Pat Launer on San Diego Theater
By Pat Launer, SDNN
March 18, 2010
http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2010-03-17/things-to-do/theater-things-to-do/romeo-and-juliet-pirates-of-penzance-theater-reviews-news
Ill-fated
Inamorati
THE
SHOW: “Romeo and Juliet,” the Gounod opera,
at San Diego Opera
Passion. Murder. Revenge. Suicide. Everything but the family
reconciliation.
Charles Gounod’s 1867 opera, “Romeo and Juliet,” retains almost all of
Shakespeare’s original elements – minus a few characters, plus one (Romeo’s
page, Stephano). But the real focus here is on unabashed, unadulterated love.
The titular paramours even have the benefit of a poignant, tragic final duet
(Shakespeare’s Juliet is dead by the time Romeo arrives in the family crypt).
Gounod’s luscious music is as lyrical and romantic as its theme and
source. The libretto (by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré) even borrows directly
from the Bard, though the language (supertitles by Geoffrey Moore, provided by the
Dallas Opera) is modernized.
Gounod’s creation, like Shakespeare’s, is set in 14th century
As Juliet, Ailyn Pérez is exquisite, a tiny dynamo of energy and passion.
Her lust for life’s experiences is immediately evident, as is the clarity and
agility of her crystalline coloratura, in her radiant aria, “Je veux vivre” (I
want to live). Pérez’s tall, hunky husband, Stephen Costello, makes for a
dashing Romeo, all brash impetuosity and ardent devotion. His bold tenor voice
leaps and soars, and melds magnificently with her luminous lyric soprano in
their four luscious, amorous duets, from the tender minuet of their meeting to
the hot-blooded, breathless beauty of the balcony scene, to their heartrending
finale. The third-act romp in Juliet’s gossamer four-poster is blistering.
The rest of the mostly American principals are excellent: baritone David
Adam Moore as a wonderfully vigorous and droll Mercutio and commanding bass
Kevin Langan as the well-meaning Friar Laurence. Mezzo soprano Suzanna Guzmán,
a frequent performer at SDO, makes a formidable Gertrude, Juliet’s protective,
solicitous nurse, though the character loses much of her bawdy humor in this
version of the story. Powerful bass-baritone Scott Sikon is an imposing
presence as Count Capulet (only one parent in this R&J incarnation, instead
of four).
Tenor Joel Sorensen is aptly bull-headed and bellicose as Tybalt, who
insists on defending the Capulets against what he perceives to be marauding
Montagues. But that, as we know, turns out badly for all. In the trouser role
of Romeo’s page, Stephano, an amalgam of Shakespeare’s servants, New Zealand
mezzo Sarah Castle is spunky and spirited. The duels (fight director Dale
Anthony Girard) are admirably executed.
Resident conductor Karen Keltner, a master of the French repertoire who’s
fluent in the music and the language (she also serves as diction coach),
elicits fervent, rhapsodic emotion from the San Diego Symphony Orchestra.
Chorus Master Timothy Todd Simmons does the same for the sonorous vocalists.
If you’re an opera-lover, a Shakespeare-lover – or just a lover – this
stunning production is not to be missed.
THE LOCATION: The Civic Theatre, 3rd Avenue and B St., downtown San
Diego. (619) 533-7000;
www.sdopera.com
THE DETAILS: Tickets: $35-190.
Only two more performances: Friday 3/19 at 8 p.m., Sunday 3/21 at 2 p.m.
THE
BOTTOM LINE: Best Bet
NOTE: And if you’d like to revisit the original –
with “no holds Bard” – check out the Poor Players production of “Romeo and
Juliet,” 3/19-4/4 at Swedenborg Hall. www.poorplayers.com
Yo Ho Ho and a
Barrel of Fun
THE SHOW: “The
Pirates of Penzance” – the Gilbert &
Sullivan classic, The Welk Resorts Theatre
Soft-hearted, sensitive pirates meet cavorting, cowardly cops in “The
Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty,” an 1879 comic opera by W.S.
