Gaetana Caldwell-Smith play reviews

"How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying"

2009-04-24T16:00:00.000-07:00

“How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”
A Musical Comedy with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, based on the novel by Shepherd Mead, with musical direction by Michael Shahani
Presented by the City College of San Francisco; directed and choreographed by Deborah Shaw.

You have only three more opportunies to see "How to Suceed in Business Without Really Trying" (see below)

Once again, for the Spring Semester, Deborah Shaw and Michael Shahani bring a hit musical to the Diego Rivera theatre on the City College campus. Last year, they triumphed with their production of “Cabaret.” This year it’s the early 1960s era's “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” set in 1961.
Iain Gray heads up the cast of over 20 as window washer soon to become Chairman of the Board at the World Wide Wickett Company. He plays the role made famous both on Broadway and in the film by a “New Faces” talent, Robert Morse: J. Pierrepont Finch. (Gray has an English accent, which, rather than detract, fits in perfectly with his affected name.) Gray gives Finch a boyish charm that masks his calculating mind. His competition is company President J. B. Biggley’s nephew, Bud Frump, played with perfect jealous pique by an animated Spencer Peterson, in argyle sweater-vest and Harold Lloyd glasses. Peterson ignites every scene with his obvious rambunctious joy at the opportunity to live in Frump’s cunningly deceitful body.

The musical opens with Finch on a window washer’s scaffold, his back to the audience, perusing the book from which the production gets its title. Seeing no future in washing windows for a career, he launches himself on a path to defeat Frump and eventually unseat Biggley. The role of J. B. is acted by Dennis Chase, who gives Biggley just enough pomposity and cluelessness to make us care about him.
Finch is helped in his rise not only by assiduously following the book, but by his own glibness and his ability to take advantage when opportunities arise. He flatters J. B.’s secretary Miss Jones (Janet Lohr) and finagles meetings with J. B. and flirts with secretaries: love-struck Rosemary (a sweet Megan Dueck) and her sympathetic, sharp gal pal, Smitty (Miquela Sierra). All along, Frump schemes to trip Finch up, but everything he does seems only to work out in Finch’s favor and Finch quickly rises to the top. Until Frump gets Finch, now Vice-president of Advertising, to propose his own failed plan for a TV show.

The cast breaks into musical numbers throughout, backed by a live band. Megan Dueck, as Rosemary, wants to be Finch’s sweetheart, she sings “Happy To Keep His Dinner Warm,” daydreaming about her duties as a corporate wife. A couple of songs from the original Broadway production ended up on the top 40 and heard ad infinitum, sung by Sammy Davis Junior and other stars of that era: “I Believe in You,” and “The Brotherhood of Man.”

Everyone who has worked in an office at some point in his or her life, can relate to scenes like the coffee break, when employees go crazy when the coffee person announces one morning that there’s no coffee, the ever-present ding of an elevator, and its doors sliding open and closing. The potted palms, the “executive” chair, the desk and the side chair, file cabinets, the lame décor and corporate color schemes, all wonderfully imagined by set designer Patrick Toebe and his crew. Costumes by Susan Linneman are in keeping with the times. For the company party, Rosemary wants to shed her secretarial image and be sexy for Finch; she shows up in a red dress, only to discover that every other woman had the same idea.

Things heat up when a new secretary is hired, Hedy (an outstanding Geneva Holloman), a blond of the Judy Holliday type from “Born Yesterday,” crossed with Dolly Parton without Parton’s intelligence. She’s been mixed up with J. B, but of course, no one’s supposed to know, still everyone gossips. Frump works hard to implicate Finch and Hedy in a scandal, which backfires.

An exuberant, talented cast and chorus adds energy and spice, accompanied by upbeat musical numbers. Don’t be surprised to hear yourself singing, “I Believe in You” when you leave the theatre. As Deborah Shaw notes in the program: “This [is] the perfect send-up of the mores and morals of corporate life and the thirst for success.”

