By Pat Launer, SDNN
Thursday,
July 2, 2009
REVIEWS OF: “Cyrano de Bergerac,” “Restoration”
Mini Reviews of: “Rent,” New Perspective Festival, “My
Name is Asher Lev”
The
Nose Knows
THE
SHOW: “Cyrano de Bergerac,” the 1897 masterwork by
French dramatist Edmond Rostand; part of the Old Globe’s Summer Shakespeare
Festival
You probably remember his protuberance, but not his
other standout features: like his swordsmanship, rapier wit, poetic brilliance
and medical knowledge. And did you know that Cyrano de Bergerac was a real-life
character?
He was a 17th century freethinker, a
popular poet, writer and duelist. By all reports (there’s even a statue of him
in the town of
Rostand’s model for Roxane was Bergerac’s cousin,
who lived with his aunt at a convent, where the real Cyrano was treated in 1654
for injuries sustained from a falling beam. As in the play, it was never
determined whether the incident was accidental or deliberate. It’s clear that
the love between Roxane and the cadet Christian is entirely fictional, and that
Rostand creation spawns the most interesting parts of the play.
The dramatic Cyrano is in love with his distant
cousin, but so fearful of rebuff, because of his freakish appearance, that he
silently harbors the devotion, and suffers for it. When she calls him to her,
he is elated, thinking this is his big moment and that she, too, has fondness for
him. But alas, she has eyes only for Cyrano’s younger and handsomer fellow
cadet, Christian. The man is a pleasant enough fellow, but a bit of a dullard,
particularly inarticulate in the ways of courtship. So Cyrano volunteers to
step in and feed him the words, write the letters; this allows him to pour out
his heart, but also to have it broken. When Roxane later retreats to a convent,
he visits her regularly, for 15 years, never revealing what had transpired in
that early romance. Beneath the veneer of bravado, he is honorable, caring,
principled to the last. When Roxane discovers the truth of the words and
wooing, it’s already too late, and a tender, tear-jerking scene ends the play.
Cyrano, a delightful, swashbuckling,
larger-than-life character, is also an arrogant braggart, but we’ll accept his
few foibles, in light of his enormous wit and brilliance. Of course, he’ll
brook no comments on his nose, though he expounds freely on it, at great – and
hilarious – length. He refuses to be subservient to any man, and not having a
wealthy patron, he winds up poverty-stricken, unlike his rival, the Comte de
Guiche, who ends the play wealthy but barren and purposeless, envious of
Cyrano’s life-long honesty, freedom and independence.
It takes a big space to accommodate this huge epic
of a play, and a remarkable actor to fill the great man’s shoes. Patrick Page
is perfection itself, offering us a multi-hued, complex character who is both
admirable and insufferable, loud and brash, kind-hearted and tender. The astonishing
performance is delicately nuanced, both thrilling and heart-breaking. Page has
played the character before, but not with the splendidly warm, literate and
lyrical translation by Anthony Burgess (“A Clockwork Orange”), that late master
of linguistic legerdemain. Employing an American accent, as does the entire
outstanding ensemble, Page makes the poetry pellucid, the emotions crystalline.
This is the first of the Shakespeare Festival
openings, and the first non-Shakespeare play in the six years that Darko
Tresnjak has been artistic director of the summer season. The production
highlights this year’s repertory company spectacularly; the scope of the play
is an ideal counterpart to the works of the Bard.
Dana Green is lovely and lively as Roxane, and
Brendan Griffin is aptly coltish, doltish and handsome as Christian. Bruce
Turk, a favorite in the summer Festival, is wonderful as the antagonistic de
Guiche. Eric Hoffman, so hilarious as Falstaff in last year’s “Merry Wives of
Windsor,” does another massive comic turn as the pastry chef Ragueneau. Katie
MacNichol and Charles Janasz (an Associate Artist of the Globe), always welcome
Globe returnees, are excellent in three roles each. The 13 MFA students from
the Old Globe/USD Master’s program acquit themselves well.
The production is superb.