Gilbert (libretto) and Arthur Sullivan (music), which premiered in New York in
1879. That was the only time the brilliant Victorians opened a work anywhere
but London. When, 101 years later, the show opened again in New York, it was
pumped up and camped up, and that’s pretty much the way it’s been done ever
since.
It’s kind of hard to take the silly story seriously, so you might as well
take it over the top. This is the charmingly inane tale of Frederic, who,
through a hearing mis-perception, spends years apprenticed to a pirate (it was
supposed to have been a pilot). Now he’s 21, and his duty is done. He leaves
behind the nurse who made the mistake but stayed with him throughout, and sets
off to see the world. His first encounter is with a bevy of beauties, the eight
virginal daughters of a bombastic Major General. Frederic falls instantly for
Mabel, and vows to wed her. But the Pirate King and nurse, not wanting to let
go of the delightfully ingenuous Frederic, convince him that, since he was born
on leap year, February 29, he’s not 21 years old at all; he’s actually only 5½,
and he has 63 more years of duty and obligation to the would-be brigands. Of
course, this being comic opera – the fanciful forerunner of musical theater –
everything comes out right in the end for just about everyone.
Director/choreographer Ray Limon has staged the show many times, most
recently in these parts at Moonlight Stage Productions in 2005, where his two
male leads were knockouts:
Karenssa LeGear brings a winning way and an outstanding soprano to the
role of Mabel; Bart Williams is comical as the “modern Major General”; and Sue
Goodman, though she doesn’t look quite old enough, is clever and capable as
Frederic’s adoring nurse, Ruth. Rick Cox is fun as the Smee-like pirate,
Samuel, joined by two others -- a rather small band -- who double as cops.
They all seem to be having a marvelous time, romping about and horsing
around. As the police sergeant (and dance captain), Dennis Kenney gets to
flaunt his terpsichorean skills, including a mid-air split. But I had the same
complaint about the cops this time as I did during the Moonlight production:
they’re just not funny enough, or bumbling enough. They look great, dressed
like Keystone Kops, but they don’t bump into each other and trip all over each
other and otherwise demonstrate how completely inept (and gutless) they are.
This is social satire, after all. Their policemen’s second act number, “When
the Foeman Bears His Steel,” should be a side-splitting show-stopper. Not,
alas, here.
The simple set and attractive costumes (from Theatrical Productions,
Inc.) work well. The pared-down orchestrations (musical director/pianist Justin
Gray, and four musicians) sound a tad anemic for the big, brassy numbers. But
there’s plenty of movement, activity, talent and shtick to command your
attention. And the voices are estimable. Each of the daughters (six here,
instead of the eight in the original) manages to carve out a cute little
character.
It all adds up to an amusing, entertaining experience -- buffoonish,
overblown fun for the family.
THE LOCATION: Welk Resorts
Theatre, 8860 Lawrence Welk Dr., Escondido. (760) 749-3448; www.welktheatresandiego.com
THE DETAILS: Tickets: $44-47;
$58-63 with buffet. Thursday and
Saturday at 8 p.m., Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m., through
May 2.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Best Bet
NOTE: More Pirates on the way. Lyric Opera San Diego’s
production of “The Pirates of Penzance” runs 3/26-4/11 at the Birch North Park
Theatre. www.lyricoperasandiego.org
STATE OF THE
ARTS: Report on the local visit of NEA Chairman Rocco
Landesman
Rocco
Landesman, the new
chairman of the National Endowment for
the Arts (NEA), made San Diego the first California stop on his national
tour promoting the NEA’s “Art Works” initiative. A former theater producer (a
“recovering Broadway producer,” as he put it), Landesman, the 19th
chairman of the NEA, was here to promote the idea that the arts are intrinsic
to the spiritual and social/economic health of a community and a nation. His
visit came just five weeks after Mayor Jerry Sanders met with NEA officials to
talk about San Diego’s thriving arts community and how the NEA might partner
with San Diego in helping the city celebrate the 2015 centennial of the Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park.
