart figure, impassioned by his
beloved music, but broken and tortured by the end. Trina Kaplan does her best
work as the naysaying, demeaning “Nonna,”
the Guarneri family matriarch. Her lifelong
disappointment is visited on her daughter, Paula (Krause Fields) and their
second act, undermining confrontation is gut-wrenching. Park is a delight as
the ever-sunny mother, who diverts all serious conversation back to
trivialities. But she leaves just enough opening to question if that was
genuine Pollyanna/ostrich behavior or effected just for the sake of the child.
As that whiney, precocious offspring, young Lise, Rebecca Lauren Myers displays
an ear-piercing, wince-inducing voice and insistence. It’s annoying, but it’s
right for the character. MacKinnon is perfect as the General, Henri, though
three are two very enigmatic moments when older Lise calls him ‘Papi’ in retrospect. What exactly are we to make of that? Groag doesn’t say. Thomas Hall, Rhona Gold and Paul Bourke round out the cast in effective
ways.
This is a
play that stays with you. It makes you think. About family, politics, memory,
honesty, betrayal, consequences. Big Issues that make for
good plays. And this play couldn’t be served better. Don’t miss it.
THE LOCATION: Moonlight Stage
Productions at the Avo Theatre, through November 18
BOTTOM LINE: BEST BET
RIBIT!
THE SHOW: The Frogs, Aristophanes’ classic comedy, first presented in 405 B.C. This is the inaugural
production of The Theatre, Inc., founded by the director/star/costume designer
of the show, Equity actor Douglas Lay. This is also the unveiling of the new
THE STORY: It’s a comedy about the decline of tragedy.
Dionysus, god of wine, fertility and theater, laments the state of theater, and
decides to go down to the underworld (like his half-brother Heracles did), to
bring the great tragedian Euripides back from the dead.
THE PLAYERS/THE PRODUCTION: It’s said that the Greek comedians put the coarse
in discourse because the women were isolated, and congregating men tend to
loosen the controls on their conversation. There isn’t a body part or body
function that goes unnamed or unheralded here. We learn more about the god’s
bowels than we’d ever care to know. Besides being beaten and taken advantage of
by his slave, he’s sodomized by the boatman Charon as
he crosses the river
Co-directors
Douglas Lay and Melissa Hamilton have a field day with the low-brow humor. But
as is often the case with this brand of comedy, it quickly devolves into the
supremely silly and unabashedly gross (flatulence, in fact, is the first sound
we hear). The translation, by Dr. Marianne McDonald and J. Michael Walton,
maintains, as McDonald said on opening night, “the Aristophanic
language. It really was scatological
and political.” With its scathing comments on other playwrights, McDonald
considers this “the first work of literary criticism.” There are some Athenian
in-jokes some of us might miss, not to mention the pointed critiques of the
various playwrights, who will elude all but the most devoted dramatic Grecophiles. And then there’s the chorus, the initiates of
the Eleusinian mysteries, an arcane reference to the ceremonies held every year
for the cult of Demeter and Persephone, based at
One of the
highlights of the production is the frogs themselves. Their costumes (by Lay)
are terrific; whimsical and extremely frog-like (great head pieces and big-toed
feet!). The most serious scene (sort of) is also the best: the dramatists’
competition. Fred Harlow is at his blustery best as the wrathful Aeschylus, and
Michael Nieto strikes the right tone and pose as vain Euripides. As Dionysus,
Lay is at his most god-like in this segment, looking positively beatific. His
judgments ring truer than his former inanity.
The new
theater space, downtown on
THE LOCATION: The Theatre, Inc. at the
Theater of the Mind
It’s a great concept. Public
readings of short stories. Theater of the imagination.
Wonderful words, conveyed in meaningful ways, shared with a group of dedicated
listeners. WYNC, public radio in
This was WOL’s second
‘production,’ presented at Cygnet Theatre (the first was at North Coast Rep),
and in the spirit of the two macabre shows currently sharing the Cygnet stage (The Turn of the Screw and St. Nicholas), the title was A
Screw Askew. The stories were well chosen, eerily related, and
spectacularly read. Each had a delightfully other-worldly twist, ideal for the
Halloween season.
Murphy presented an early, quirky Truman Capote
creation, “Miriam” (which won him the O. Henry Prize), about an elderly woman
who enters into a nightmare when she meets an angelic-looking little girl who
turns out to be rather evil. Matt Biedel’s piece, “A
Horseman in the Sky,” by Ambrose Bierce, presents one soldier’s fantasy and
harsh reality during the Civil War. Guy de Maupassant’s
“A Tress of Hair,” read by David Tierney, is a spooky tale of obsessive love,
taken from the diary of an institutionalized madman. And to complete the
supernatural soirée, Tim West brought to life “The Monkey’s Paw,” WW. Jacobs classic horror story about making wishes on the
magical and accursed object.
It was a fantastic way to spend a bit of an
afternoon. If you’ve got the time, you’ve gotta hear
some stories!
