Pat Launer on San Diego Theater
Review of “Eurydice,“ “Not Now, Darling,” “Arrow to the Heart” … and local theater news
By Pat Launer, SDNN
June 24, 2010
Don’t
Look Back
THE PLAY: “Eurydice,” a modern take on an ancient tale, at
Moxie Theatre
It’s
the ultimate love story: the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, about a
passion that endures beyond the grave. After Eurydice’s shocking death on their
wedding day, the acclaimed musician, Orpheus, is determined to follow his young
bride to the Underworld and bring her back. When he plays his sorrowful music,
the gods melt, and allow him to enter and return with her – on one condition:
He must walk in front of her and never look back. But at the last minute, he
turns around, and she’s lost to him forever.
The
tragic tale has been told in myriad ways – in books, plays, songs, paintings,
operas, poems, ballets, film, even a freeware game. But it’s typically seen
through the eyes of the one Left Behind. Sarah Ruhl,
two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, is an iconoclastic, feminist fantasist, who
tells a whole other tale – from Eurydice’s perspective. We not only see how she
died (not a snakebite, as in the original, but through
enticement by the slithery, reptilian Lord of the Underworld); we also learn
what it’s like to arrive down below, having lost all language and memory
(thanks to a dip in the Lethe, river of forgetfulness). The first person she
encounters – besides the trio of remonstrating Stones, is a man she thinks is
the hotel porter.
She’s
petulant, demanding, insists on having her own room and a Continental
breakfast. He, avuncular and ever-obliging, tries to give her what she wants,
within the confines of his eternal home (turns out there are no rooms, no
food). He turns out to be her father, who died when she was young (the
playwright’s father also died early, which inspired her to write the piece).
Gradually, caringly, patiently, he re-teaches her language and reconnects her
to her past. Their relationship is touching and beautiful. And then… Orpheus
arrives. Eurydice is forced to choose between her husband and her father. Love
is inextricably linked to loss: she chooses to stay, to strengthen her
father-daughter bond, rather than facing the challenges of a living, breathing,
real-world marital relationship.
Unlike the strikingly inventive but hugely enigmatic production at UCSD in 2004, this Moxie Theatre mounting underscores rather than obfuscates the powerful emotional core of the play. If you listen to the music and poetry of the piece, you’ll be absolutely smitten. It’s a gorgeous, poignant, surreal dreamscape, a sad/funny/painful meditation on devotion and desolation, choices and communication, remembering and forgetting. Both play and production will take your breath – and heart – away.
The marvelous director,
Delicia Turner Sonnenberg, digs deep to mine the humor, sentiment, ardor and
agony of the characters.
Jennifer Eve Thorn is radiant as the title character, wide-eyed and
open-hearted, leaping fearlessly into the abyss, and into the arms of father
and husband. Justin Lang is darling as her mate, a tad inarticulate, always
distracted by his music (“This is what it’s like to love an artist,” Eurydice
claims), but still, devoted and determined. Max Macke is by turns funny,
creepy, sinister and reptilian, as the man/child Lord of the Underworld, who
sports the show’s most comical costumes -- and is pretty sporty with a
skateboard, too.
Second-grader Zoë Tuner Sonnenberg,
adorably talented daughter of the director, holds her own quite nicely in the
Greek Chorus of funny/kvetchy
Stones, joining scowling Fred Harlow and amusing
The design elements parallel the high level
of performance. Jennifer Brawn Gittings, a prolific costumer about town, gets
to show the full range of her skill and imagination. Her ingenious costumes
include whimsical getups for the Under-god and a pull-off bridal gown for
Eurydice. The makeup for the Stones is flinty gray. And she also created the
set, which features all manner of special effects: a personal rain shower, a
pop-up room made of rope, a cascade of petals, a
delivery of books. Magical. And matched by a beautiful
lighting design (
Release all expectations of reality,
rationality and linearity. Let yourself fall, just as Eurydice plummets, into
another world. Savor this show with your heart.