Landesman said he was especially pleased to
be returning to the place where his theater career began. The first show he ever
produced was “Big River” at the La Jolla Playhouse in 1984. His second show was
“Into the Woods” at the Old Globe (1987). He described the “triple entendre” of
his initiative’s title: “Artworks as a noun, an artform. Art works
-- to change and inspire, to help us understand ourselves. And art works,
that is, arts jobs are a real part of the economy. $2.4 billion in revenues in
California. The arts build stronger, more livable, sustainable communities.”
Some of the more important points he made:
v
“Any
plan for coming out of the recession has to include the arts.” Citing studies,
he said, “People who participate in arts and culture activities are more likely
to engage in the community, and in politics. And the racial/ethnic tensions in
the community decrease. The arts make a major difference in child welfare,
decreasing truancy and juvenile delinquency. And art is a poverty-fighter. Arts
jobs leverage other jobs: administrators, designers, stage hands, parking lot
attendants and more.”
v
Federal
agencies and the private sector must work together as catalysts to use the arts
for revitalization (e.g., artist housing, an arts charter school to transform a
neighborhood), inserting the arts into everyday business.
Landesman’s toured
local locations that showcase San Diego as an arts innovator: Balboa Park, NTC
Promenade, MCASD downtown, the Children’s Museum and others. On Saturday
afternoon, a large swath of the arts community showed up for a public forum
with Landesman at the La Jolla Playhouse. After questions were presented to the
panelists by moderator Chris Ashley, artistic director of the LJ Playhouse,
there was a Q&A with the audience. The panel included: Lou Spisto of the
Old Globe; Alan Ziter, NTC Foundation; Victoria Hamilton, San Diego Commission
for Arts and Culture; Hugh Davies, Museum of Contemporary Art; Vicki Estrada, Media Arts Center/Latino Film Festival; and Jennifer
Vanica, Market Creek Plaza. Each panelist demonstrated how San Diego is making
Art Work.
Victoria Hamilton reported that the 72 organizations
funded by the Commission for Arts and Culture contributed more than $180
million in direct spending to the local economy. They also attracted an
estimated 1.6 million cultural tourists, who spent nearly $394 million here in
2008.
“Collectively,” said Lou Spisto, “arts and culture
is a big industry in San Diego. We outpace the Chargers, with 4500 arts-related
businesses employing 24,000 people. The Old Globe alone is one of the largest
employers of artists in the country.”
Hugh Davies talked about using new technology and
social media to engage new audiences. The Museum of Contemporary Arts has
nearly 3800 Facebook fans. They have artist interviews on YouTube, installation
images on Flickr, and cellphone/iPhone tours of exhibitions. Davies made a plea
for reinstating the NEA’s “Artist Grants,” which fostered “direct subsidy of
creativity.” That comment drew appreciative applause. Jennifer Vanica talked
about young people using phone “flash-mobbing,” which can “draw and mobilize
1000 kids in one minute, to get them to come to an event.”
One of the first audience questions was: Why did
San Diego only receive $75,000 of NEA funds last year (the Globe receiving
$50,000 of that amount)? There was discussion about getting a California representative
on the National Council on the Arts, which advises the Chairman of the NEA.
Fielding another question, Landesman said a Cabinet
level position for an Arts & Culture Minister was unlikely any time soon
(“”That’s a quick ticket out of town for any President”). But he did say that,
for the first time in a long while, “arts are part of the national conversation
and part of domestic policy.”
Landesman noted that the number of cultural
institutions has been proliferating, but the number of people attending is
declining. The question is: Are we overbuilt?
“We may be in the middle of a sea-change,” the NEA
chairman said, “in terms of the ‘reverential temples’ that have housed the
arts. We might need to get out into the community.”