Once again, director Darko Tresnjak proves himself
to be a master of the large cast, and the deep character study. This is one
glorious classic that should not be missed at any cost. Never mind the 3+
hours; the time fairly flies, you’re so caught up in the story and these wonderful,
eloquent, humorous, flamboyant folk. Rostand brought ‘panache’ into the
American lexicon. Tresnjak brings it onto the Festival stage.
THE
LOCATION:
The Old Globe’s outdoor Festival Stage, in
THE DETAILS: Tickets: $29-68.
Tuesday-Sunday at 8 p.m., playing in
repertory with “Twelfth Night” and “Coriolanus,” through September 27.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
BEST BET
David
and Giulia
THE
SHOW: “Restoration,” a world premiere commissioned
by the La Jolla Playhouse
In 2004, an art restorer, Cinzia Parnigoni, landed
the plum job of spending a year cleaning and revitalizing Michelangelo’s David.
Perhaps actor/writer Claudia Shear, who in her Off Broadway hit, “Blown
Sideways Through Life,” which chronicled her 60 some-odd jobs (accent on the
‘odd’), thought she could add another one, at least fictionally. So she
collaborated once again with director
Shear plays Guilia, an ill-tempered, unrefined
perfectionist who refers to herself as “a has-been, a never-was.” She seems
angry at the world, though we never really find out why. When her old
teacher/mentor barges in, with the opportunity of a lifetime, she’s surly and
unappreciative. It seems he nearly destroyed her career years ago (in a very
hazy and poorly defined incident) and now he’s about to restore it, and
catapult her to ‘scrubber’ stardom. She never fully forgives him for the
earlier affront. Although he recommended her for the high-profile job, he’s
totally against the controversial project, believing that art should age
naturally and show the ravages of time, not be artificially returned to its
original state of innocence. “Look what they did to the Sistine Chapel!,” he
exclaims. Nonetheless, in a “Machiavellian” plan, he pushes her forward.
She makes it over several hurdles, winning over,
however reluctantly, two women on the committee. And with that, Shear has
created a fantasy family. The mentor is the on again/off again Dad, who can’t
be relied on for consistency of love and support. The older woman who oversees
the project is the prickly surrogate Mom, who provides consistent
encouragement, accepting her ‘offspring’ warts and all. The younger woman on
the project, Daphne, is the competitive sister who was blessed with both looks
and brains. She’s “long and thin” and beautiful, though she does reveal the
perils of being pretty; we also watch her deal with the slow death of her
mother (dirty diapers and all), though this side-story doesn’t add much to the
central narrative. David is the object of desire, the Perfect Man that Giulia
loves with all her being; but he’s cold, unfeeling, unresponsive – and unreal.
The genuine flesh-and-blood semi-suitor is Max, the security guard in the
Accademia rotunda where David stands. He’s human, flawed (he has a limp, and
he’s married – with an eye for pretty young women); he’s also smart and gentle.
But Giulia treats him badly, too. Then there’s the cleaning woman, who serves
no particular function, and the Nonna who encourages Guilia to kiss the statue
(none of the female characters is really germane to whatever meager plot there
is).
Although the play is billed as the tale of a woman
who restored Michelangelo’s David, and vice versa, we don’t see much arc,
journey or ‘restoration’ in Giulia. Perhaps she’s a tad less irascible and
disagreeable at the conclusion. She makes a stab at some apologies, tries to
mend a few fences. But she’s not particularly good at it, and she isn’t
particularly likable, at the beginning or the end. We don’t really sympathize
with the protagonist, and she doesn’t give us much to care about. The text,
which can be funny at times, and magical at others, is also strewn with
monologues of the didactic variety. Still, we are fascinated by the concept, by
the idea of what it must have been like to spend all that time with the most
gorgeous of artistic creations.
