"CURTAIN CALLS" #258
By Pat Launer
09/26/08
Fantasies and Dreamgirls,
A Chaperone as well;
Troilus and Cressid, The Women and Jacques
Brel.
With laughter and
music, Third Story and Nine.
Dream Production
THE SHOW: Dreamgirls, the rags-to-riches, rise and fall of a singing trio from
This is the final production
of San Diego Musical Theatre’s first full season, bookended by two homeruns: The Full Monty first and Dreamgirls last. A very impressive debut for a
company headed by Erin and Gary Lewis, who seem willing to spare no expense to
get things right. Bravo.
THE STORY: After the Dreams (Deena, Lorell and
full-figured Effie) nearly win the Amateur Night talent competition at the
Apollo Theatre in
The PLAYERS/THE
PRODUCTION: All the wonderful sets (Andrew Hammer) and eye-popping costumes (Jose M. Ramirez)
were created for this production. The lighting (Jennifer Edwards) has all the
glitz the show demands. The sound (Larry Esau) wasn’t always in perfect balance
the night I was there. But the energy was extreme and infectious. The director
(Don Kellum) and choreographer (Marvin Thornton) have
a long history with the musical. Kellum toured in the
national production and
Especially potent is the four-man, sexy opening to “Steppin’
to the Bad Side.” That quartet of talents includes Charl
Brown (a mellow-voiced alumnus of the San Diego School of Creative and
Performing Arts) as smooth, wily Curtis; Thomas Hobson (a Yale grad) as the
gentle but easily manipulated songwriter CC White; and the fabulous Tonéx as Jimmy Early. Amazingly, this is Tonéx’s stage debut. He’s a worldwide Gospel Rock Star with
gold and platinum records and three Grammy nominations. Onstage, he’s a
natural, a triple-threat who displays both vocal and physical gymnastics. I
hope this is the start of a whole new phase of his career. He’s a knockout (“Fake
Your Way to the Top” is a highlight) and he connects incredibly well with an
audience. This gospel guy has musical theater written all over him.
As the title singers, Natalie Wachen is sweet
and lovely as Deena, Sabrina Sloan gives spine and character to Lorell, and Stacy Frances, while not physically plus-sized,
has a giant voice that rattles the rafters. She does a stupendous rendition of
that famous Act 1 showstopper, “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going.”
The musical accompaniment is exciting and Broadway-big: 14 musicians
under the direction and baton of that musical master, Don Le Master. The first
act is fantastic; the second act lags a bit. But the
overall impression is: superlative. Hurry before it closes.
THE LOCATION: San Diego Musical Theatre at the Lyceum, extended through 9/28
Anything but Drowsy
THE SHOW: The Drowsy Chaperone, the touring production of the musical that swept the 2006 Tonys. With book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar (a regular
on my all-time favorite TV show, the theater-centered “Slings and Arrows”) and
music/lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison, it’s one of the few recent
musical premieres that wasn’t based on something else (book, movie, other
musical, whatever). Though it’s definitely rooted in the past, with its fascination
for (and homage to) 1920s Jazz Age, Busby Berkeley musical extravaganzas. The
show debuted in 2001 at the Toronto Fringe Festival and opened on Broadway
in 2006.
THE BACKSTORY: The origin of the musical comedy
is pretty comic itself. In 1999, McKellar, Lambert and Morrison created a
40-minute spoof of old musicals for the ‘stag party’ preceding the wedding of
their theater-pals from
THE STORY: Before the lights come up, we hear an offstage voice saying “I hate
theater. It’s so disappointing, isn’t it?” and intoning a prayer, “Please, dear
God, let it be a good show. And let it be short.” And so it is. Both good and short. The
Drowsy Chaperone clocks in at an intermissionless 1 hour 45 minutes. We
first meet Man in Chair, a kind of zhlubby, mousy guy
in a worn old cardigan, who has an obsessive love for old musicals and the good
old days of musical theater. Whenever the poor loner is “blue” (which is to say
“anxious… with non-specific sadness,” or what you might call depressed), he
puts on his favorite original cast album (a 2-record vinyl set, scratchy static
and all) of the hit 1928 musical, “The Drowsy Chaperone.” And before you know
it, he’s transported into that magical world, as the characters spring to life
in his drab, cluttered apartment. He’s free to come and go, interspersing
himself in the action and commenting on his favorite/least favorite parts. It’s
a cute twist on the self-referential Broadway show (he even gives us the
backstory on the ‘actors’ in the performance: the alcoholic, the floozy, the
ditz, the scenery-chewer, etc.).