The next Write Out Loud presentation, entitled “Giving Season,” will be
held in Cygnet Theatre at 2pm on Saturday, December 15. For info:
writeoutloudsd@yahoo.com
Uplifting
The term “lift” has been used in reference to stealing. But it also has
several other metaphorical meanings in the Playwrights
Project’s latest touring production. Lifted is a commissioned work by Annie Weisman Macomber,
who first performed with Playwrights Project as a teen, took her first
playwriting course with PP, and went on to win the statewide contest (Plays By
Young Writers) in 1992. Having premiered works at the La Jolla Playhouse and
South Coast Repertory Theatre, she’s currently a much-in-demand
playwright/screenwriter based in
Lifted is one of the strongest of the
Playwrights Project’s touring productions. The play itself feels hip and
relevant to kids, with its teasing, rapid-fire young-adult dialogue and its hip
hop rhythms. And its message, about taking responsibility, is woven into the
storyline in various ways. The theme of acting for the
‘greater good’ gets hammered home one or two times too many. But the day I was there, with a middle school
group at the City Heights Library, instead of the typical ‘How long did it take
you to memorize your lines?,’ one audience member
demonstrated complete understanding of the play by asking a truly incisive
question: ‘Have you ever done anything
you regretted?’ As always, Playwrights Project founder Deborah Salzer steered
the discussion in the most informative and inspiring ways. These kids totally
‘got’ what the play was trying to say and do, and one can only hope they walked
away better for having had the
experience.
The play focuses on two young, fairly immature men who work in the
stockroom at the superstore Big Buy. (“No girl wants to talk to a stockboy!,” one opines). Henry
(Sidney Franklin) is the dreamer, the plan-maker, the pathological liar who
comes from a lousy background, with an alcoholic mom and an imprisoned sister.
Todd (Michael C. Freeling) has a stable family -- a mother (Monique
Gaffney) who’s a manager at the store and a father who’s on disability from an
injury he sustained at Big Buy. They all have the same hard-nosed, insensitive
boss (Fred Harlow). Incessantly bragging, fanstasizing
and goofing off, Henry will do anything to attract the attention of Tamala (Rachael van Wormer), also an employee. And that
includes a late-night heist of the latest shipment of the Mythos X2, “the
greatest invention since the iPod.” When Todd rejects
the plan, Henry insists that “It’s not stealing; it’s lifting.” The guys do
heavy lifting as part of their job, and that’s what caused Todd’s father’s back
injury. After the damage has been done
and repaired, Todd does a rap about ‘the greater good’ and everyone is Lifted up to a higher plane. The ending may be a little too
neat, but it’s a short play, and much to its credit, it kept the kids at rapt
attention.
Part of that is due to the outstanding performances. Under the precise
direction of D. Candis Paule, each actor is quite credible, but the two ‘boys’
are especially excellent; 17 year-old Franklin is perfect as the hyperverbal cool-kid wannabe, and Freeling
(who, at 24, looks a lot younger) is super as his deeper, more thoughtful but
easily swayed sidekick. Van Wormer underplays her disinterested teen role, and
that works fine. The adults often fare poorly in kid-oriented plays, but Gaffney’s
Mom is something of a saint (though she refuses to talk to her son for some
time after the robbery nearly causes her to lose her job). And Harlow, a nasty
boss if there ever was one, makes a (barely believable) turnaround at the end.
He’s amusing as the beatnik-looking, beret-wearing owner of an Open Mic/spoken word club; an anachronistic look, but it suited
him well.
The set, designed by Beeb Salzer, is a wonder – a series of screens
that open and close on each other to provide four different locale.
Magical – and magically portable!
One could nitpick about some of the dramatic elements of Lifted, but the piece is extremely
satisfying. And the proof was in the faces and comments (and attentive
silence!) of the students. Kudos to all. It’s just too bad that the public evening
performance was canceled due to the fires; a pity that more adults won’t get to
see this delightful production.
The Angel of
The brilliant, Tony/Emmy/Pulitzer Prize-winning
playwright/activist Tony Kushner (Angels in
Kushner kicked off his appearance with a reading –
from a ‘prayer’ he was asked to write for a
There was a brief Q&A at the end, but most of
the all-too-brief evening was taken up with an interview by Dr. Steven Cassidy,
UCSD Professor of Literature. It was erudite, but too academic. Still, Tony is
Tony. Inspiring and amusing. And he talks just like his characters – in
3-page-long sentences that twist and turn with innumerable appositives and
asides, chock-full of literary references, and spoken at a rapid clip that only
New York ears were fast enough to follow. To a question about faith, he replied
that he calls himself an “agnostic Jew” who really believes in “a secular pluralist
democracy.” He talked at length (due to a long-winded series of questions)
about the movie “
He chatted briefly about “Brundiibar,”
the book and opera he’s written with Maurice Sendak,
an English version of the Czech opera written for children and performed in the
Terezin concentration camp. He called it “the
greatest theater piece for children ever written.” And Sendak’s
illustrations are “some of his most beautiful drawings.” He does love
hyperbole!