As Shear proved in her Obie-winning performance in
“Blown Sideways” and her Tony nom for “Dirty Blonde” (about Mae West), she’s a
compelling actor. The rest of the cast is also wonderful. As Professor
Williams, Alan Mandell, looking like John Gielgud and acting like the BBC’s art
historian/host Kenneth Clark, is first-rate. Kate Shindle is lithe, lovely,
very well dressed (costumes by David C. Woolard) and a little icy as the
striking Daphne. Natalija Nogulich, well remembered for her stellar
performances in “Hedda Gabler” at the Playhouse (1987) and “The White Rose” at
the Globe (1991), does fine work as three very different characters, none of
whom really leaves a mark on the proceedings. Though his Italian accent wavers,
Daniel Serafini-Sauli is the most human, humane, likable, non-stereotypical of
the characters as Max, the security guard. He has humor and heart. We like him,
we feel for him, we want him to have more of an impact on churlish Giulia.
THE
LOCATION:
The Mandell Weiss Forum at the La Jolla Playhouse, on the campus of UCSD; (858)
550-1010; www.lajollaplayhouse.org
THE DETAILS: Tickets: $30-65.
Tuesday-Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., Thursday-Saturday at
8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m., Sunday at 7 p.m., through July 19.
MINI REVIEWS
… Breaking New Ground: CYC Theatre, the California Youth Conservatory, is the first youth theater company in the world to produce the full-score version of the era-defining musical, “Rent.” Recently, high schools and communities around the country have been canceling productions of the abbreviated youth version of the still-provocative, Tony Award-winning 1994 musical by the late Jonathan Larson, who got his ideas from Giacomo Puccini’s “La Bohème.” But Shaun Evans, fearless artistic director of CYC, who’s already mounted productions of challenging musicals like “Ragtime,” “Jekyll and Hyde” and “Les Miz,” went for the gold again, and the families of nearly three dozen young performers went with him. To help prepare them, Evans offered a week-long workshop, taught by Rodney Hicks, who performed in the original Broadway production, and much-admired actor/singer Karole Forman, who co-directed and choreographed this show.
The
controversy surrounding youth productions of the piece is, of course, its theme
and setting: under the shadow of AIDS, impoverished young
artists and musicians struggle to survive and create in the thriving boho days
of
Sixteen
year-old Joshua Pinkowski is agile and engaging as Mark, the filmmaker and
narrator of the piece. Accomplished young actor/singer
There
was a Michael Jackson tribute the night I was there (“Ben” -- the song about
the rat??). The five-piece band, under the musical supervision of
drummer/percussionist
“Rent”
continues through 7/5 at the Lyceum Theatre in
… Tragic Power: I read “My Name is Asher Lev,” Chaim Potok’s breathtaking and heart-rending
1972 novel, shortly after it was published. I’d loved his best-seller, “The
Chosen” (1967), but I was completely smitten by “Asher Lev.” I never quite
forgot the book, or the character. He’s a marvelous creation; Potok, an
ordained Rabbi as well as an award-winning novelist who died in 2002, said
Asher was the character he identified with most.
Asher Lev is an artist who can’t help himself; he has
to draw and paint. But he is forever chafing against his strict, Orthodox
Jewish community (a fictional sect, the Ladover, based on the Chabad/Lubavich
movement) that looks down on art as frivolous and is horrified by the forbidden
representation of “naked women.” Like “The Chosen,” this novel confronts the
conflict between father and son, tradition and modernity, and explores the very
definition of humanity. It’s a brilliant, moving, universal and illuminating
work of art.
A couple of years ago, Aaron Posner, who adapted
“The Chosen” so effectively as a play, took a stab at “My Name is Asher Lev,”
working with Potok’s widow. A few months ago, he premiered the drama at the
Arden Theatre Company that he founded in
Steve Lipinsky was set to direct, and he contracted
with an
… One Night, One Perspective: I was only
able to catch one of the three programs that comprised the third annual New Perspective Festival, which was
held at Swedenborg Hall over two weekends this month. The Festival has filled
the gap left by the long-running and much-lamented Actors Festival, which
allowed local actors to try their hand at writing and directing. Under the
aegis of artistic director Kelly Lapczynski, the Festival featured a total of
24 plays and 17 playwrights. Of the eight pieces I saw, most 10-15 minutes in
length, there was a common concern: the brief playlets revealed an interesting
idea that wasn’t taken to a satisfying conclusion. Many ended abruptly, without
sufficient resolution. The direction and performances were earnest, but
variable in professionalism and effectiveness. The comical topics covered were:
board-game addiction (“Don’t Play Games with Me,” by
The intriguing plays with more serious subjects
focused on: marital infidelity (“The Fling Thing,” by Peter Mitsopoulos and
“Fine Can Be Fine,” by Lizzie Silverman); a theater director firing his mentor
(“Cue to Exit”); dealing with a parent with Alzheimer’s Disease by out-sourcing
the care abroad, (“He’s Not Him,” a black comedy by Craig Abernethy). The
highlight of Program Three, and the winner of the audience-voted Best of the
Evening, was “Love Unrequited in Three Galleries: Evening (European Gallery)”
by Kevin Six, who wrote two other pieces (the other two “Galleries”) and
directed “Fine Can Be Fine.”