THE LOCATION: Moxie Theatre,
THE DETAILS: Tickets:
$15-$25. Wednesday-Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m., through June 27 (NOTE:
Moxie is currently working to
extend the production)
Bottom
Line: BEST BET
THE PLAY: “Not Now, Darling,” a 1967 English farce, at Scripps
Ranch Theatre
Theaterfolk know that good comedy is
seriously difficult. And farce may be hardest of all. The
hair-trigger timing. The mega-sized double-takes.
The slamming doors. The pratfalls.
And don’t forget the scantily-clad women. Scripps Ranch Theatre pulls it all
off (literally and figuratively) with aplomb, in their delightful production of
“Not Now, Darling,” by Ray Cooney and John Chapman. There’s the usual array of
missed connections, miscommunications and mistaken identities. But each
character is a gem, in a very funny cast of eleven, under the astute direction
of
This
classic English farce set box office records in
The gals who
hide, half-naked, in two stage-flanking closets – wives, mistresses, who can
keep track? – are funny hotties Danielle DeCarlo (as a demanding, pseudo-classy stripper) and Sunny
Smith (as a gum-snapping, dim-bulb blonde bombshell). Smith continued
performing before and after – but at least not during! -- her
recent SRO/smash hit wedding to actor/writer/director
The mates of
these fur-and affair- hungry gals – not exactly portraits of marital fidelity
themselves -- are played by Bobby Shiefer (convincing)
and Don Pugh (charmingly lower class and then skull-banging menacing –
something he does so well). As a non-essential older couple, there’s a
dithering Dave Rethoret and a superciliously superb
Kathryn Herbruck. Svelte Michelle Burkhart looks
alarmingly like a mannequin, and DeNae Steele is
solid as the stalwart secretary who tries to keep it all together, which helps
her get noticed by the second-string boss she’s been ogling for years.
So all’s well
that ends… with various matchups and mashups. The design
work is delectable: set by Brian Redfern, lighting by
Mitchell Simkovsky, costumes by
If you’re a fan,
farce never goes out of style… and this is one stylish production.
THE LOCATION: Scripps Ranch
Theatre, at the Legler
THE DETAILS: Tickets:
$10-$20. Friday-Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m., through June 26
Bottom
Line: BEST BET
THE PLAY: “Arrow to the Heart,” a new drama, produced by Vox Nova
Theatre, in association with UCSD’s Division of Arts
& Humanities and Department of Theatre and Dance
One young man’s experience of grief and loss. A fraught father-son relationship, a tight mother-son bond. Nathan is lost and confused, trying to revisit and understand himself and the last twelve months of his life. His mother was erroneously diagnosed with cervical cancer. Heartache Number One. Then his successful, entrepreneurial father, being hounded by the IRS, is at peril of imprisonment. During the traumatic process, Dad suffers a life-threatening heart attack and later, a stroke. Nathan’s safe, self-involved little world -- his parents at a geographical distance, his girlfriend kept at an emotional distance, his academic life far away from the family business – spirals out of control. He has to be forced to remember, look back, process the whole series of events, by an other-worldly muse of memory (lithe, agile Robin Christ). Again and again (similarly, repetitively), she hands him each of his composition books. He reads from his journals, re-enacts some of the scenes, philosophizes about life, death, love, work, family, illness, God, mourning, guilt, regret and forgiveness. And in the process, one hopes, he becomes a man.
There’s a poetic and ethereal quality to
some of Allan Havis’ new drama, but there’s also a slowness,
sameness and flatness in the presentation of what should be a piercing
emotional experience, true to its title. This applies to both production and
play. Only periodically do we crawl inside the action; mostly we’re kept at a
contemplative, intellectual remove.
Christ does the most impressive work, both
in her dance moves and the multiple characters she plays, with varied accents:
the muse, the girlfriend, the psychic, the IRS auditor, Nate’s Aunt Betty, an
outsourced Indian helpdesk operator. Beyond all those colorful cameos, we get a
formerly energetic and now depressed mother (
THE LOCATION: Vox Nova
Theatre, in the Arthur Wagner Theatre on the campus of UC San Diego (in
Galbraith Hall). (619)
816-7638; www.voxnovatheatrecompany.com
THE DETAILS: Tickets: $8-$15.