The plot and score are a pastiche sendup of
every cliché in the theater book, including campy stock characters, such as the
self-involved, upcoming star and the scene-stealing fading diva; the Latin
lover; tight-laced, all-knowing English butler; checked-suit gangsters on the
lam; cigar-chomping producer and wannabe chorine, all engaging in such classic
comic mayhem as mistaken identities, infidelities, “spit-takes,” a wedding
which gets repeatedly called off, and much, much more. No message, no depth,
and no pretensions. Just pure, fluffy fun.
THE PLAYERS/THE
PRODUCTION: The production is superb. Every element screams
Broadway, even if the show descends into abject silliness at times. You just
have to let it wash over you, like airborne bubbles. The production has many
local connections. The first-rate direction and choreography are by San
Diego-bred Tony-winner Casey Nicholaw; the knockout
costumes are by Tony Award-winner Gregg
Barnes; Mark Ledbetter, who grew
up in San Diego, is cute and talented as the blindfolded (and clueless),
roller-skating groom, Robert Martin; and Chula Vista native/Marian High School
grad Alicia Irving plays
the title role with guts and gusto. I remember seeing her at Moonlight 15 years
ago, when I called her a “sultry, wondrous-voiced” Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar (1993). Now she’s
all grown up and she’s terrific: fabulous chops, great moves and stellar comic
timing. The excellent 14-piece orchestra, under the baton of Robert Billig, features ten locals (including percussionist Pat Pfiffner and his amazing array of soundmakers).
The rest of the cast is great. Jonathan Crombie
is thoroughly endearing as the pitiable, neurotic Man in Chair; Andrea
Chamberlain is agile, athletic and vocally strong as the bride, Janet Van De Graaff; Noble Shropshire is funny
as the butler, comically named Underling; the twin gangsters, brothers Peter
and Paul Riopelle, are a hoot; as the harried best
man, George, Richard Vida is spot-on, and his tap-dancing duet with Ledbetter
is a delight. The elaborate Chinese number is so over-the-top it defies
description; doesn’t belong in the show, but it sure looks fantastic. Some of
the most memorable numbers are Janet’s “Show Off,” the comical “I Am Adolpho” (funny Dale Hensley) and the ridiculous “
THE
LOCATION: Broadway
Backbiting Beauties
THE SHOW: The Women, a revival of the 1936 stage classic which became a 1939 MGM cult
favorite, and more recently, a bomb of a modern movie. The play was written by
Clare Boothe Luce: journalist, editor, playwright,
social activist, congresswoman and ambassador (who didn’t pen the MGM
screenplay, which was credited to Anita Loos and Jane
Murfin, with F. Scott Fitzgerald and Donald Ogden
Stewart remaining uncredited).
THE STORY: These are the Park Avenue ‘ladies who lunch,’ wealthy wives and
divorcées, schemers and social-climbers who have nothing better to do with
their time than backbite, dish, dis and betray each
other’s secrets and marriages. All but Mary Haines, that is, that blissfully
happy housewife and mom. But when the others get wind that her husband’s having
an affair with a department store perfume salesgirl, they drool over the
tastiest gossip in years, and ultimately prod her into divorcing him, joining
her pals at a
THE PLAYERS/THE
PRODUCTION: Globe artistic director Darko Tresnjak continues
his string of golden oldies, dusting them off and making them sparkle once
again (he scored big last year with
The look of the piece is gorgeous. Lustrous, art-deco design (David P.