In “Love Unrequited,” an older man (Andy Boutelle,
excellent) returns to a museum on his anniversary, to visit the site where he
fell in love with his late wife of 40 years, a painter who died 25 years ago.
Annie (Kimberly Ford, aptly ethereal) appears to him and they reminisce. Then,
another couple (Ryan Mirvis and funny/antic Elizabeth Taylor) comes in with
their officiant, a masked, caped crusader (Nestor Gabeldon), to have a quickie
wedding ceremony in front of the same painting that entranced Arthur and Annie.
The older couple realizes that these two “don’t love each other enough.” With
Annie’s guidance, Arthur gets the two to be more honest and open, to express
their love more deeply and sincerely. When he finishes that little task, and
serves as the witness to the marriage, Arthur is ready to be reunited with his
beloved wife. Sweet piece, nicely done.
The Best of the Best award went to David Wiener’s
“Feeding Time at the Human House,” directed by Jonathan Sturch, who performed
with Dawn Williams. The brief one-act, which was originally produced at the
Challenge III Festival of short plays at Compass Theatre, won Best Play last
month at the 15-Minute Play Festival in New York City. Congrats to David
Wiener, artist in residence at the San Diego Shakespeare Society. In case you
missed it, “Feeding Time” will have an encore performance at the University
Heights Arts Open on September 20, at Swedenborg Hall.
Other Festival awards went to “Twisting the Cat” by
Alan Kilpatrick, directed by
NEWS AND VIEWS
… Brava!: Victoria Hamilton, San Diego’s premier champion of the arts,
was honored last week with the Selina Roberts Ottum Award for Arts Leadership
by Americans for the Arts and the
National Endowment for the Arts. The award is targeted to someone who
exhibits “outstanding leadership qualities and a demonstrable dedication to the
arts and arts advocacy.“
…Nutty!: Marvin Hamlisch, Principal Conductor of the San Diego Symphony
Pops, is at work on another musical theater project. He was brought in by Jerry
Lewis to write the score for a new musical version of “The Nutty Professor,” to be directed by the 83 year-old Lewis, who
starred in and directed the original 1963 film. The Oscar, Tony and
Grammy-winning Hamlisch is best known in theater circles for his Tony-winning
score for “A Chorus Line.” For book and lyrics, Lewis has hired Rupert Holmes,
two-time Tony winner for “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” (1985), for which he
wrote book, lyrics, music and orchestrations. More recently, Holmes was
Tony-nominated for “Curtains.” This is Lewis’ Broadway directing debut; the
show is scheduled to open during the 2010-11 Broadway season.