Thursday-Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m., through June 27
SOMETHING NEW IN TOWN
It was a first in
several ways: the inauguration of a new cabaret locale –The Celebration Cabaret – and the debut of a first-time cabaret
show for stage/TV/film actor Emily Bergl. Both are promising – and both could use a bit of
refinement. The venue is in an attractive spiritual meeting-place (The
Celebration Center in
NEWS AND VIEWS
… If you’re in
the ’hood: If you happen to be in L.A. this weekend, and you didn’t catch
the Native American New Play Festival when
it was showcased at the La Jolla Playhouse a couple of weeks ago, do not miss
this year’s offerings. The two staged readings I saw were dramatically written
and excellently performed: “Tombs of the Vanishing Indian,” by Marie Clements (Métis), a harrowing tale of the
blood, anguish and dashed dreams of three disparate sisters in 1970s L.A. (Did
you know there was a program of Native American sterilization in California --
that recently?); and “On the Mangled Beam,” by Dawn Jamieson (Cayuga), about the role of Iroquois ironworkers in the building of the World Trade Center and the
dangerous post-9/11 demolition and repair work. These men were invaluable to
the effort, yet they were often treated like third-class citizens. The third
piece, “Time
Immemorial,” by Jack Dalton (Yup'ik)
and Allison Warden (Inupiaq), portrays the history
of an Inupiaq village in
… Oh Brothers,
Where Art Thou?: That wacky local acrobatic performing family, The Platt Brothers have, as they
report, “finally, officially
fulfilled one of our major lifetime goals: to work with the legendary Cirque du Soleil.” They just finished
the Xbox 360 Kinect
launch for Microsoft, which was imagined and
brought to life by the world-famous Cirque. You can
see photos of their wild wigs and costumes at www.theplattbrothers.com. And look for the Platts at Qualcomm Stadium on
July 9, where they’ll be performing at the opening ceremonies
of the California State Games, an
event that also features Olympic athletes and a fireworks display.
… Calling All Theater Angels: Nominations are now being
accepted for the Lucy Jordan
Humanitarian Award, established in 1992 to commemorate
a former ballerina and chorus “gypsy” who for many years was the representative
of Actors’ Equity in the Western Region. The award is
given to those in the “extended theater community” who demonstrate “a lifetime
commitment to the theater and especially, helping other theater artists.” The
deadline for nomination is August 1. For an application, contact Richard Ostlund at ROstlund@actorsequity.org or
(323) 978-8080 x112.
…Riding the Hot Tamale Train: San Diegan Mary Murphy, the “Queen of Scream” on Fox’s “So You Think You Can
Dance,” will appear as a guest star in select cities during the 40-week
Big Bucks!: Close on the heels of its big wins at
the Tony Awards (four statuettes/eight nominations), the La Jolla Playhouse wins big again, with a whopping $900,000 grant
from the James Irvine Foundation. Five major
PAT’S PICKS: BEST
BETS FOR THE WEEK
v
“Eurydice” – modern twist on
an ancient myth; magical, deep and beautifully crafted play and production
Moxie Theatre, through 6/27 (with possible
extension; in negotiation)
v
“Not Now,
Darling” – wacky English farce, delectably done
Scripps Ranch Theatre, through 6/26
v
“Dog Sees God” – the Peanuts
gang grows up – badly; darkly comic
InnerMission Productions at
Diversionary Theatre, through 6/27
v
“Private Lives” – bitter, acidic
and deliciously irresistible
Cygnet Theatre, through 7/3
v “Footloose” – footloose and fancy free;
high energy, fine singing and dancing
Welk
Resorts Theatre, through 6/27
Read Review here: http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2010-05-12/things-to-do/theater-things-to-do/frankie-and-johnny-moscow-plus-more-theater-reviews-news
To read any of her prior reviews, type ‘Pat
Launer,’ and the name of the play of interest, in the SDNN Search box.
Pat Launer is
the SDNN theater critic. She can be reached at patlauner.sdnn(at)gmail.com