Hugh Davies countered Landesman’s assertion, noting
that audiences for museums are actually increasing, perhaps due to the ease of
access (no particular start/end time for visiting, etc.).
Another audience question was: What is San Diego
doing to develop the next generation of arts leaders? Victoria Hamilton
described a $500,000 grant (with money from the Irvine Foundation) for an
Emerging Leaders Program. Other local organizations provide internships,
artist-in-residence support and USD has a Non-Profit Management program, in
addition to the MFA training programs at USD, SDSU, UCSD and Pt. Loma Nazarene.
Several panelists talked about the need for
openness: access to rehearsals and work in progress, to engage the community
more directly. One of the barriers to this, at present, is union (e.g., Equity)
rules, that Landesman said are “from another era.”
Among the major challenges to the arts community
that were discussed: the changing demographics of our community (i.e., reaching
more young people and more diverse populations); how to bring the arts to the
diverse communities, not just bring the communities to the arts; the lack of
high-level civic pride in the arts we do have; creating facilities to house all
the arts organizations we have (“We can’t even build a library downtown,” said
Alan Ziter. “I bet the football stadium gets built before the library”).
Landesman reiterated that theater, as the most
collaborative art, should be a model for system-wide collaboration. He
indicated that collaboration is “the ethos of this Administration. The
President has directed other agencies to collaborate with the NEA. Every agency
has an arts aspect. This Administration gets it, that the arts are about
quality of life.”
Perhaps no new ground was broken during the
meeting, which in some ways was a show-and-tell and in others, a gripe session.
But getting all those arts and culture folks together in one room was
important. If just one or two viable ideas, partnerships, alliances or
collaborations come out of the event, it will have been worthwhile. It’s a
gathering that’s worth having once or twice a year.
NEWS
AND VIEWS
… No Reviews Allowed: But suffice to
say that John Leguizamo has a
boatload of slavishly devoted fans. On the night I was there to see his Page to
Stage work in progress at the La Jolla Playhouse, two women threw panties up
onto the stage (should I mention that he sniffed them?). The outrageous
performer lives up to the title of his new solo piece: “Diary of a Madman.”
Interesting that we’ve got two multi-culti autobio shows going on at once; the
other is Mo’olelo’s “self (the remix),” starring hip hop/spoken word performer Robert Farid Karimi. See
‘em both to compare, if you can, though at last check, Leguizamo’s entire run
was sold out and many Mo’olelo performances were, too. Both shows run through
3/21.
… More hip hop: Classics 4 Kids is presenting Culture
Shock at the California Center for
the Arts, Escondido on Wednesday, 3/24 at 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. The $2
performance is geared for students in grades 6-12. Through the power of music
and dance, Culture Shock is dedicated to cultivating self-worth, dignity and
respect for others. (760) 988-4253; www.artcenter.org
… More Culture Shock: The Culture Shock Dance Center will host Dance 4 Haiti, a hip hop benefit with
proceeds going to the American Red Cross’ efforts on behalf of the
earthquake-ravaged country. A day of Master Classes will feature instructors
such as Leslie Scott, who has danced for Beyoncé and P. Diddy, and Japanese
wacking and locking expert Kanna Burch. Saturday 3/27 from 3-9 p.m. The public
is invited “to get down and boogie for a great cause.” www.cultureshockdancecenter.com
… Let It Be: Let it be Art! Harold
Clurman’s Life of Passion will be presented as a one-night, off-night
performance at North Coast Repertory Theatre. Clurman, a visionary director and
theater critic who died in 1980, was “the elder statesman of the American
theater.” The solo show, which recently played Off Broadway, is written and
performed by Ronald Rand. Wednesday, April 14 at NCRT. www.northcoastrep.org
… Mark Twain
Tonite!: SDSU is presenting a new play, “Tom and Huck and Jim, A Mark Twain Centenary Tribute,” a literary
tale set in 19th century, segregated Hannibal, MO, where Samuel
Clemens grew up and wrote his classic novels. Celebrating the 100th anniversary
of the death of the Great American Author, the play features his timeless
characters, whose adventures have lessons to teach about freedom and justice.