Gordon), a rotating set that beautifully transforms from drawing room to
dressing room, elegant bathroom to boudoir to Western-themed
Tresnjak doesn’t camp it up (except with some of the minor roles, like
the severe, black-clad, eyepatch-wearing, wink-nudge
mother chasing down her timid but independent-minded daughter). But the main
characters are played lusciously grand and devoid of irony. These are types, to
be sure, but they’re yummy. The nasty, jealous gossip, Sylvia (marvelous
Heather Ayers); the never-married, cynical writer Nancy (Amanda Naughton, playing delightfully against type); the amusingly
ever-pregnant Edith (funny Amy Hohn); the wide-eyed
ingénue Peggy (charmingly naive Amanda Kramer, still a student at UC Irvine but
already making waves); the filthy-rich serial marrier,
the Countess de Lage (hilarious Ruth Williamson); the
Ivory-pure Mary (stately, genteel Kate Baldwin) and Mary’s classy mother,
above-the-fray, though not-so-great-in-the-marriage-advice department
(wonderful Linda Gehringer); precocious Little Mary
(adorable Kayla Sosbak, whose voice is a tad too
high-pitched for non-canine hearing at times); and that sleazy gold-digger,
Crystal (pretty Kathleen McElfresh; vicious, but not
quite low class enough). Nancy Anderson does fine turns as Miriam, Princess
Tamara and the torch-singer.
So take a trip back to another world -- which still (sigh) looks
painfully like our own.
THE
LOCATION: The Old Globe
Theatre, through October 26
Once Upon a Time in
THE SHOW: The Third Story, the world premiere written by and for Charles Busch, noted New York
drag queen/actor/writer who’s best known for Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, Psycho Beach Party and the Broadway hit, The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife (all three of which have been produced
on San Diego stages, the latter in a hilarious staged reading at Carlsbad
Playreaders and a full production at 6th@Penn, both in 2005).
THE STORY: I don’t think there’s enough space here to try to describe or
disentangle the multiple (I guess that would be three, but it’s actually more
like four) plotlines and stories interwoven here -- to not always successful effect.
Suffice to say there’s a screenwriter mother-and-son tale set in Omaha; a
sci-fi story about an icy doctor and her ‘botched experiment,’ a gnarled gnome
named Zygote; a Russian fairy tale about a shy (here, stuttering) princess and
her more gregarious double; and a gangster mother/son duo evading the law. The
parallel stories all concern strong women, mothers and their over-dependent
male offspring, being “one of a kind” or easily cloned, and in the end, being
set free and independent. At times, the stories overlap in time or space, as
the ‘playing spaces’ roll on and off. The stories intertwine; ultimately, they
all come together.
Most of the action takes place in the minds of the screenwriters; the
smother-mother, whose once-vibrant career is at an ebb (there’s a boatload of
1940s Hollywood name-dropping), has come to Omaha to convince her son, escaping
to a middling life as a mail carrier, to collaborate on a screenplay that will
revitalize her career (his own writing career was always secondary to his
mother’s). The conceit is potentially interesting, but there’s a full hour of
soporific buildup that forms the first act. It really doesn’t take that long
for us to get the gist of each of the plotlines. But the setup goes on and on,
with very little comic relief.
THE PLAYERS/THE
PRODUCTION: Even with all the repetition (of situation, lines,
relationships), a lot of folks seemed lost in the
narrative morass. Busch can be hilariously funny, as a writer and an actor, but
he isn’t totally on his game here, though he plays two oversized female roles
with panache. The effort creaks all over, and the whole affair needs to be
trimmed by half; it should have the magical, fairy-tale quality of 90
quicksilver, intermissionless minutes. There aren’t enough comic lines to make
it a full-bore comedy, so what exactly is it? In some ways, given its
hodgepodge of genres, it seems like onstage channel-surfing. The play feels
like the kind of campy effort that made Busch’s career, hatched in a small Off
Broadway space with a minimal production; but it’s intricate rather than
intimate, plopped into a major regional theater.