And of course, he talked about theater which, he
said, “can be polemical and didactic. But that’s not its greatest power. Art is
something we turn to, to discover questions, not answers. Dialectic theater deals with tragic clashes between two things with great
internal validity, and their flaws. That’s true of life, too. In good dialectic
theater, the collision will be costly… There is a power that theater has, but
it’s a weak, indirect power. Like dreams, you can’t face them directly. You see
something like Medea murdering her children. It’s
horrible. But you don’t have to do anything. You take it home with you. And if
it was a good production, it tortures you, and makes you a better, more
capacious person.” And that’s why we all see, make, do and attend theater.
Because we all believe it has the potential to make us better, more capacious
people. Thank you, Tony, for the reminder!
NEWS AND VIEWS ….
…I’m with Luis…. By the time you read this, I’ll be up in San Jose for
the screening of “The Legacy of Luis Valdez,
Father of Chicano Theater,” the documentary I made with Rick Bollinger of
City TV. It’s being shown at the 11th International Latino Film Festival in the Bay Area, as part of a
Tribute to Luis Valdez. Report on the festivities to follow…
… Giving back to the community.
Among the many groups showing their appreciation in the wake of the wildfires: Cygnet Theatre is offering two free
tickets to any of its current or upcoming shows (through Dec. 30) to any San
Diego County firefighters, police or paramedics… ion theatre, about to open its world premiere, Punks, is donating all proceeds from previews and opening week
(except opening night, 11/16) to Fire Relief in San Diego county.
… New name, same game… The Old Globe has announced
that the world premiere musical scheduled to open next March has been re-titled
Dancing
in the Dark. The previous
name was The Band Wagon, same as the
movie from which it’s adapted. Since the show is all about romance, music,
comedy and dance, it seemed more appropriate to the book writer (Douglas Carter
Beane) and the director (Gary Griffin) to reference a
familiar, romantic song. But the real signature melody from the musical is the
ultimate show-biz valentine, “That’s Entertainment!” Now, who can they possibly
get to replicate the moves (and legs!) of Cyd Charisse and Fred Astaire? Stay
tuned.
… Speaking of the Globe, they just made veteran
employee/actor Diane Sinor
an Associate Artist. Sino,r
who recently retired, served the Globe, both onstage and off, for 47 years. A major accomplishment and a gracious tribute.
… They’re Playing My
Song… or, more accurately, They’re Playing “My” Song… That’s the name the Symphony is giving
its Winter Pops season opener, billed as “an evening of comedy, reminiscences
and song” with the original cast members of They’re
Playing Our Song., the Broadway musical that was composed by principal Pops
conductor Marvin Hamlisch. The show chronicled the
composer’s relationship wit Carol Bayer Sager, who wrote the lyrics (the book
was by Neil Simon). The 1979 premiere marked the stage debut of Lucie Arnaz, who starred with Robert Klein. They’ll both be in
town, backed by the Symphony, on November 9 and 10. www.sandiegosymphony.com
… And on the subject of music, the La Jolla Music Society is bringing back
to
… The best goes on… Despite the sad and premature
death of Common Ground Theatre
artistic director Floyd Gaffney, the company – and the show –
go on. Guest director Charles Patmon, Jr.,
assistant director to Gaffney in last spring’s Josephine Tonight!, is helming the holiday musical, Christmas
is Comin’ Uptown, at the WorldBeat
Cultural Center on the edge of Balboa Park. Opening Nov. 29.
www.commongrountheatre.org
… All the Weill… SDSU’s Opera Theater, directed by Kellie
Evans-O’Connor, will present three performances of Kurt Weill’s
American opera, Street Scene, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Elmer
Rice, with lyrics by Langston Hughes. Forty singers and actors will perform
what Weill himself called “a simple story of everyday
life in a big city [it’s set in a tenement], a story of love and passion and greed and death.” Nov.
16-18 in Smith Recital Hall, on the campus of SDSU. www.music.sdsu.edu.
… Sings
Like a Bard… The San Diego
Shakespeare Society hosts A Musical
Shakespeare Evening at the Neurosciences Institute Auditorium in
'NOT TO BE
MISSED!' (Pat’s Picks)
The Magic Fire – a moving, sometimes amusing, thought-provoking memory play; it may be
set in
Moonlight Stage
Productions at the Avo Theatre, through November 18
Civic Theatre, through
November 11
Dracula – very spooky and scary; a cautionary tale
about taking and relinquishing control. The performances and effects are great!
North Coast Repertory
Theatre, through November 18
The Turn of the Screw and St. Nicholas – a deliciously
ghostly double-bill, excellently performed and sure to leave you wondering (in
the best dramatic way)
Cygnet Theatre, on and
off-nights, through November 11
Humble Boy – a Hamletian man-child, overpowered by his
oversexed mother, grieving for his absent father; quirky characters, delightful
production
New Village Arts,
through November 11
(For full text of all of
Pat’s past reviews, going back to 1990, use the Search engine at
www.patteproductions.com)
The air is clearing… so you can easily find your
way to the theater!
Pat
© 2007 PATTÉ PRODUCTIONS, INC.
For more than 20 years, Pat Launer has been the only regular broadcast theater critic in