Adapted and directed by Margaret Larlham, with original musical compositions by
recent Patté Award winner
… Movin’ On,
Movin’ Up: Local actor/photographer Daren Scott has just snagged a
recurring role on the new TV private-eye comedy, “Terriers.” The pilot is
currently being shot in Ocean Beach … UCSD alumnus Mat Smart (MFA in
playwriting, author of “The Hopper Collection,” among others) will premiere his
play, “Samuel J. and K.,” at the
Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts this summer… and a frequent
former Moonlight Stage performer Josh Breckenridge, is appearing in “The
Scottsboro Boys,” the final musical penned by Kander and Ebb (“Chicago,”
“Cabaret”), currently running Off Broadway.
Reading Room
… Moxie Theatre continues its first New Play Festival, staged readings of
plays by feisty females, entitled “Fighting
Words.” The playwrights are Jennifer Barclay (“Red Helen”), Katie Henry
(“Re-Drowning Ophelia,” recently premiered at Plays by Young Writers), Lojo
Simon (“Adoration of Dora”), Zsa Zsa Gershick (“Coming Attractions”) and
Jacqueline Goldfinger (“the terrible girls”). March 19-28. Tickets at (858)
598-7620; www.moxietheatre.com
… PowPAC, Poway’s Community Theatre,
presents a staged reading of “Collective
Dating,” by V.B. Leghorn. A series of seven vignettes on the humor and
hazards of hooking up, from matchmakers to blind dates, from speed dating to
drag dating, the show plays on Sunday, 3/21 at 7 p.m., upstairs in the Lively
Center at 13250 Poway Road. Reservations recommended (858) 679-8085;
www.powpac.org.
… American International Theater, Inc.
and local bed and breakfast Jamul Haven
are collaborating for a monthly play reading series at the luxury, arts-focused
Victorian inn. The free readings, which began in March, will be held at 5 p.m.
on the first Saturday of each month, with audience discussion to follow. AIT
producing director
… The Carlsbad Playreaders are presenting a
reading of “The Lieutenant of Inishmore,”
a Tony nominee for Best Play of 2006. Another black comedy from Martin McDonagh, it’s a tale of
murderous revenge, featuring a dead cat, a tortured drug dealer and a brutal,
bloody shootout. McDonagh is always good for a few laughs. Ron Choularton,
PAT’S PICKS: BEST
BETS
v “Romeo and Juliet” – beautiful, lyrical
production of the Gounod opera, gorgeously sung
San
Diego Opera, through 3/21
v “The Pirates of Penzance” – overblown
and over-the-top, with over-the-moon singing
The
Welk Resorts Theatre, through 5/2
v “Ring Round the Moon” – delightfully
daft comedy
Moonlight
Stage Productions at the Avo Playhouse, through 3/21
Read
Review here: http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2010-03-10/things-to-do/theater-things-to-do/ring-round-the-moon-plus-more-theater-reviews-news
v “self (the remix)” – intriguing solo hip
hop autobiography
Mo’olelo
at the 10th Avenue Theatre, through 3/21
Read
review here: http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2010-03-10/things-to-do/theater-things-to-do/ring-round-the-moon-plus-more-theater-reviews-news
v “An Inspector Calls” – razor-sharp
production of a mystery/thriller classic
Lamb’s
Players Theatre, EXTENDED through 3/28
Read
Review here: http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2010-02-17/things-to-do/theater-things-to-do/an-inspector-calls-a-delicate-balance-plus-theater-news
Pat
Launer is the SDNN theater critic.
To
read any of her prior reviews, type ‘Pat Launer,’ and the name of the play of
interest, in the SDNN Search box.