This production is quite elaborate… with the opening, fairy tale forest
setting, giving way to all the other mobile locales,
including a lab, a living room and a saguaro-studded desert. The sets are by
Tony-winner David Gallo (who won his award for The Drowsy Chaperone). The lighting (Christopher Akerlind), sound (Walter Trarbach)
and especially the costumes (Gregory Gale) are wonderful, especially the
snazzy/jazzy frocks Busch wears in his several incarnations and those sported
by lovely Rebecca Lawrence, a talented UCSD MFA student who’s charming as the
two faces of the Princess Vasalisa, and hot as the
mole/moll Verna. Jennifer van Dyck is great as the
uptight cloner, Dr. Constance Hudson, a self-professed “automaton” whose labcoat looks like an haute couture straightjacket. Mary
Beth Peil makes a nice transition from the demeaning
mother, Peg, to the Doctor’s Teutonic mentor, Dr. Rutenspitz.
(shpitz is the operative
word here; you don’t want to sit in the front row with this cast!). Jonathan
Walker is endearing as the put-upon son, Drew, and the
swaggering mobster, Steve. Best of all, with his contorted body, oddball hair
(wonderful wigs by Tom Watson) and ash-white skin is Scott Parkinson as the
hapless Zygote. Busch is imperious as the two versions of Queenie,
the queen bee of underground, illegal badness, and the witch in the forest,
Baba Yaga, an antagonistic hag in many Slavic
folktales; he’s funny as the new-brain clone of Queenie.
But there just isn’t enough humor to carry the conceit.
In addition to Baba Yaga, Busch also borrowed
the name of the Princess: “Vasilissa the Beautiful” is another common Russian
fairy tale character (that’s also the title of a 1939 movie, the first Russian
film with fantasy elements). The significance of these
borrowings, and the whole Russian connection (to
A world premiere is always,
by definition, a work in progress. Busch is a wild and wildly imaginative
theater artist. But his piece needs a good deal of shaping and sharpening to
make the points he has in mind, and to keep the audience engaged. In the first
act, it’s hard to care much about anyone. Under the direction of Carl Andress, the action, interest and pace escalate in the
second act, as the stories start to cohere and coalesce. In sum, a beautiful
production, well acted, but the play is not yet a satisfying, congealed whole.
THE LOCATION:
Too Many Women, Too
Little Time
THE SHOW: Nine, the musical
adapted from the Italian play by Mario Fratti that
was inspired by Federico Fellini’s surreal, autobiographical 1963 film classic,
“8½.” Book by Arthur Kopit and
music/lyrics by Maury Yeston (the team that created
that other -- --better – musical
story of The Phantom of the Opera). The original Broadway
production opened in 1982 and starred Raúl
Julia. The Tony-winning 2003 revival featured Antonio Banderas
and Chita Rivera. The show won five Tony Awards, including best musical. A film
version (art imitates art again!) is in the works, due out some time in 2009.
Directed by Rob Marshall (who made gold from “Chicago”), it stars Daniel Day-Lewis,
Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench, Kate Hudson,
Penelope Cruz, Fergie, Marion Cotillard
and, as Guido’s Mamma, Sophia Loren -- a
cast to die for!
THE STORY/THE
BACKSTORY: In Venice, in the early 1960s, world famous film
director Guido Contini is an artist at the peak of
his career, but facing down 40 and standing at the edge of the abyss -- midlife
crisis and the potential loss of his artistic/creative/sexual prowess. His
creativity is blocked, his latest film is overdue and has he got relationship
problems! The musical is one big, swirling dream sequence, where Guido is
surrounded by singing, vamping women, from his finger-wagging mother to his
buttoned-up wife, to a host of paramours, muses and leading ladies. His crisis
manifests in fantasies (including suicide) from which he's rescued by his
nine-year-old alter ego.
Backstory: Fellini called the film “8½” in recognition of his body of work, which up to that point
included six full-length features, two short films, and one movie he
co-directed. Yeston's title refers to the age of
young Guido in his age-regression hallucination. Yeston
also reportedly entitled the musical Nine
because adding music to “8½” was “like half a number more."