… Sneak Peek at The Wives: Media,
staff, sponsors and Old Globe board members were invited to a preview rehearsal
of the world premiere, Broadway-bound musical, “The First Wives Club.” The composers, the legendary HDH (Brian
Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland), who wrote songs for The Supremes,
the Four Tops, Marvin Gaye and Martha and the Vandellas, weren’t present. But
everyone else involved in the production was, including director Francesca
Zambello, who was funny and articulate, in a brash, New York kind of way, and
book-writer Rupert Holmes, as well as the designers and cast. The project began
germinating three summers ago, and the intention was always not to just
re-tell the 1996 movie, which starred Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn and Diane
Keaton. The 1990s film followed the 1980s book, said Zambello, and now, “in the
noughts, there’ll be, we hope, a great musical.” She stressed that the new show
will not be about vengeance, but “women bettering themselves,” coming together
and “bonding over the loss of their friend, and finding the meaning of
friendship and family.” And it won’t be “just about three middle-class white
women. The Goldie Hawn character is now black. So there’s a black couple, a
Jewish couple and a very WASPy couple.” Holmes, who started out as a pop
songwriter (“The Piña Colada Song” is his), called Holland-Dozier-Holland “one
of the greatest pop-songwriting teams in American history, with 40 hit songs in
the Top 20. The company performed four numbers: the anthemic “Ready for
Change,” the ballad “My Heart Wants to Try One More Time,” the comical “You’re
So Lucky” and the spirited “Jump for Joy.” Previews of the show begin July 17
and the opening is July 31. www.oldglobe.org
After the performance, I got a moment to
chat with Rupert Holmes, who confirmed that while he’s working on “Wives Club,”
he’s also meeting with Marvin Hamlisch (who’s conducting the Pops’ 4th
of July extravaganza this weekend) to lay down the second act of “The Nutty
Professor.” At the same time, he’s developing a new non-musical, “Witness for
the Prosecution,” based on an Agatha Christie story that was made into a film
(1956) and TV movie (1982). He’s already gotten the rights from the Christie
estate, and he’s well on his way. Talk about your multi-taskers…
News from The East:
… The
U.S. House of Representatives approved a $15 million increase for both the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and
the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for FY 2010. This increase, which
would bring both agencies’ budgets to $170 million, exceeds President Obama’s
budget request for the NEA by $8.7 million. It’s the highest proposed
appropriation for the NEA since its $176 million peak in FY 1992. However, and
that’s a BIG however, the Senate Appropriations Committee set NEA and NEH
funding at only $161 million each, and the Senate is yet to vote. If you’re so
inspired, contact your Senators to support arts and humanities funding.
… A
recent gathering of more than 160 playwrights and producers, most of them
female, heard the surprising results of a year-long research project that both
confirmed and upended assumptions about gender bias in the theater. Emily
Glassberg Sands, a
In the
second phase of her study, Sands sent identical scripts to artistic directors
and literary managers across the country. Half the cover-sheets named a man as
the writer of the script; half named a woman. The ‘women’s’ scripts received
significantly worse ratings in terms of quality, economic prospects and
audience response. Most shockingly, it was the female theater leaders
who drove the results. That is, men rated male
and female playwrights exactly the same, but women rated female playwrights
lower.
For the third part of her multi-stage study, Sands
looked at the 329 new plays and musicals produced on Broadway in the past ten
years. Women wrote fewer than one in eight shows. That’s a well-documented
statistic. But what Sands added to the mix is data that showed that the plays
and musicals written by women earned more money, selling 16% more tickets a
week, and showing 18% more profit overall than the plays written by men. And
yet, producers did not keep the women’s plays running any longer than less
profitable shows written by men. The conclusion was that producers discriminate
against women playwrights, and also plays that feature female characters. There
will undoubtedly be a great deal of fallout from these studies (the letters are
already pouring in to the New York Times) but it did give many people pause.
PAT’S PICKS: BEST
BETS
v “Cyrano de Bergerac” – stunning,
magnificent production of a timeless, heart-rending classic
The Old Globe’s
Festival Stage, in repertory through 9/27
v “Over the Tavern“ – Oh, those wacky
Catholics! A laugh-a-minute comedy with a terrific cast
North Coast
Repertory Theatre, through 7/12
Read review here:
http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-06-24/things-to-do/pat-launer-on-san-diego-theater-tavern-west
v “The Lonesome West” – black comedy that
makes for violent Irish fun
Triad Productions
at the
Read review here:
http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-06-24/things-to-do/pat-launer-on-san-diego-theater-tavern-west
v “The
Fantasticks” – musical, fanciful, delightful
Lamb’s Players
Theatre, through 7/28
Read review here:
http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-06-17/things-to-do/pat-launer-on-san-diego-theater-fantasticks#mini
To read any of
her prior reviews, type ‘