THE PLAYERS/THE
PRODUCTION: Much of the action takes place in the mind of the
tormented Guido (Mauricio Mendoza), as he examines his past and present
relationships and tries to face the future. “My body’s clearing 40,” he laments,
“as my mind is nearing 10.” He can’t seem to stay faithful to one woman, to the
distress of his long-suffering wife (wonderfully solid
Stephanie Burkett Gerson makes a
The show gets
off to a sluggish start, and there’s a feeling of indolence that persists, only
further slowed by the plane-stops (though there were far fewer freezes than
earlier this summer). The staging and direction of
THE
LOCATION: Starlight Theatre,
through September 28
Bonsoir, Jacques
THE SHOW: Jacques Brel is
Alive and Well and Living in Paris, a musical revue of
songs by the beloved Belgian singer. Brel
(who is no longer alive and well; he died in 1978) created the show in 1966;
two years later, it debuted Off-Broadway in Greenwich Village
and ran for more than four years. The two dozen-plus songs are performed by
four vocalists, two male and two female. Brel
contributed most of the music and French
lyrics; English translations were provided by Eric Blau, husband of original cast-member Elly
Stone, and cast member Mort Shuman, a Tin Pan Alley songwriter who penned such hits
as "This Magic Moment," "Viva Las Vegas" and "Teenager
In Love." In a new Off Broadway production that ran for a year
(2006-2007), the original order of songs was rearranged,
and some numbers were added or dropped. That’s the version used for the North
Coast Rep production.
THE STORY: There’s no story, though the songs, a diverse blend of ballads,
tangos, boleros and cabaret classics, are loosely linked by themes of lost love
and regret, aging and death, war and the sad state of the world.
THE PLAYERS/THE
PRODUCTION: Brel’s work had an undeniably French sensibility, and the set (
The tone of the evening is set by the opening number (“Ça Va”), in which we’re reminded
that “men kill each other willingly, then pray for peace in loud laments” (Jenn Grinels holds her own here,
as well as a super-long note). But before the song begins and in the
transitions to other numbers, there is aimless wandering, not sharp direction (
Each of the singers has strong moments, but Courtney Corey is the only
one who affects the signature vibrato of Brel, Piaf
and other French troubadours. It’s very effective, especially in “No Love,
You’re Not Alone” and “Marieke.” Grinels,
frequently seen on
The evening is fraught with melancholy and nostalgia, a recognition of the fleet-footed passage of time and the
follies of plain folks. The three-piece jazz-band accompaniment (Steven Withers
on piano, Fred Ubaldo, Jr. on bass and Tom Verson on drums) sounds a tad thin at times. Grinels and Grossman occasionally accompany themselves on
guitar. But it’s the songs that make the show, more than the production.
THE
LOCATION: North Coast Repertory
Theatre, through October 5
Troilus of
THE SHOW: Troilus and Cressida, a local adaptation (by Welton Jones and
George Weinberg-Harter) of a Shakespeare play that hasn’t been seen locally in
decades. It’s been called a ‘problem play,’ since it’s not technically a comedy
or tragedy (no ‘happily ever after’ here, nor does the titular hero die at the
end), though it has elements of death and tragedy along with its farce and
below-the-belt bawdiness.
THE BACKSTORY/THE
STORY: The story rests on the assumption that the
audience is thoroughly familiar with the plot and characters of the Trojan War.
Which puts modern audiences behind the eightball
from the get-go. And double-casting makes it even trickier to figure out
who’s who and which side they’re on. Pared down to two hours, though the
streamlined version tries to keep everyone straight (more or less; there is
that relationship between Achilles and Patroclus).
The play was really a social satire, and its commentary on the foibles of
leaders and warmongers is both relevant and revolting. None of those Greek or
Trojan “heroes” comes out looking very good. But the questions about honor,
pretension and infidelity are still fresh and timely.
Set during the later years of
the Trojan War,
the piece follows the plot of The Iliad,
specifically highlighting the segments from Achilles'
refusal to go to battle up until Hector's
death.
There are two essential
storylines. The minor or secondary one involves the title characters, a Trojan prince (son of Priam),
and his Trojan paramour. Soon after they unite (thanks to the interventions of
the Cressida’s meddling uncle, Pandarus), Cressida is given to the Greeks in
exchange for a Trojan prisoner of war. As he attempts to visit her in the Greek
camp, Troilus glimpses Diomedes flirting with his beloved, and
seeing red, rashly seeks vengeance for her infidelity.
But the majority of the
action centers on Agamemnon and Priam, the leaders of
the Greek and Trojan forces. The Greeks are trying to get the prideful Achilles
to return to battle and face off with the Trojan champion, Hector. At first,
THE PLAYERS/THE
PRODUCTION: This is the first Shakespeare play at Compass
Theatre (or 6th @ Penn, for that matter), and it’s a giant
undertaking. Director Jones makes the most of the tiny space, double and triple
casting his small ensemble of nine, and having all the actors remain on the
stage throughout the action. The latter works fine; the
former, not so much. The minimal costume changes are effective if the
voice and mien are varied (as with Weinberg-Harter’s lurching, lascivious
Pandarus and his regal, deep-voiced Agamemnon). Laura Kaplan is compelling in
her various roles (Alexandra, Helen, Cassandra) and
with wigs, she manages to change her look dramatically. Adam Parker is wildly
different in his two portrayals: the besotted lover Paris and the sniveling,
senseless fool Thersites (a tad overdone, methinks).
Gerard Maxwell lumbers as both the dullard
Michael Zlotnick’s main character
distinction, between the lovesick/wildly jealous Troilus and the sexual provocateur, Patroclus, is removing his shirt. Brenna Foley seems
decidedly 21st century as Cressida, but she has a lot of spunk. The
language is handled well; the adaptation keeps the story focused. The use of
drums is evocative, and the helmets (Armando Muñoz-Garcia)
are noteworthy. Overall, this was a very gutsy enterprise, with an effective
adaptation, particularly strong and successful in the first act.
THE
LOCATION: Compass Theatre,
through October 5
NEWS AND VIEWS
… Get a jump on Halloween… with some Grand Guignol… Chronos Theatre Group presents An
Evening at the Grand Guignol, two evenings of “vintage horror,
sex and humor” in the tradition of the classic French genre that made glory of
guts and gore a century ago. Madness and depravity reign. October
8 and 9 at the Neurosciences Institute. info@chronostheatre.com; 619-615-8928
… Masterful… ion theatre continues its ‘intimate ibsen’ series with The
Master Builder, one of their biggest undertakings yet, presented with the
support of Ladies of Valhall, Sons of Norway, Norse
Federation and the House of Norway. September 29 at the
Lyceum; 6pm reception, 7pm reading. http://www.iontheatre.com/
… Sonnetarium… The San
Diego Shakespeare Society puts on its 7th annual Celebrity Sonnet
Presentation, which features guests such as internationally renowned pianist
Gustavo Romero, KUSI’s Kristen Cusato, North Coast
Rep artistic director
…Don’t miss the Trolley…
…A great idea we’ll
never see nationwide….
'NOT TO BE MISSED!' (Pat’s Picks)
Dreamgirls – spectacular production, magnificently sung
San Diego Musical Theatre at the Lyceum, extended
through 9/28
The Women – elegant, glamorous and backbiting; sheer delight!
The Old Globe Theatre, through October 26
The Drowsy Chaperone – lovely production; fluffy and fun
Broadway
Night Sky – harrowing journey through the mysteries of the universe – and the mind;
first-rate production
Mo’olelo
Performing Arts Company at the Weiss Forum Studio, through 9/28
Fat Pig – disturbing play, very well done
InnerMission Productions at OnStage Playhouse, through 10/4
No Exit – 64 years after it premiered, still packs a wallop; excellently
executed
Diversionary Theatre,
through 10/5
The Good Body – underwhelming play; overwhelming performances
San Diego Repertory
Theatre, through 9/28
Boomers - you gotta love it, even if you aren’t one.
Fabulous band, super songs, high-energy performances
Lamb’s Players at the
Horton Grand Theatre, through 11/30 (and perhaps beyond)
All’s Well That Ends Well – marvelous production, wonderfully directed and acted; lucid, funny and
touching
In repertory on the Old
Globe’s Festival Stage, through 9/ 28
The Merry Wives of
In repertory on the Old
Globe’s Festival Stage, through 9/28
Celebrate
© 2008 PATTÉ PRODUCTIONS, INC.
For nearly 25 years, Pat Launer has been the only regular broadcast theater critic in