"How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" plays tonight, April 24, 8PM, Saturday, April 25,8PM and Sunday, April 26 at 2PM

"WAR MUSIC"

2009-04-03T17:51:00.000-07:00

“War Music” at the American Conservatory Theatre, adapted by Lillian Groag from Christopher Logue’s contemporary translation of Homer's "Iliad," and directed by Lillian Groag.

Lillian Groag’s “War Music,’ could be seen as an anti-war play. One would think, after seeing it, that, after 3,000 years, men would see that war is based on some powerful leader’s whim. War is death to innocents and destruction of property. The money, man- and woman-power, and resources, are thrown to the winds when it can be used to ensure the health, education,safety, and well-being of every man woman and child on earth. Over three millenniums, nothing has changed.

“War Music” is based on English poet Christopher Logue's modern, blank-verse adaptation of the Greek poet, Homer's "Iliad;" his opus memorializing the epic 10-year Trojan War between the Greek and Trojan armies because Paris ran off with Helen, another man's wife - - with Greek gods advising both sides. Groag could not use Logue’s entire epic. Poet Logue is 82. He’s been working on “The Iliad” for close to a half-century, yet has translated only part of it so far. This latest ACT commissioned work centers on the face-off between Agamemnon and Achilles, which leads to Achilles' death. Groag had to make extensive cuts in Logue’s material to get it under three hours. In an interview she said that she had to assign speaking roles, of course, to make it an actual theatrical experience, "It's 13 actors playing 50,000 Greeks, plus the entire cast of characters of the 'Oresteia' and the Trojan War. So it's enormous, but it's 13 actors playing all the roles."

With a fifteen minute intermission, plan on spending three hours in the theatre.

Her thoughts on why the Trojan War has been relevant for 3,000 years are: "[This story] is 3,000 years old and we never tire of it. Why is that?” she asks, “There's something that struck me reading Logue, this fantastic speech of Achilles' about honor. Maybe that's what it is. In this world of 1200 B.C. where it's just about might - I'll run over your town, kill the men, take the women and the gold - somehow a guy comes up, this guy we created who's the killer of all killers - and he says, 'Yes, but there's a way to do things. You can do this but that's just not done,' and all this brawn and brute force got slightly adjusted. Achilles gives us honor, and that might be the beginning of civilization.” [Ha ha!] "And the other thing,” Groag adds, “is this young man saying, 'I'd rather die young and gloriously and be known forever' - which is eternity - 'than live a long, tranquil, obscure life.' Because that's the only way to win over death. We all know we're going to die, so, I'll die now, this way and people will talk about me forever. And you know what? Sure enough, 3,000 years later, we're still talking about him."

And, over the years, because of men like him, millions, if not billions, have been killed.

"War Music," Groag explains, "is pretty much a choreographed and music piece all the way through. What we're trying to do is not turn it into a play but an epic poem for the theater. So there are three Homers, who narrate but also become characters as they speak. My goal is to slide from narration, where everybody is involved in hearing a story, into this very hot action, and the audience shouldn't know how they got there."

The result can be a confusing mess unless you really concentrate and try not to let your mind drift for two hours and 45 minutes. The cast includes Christopher Tocco as Patroclus and Aeneas; and Anthony Fusco as Odysseus, Homer, Pandar, Poseidon; with Lee Ernst as tyrannical Agamemnon, also, Antenor and Hepphaestus. The rest of the cast performs multiple roles, as well. Jack Willis, who has a singular, powerful stage voice, plays Zeus, Nestor and Anchises, with the same voice and mannerisms. Why? And Jud Williford plays both Paris and Achilles,(and Apollo) which is confounding in that there is so little difference between them. Williford, displaying a milky-white, bare chest, and long, strawberry blonde locks, comes off as a pale, lackadaisical surfer Achilles. His Paris is not much better. In a short wig, casual pants and a polo shirt, he could've stepped out of “90210.” There is little drama there when there should have been tons. It’s surprising that a world-class theatre company like ACT can’t find a director who can help actors find dimensions to their characters and some psychological resonance. But this is Groag’s opus and Perloff let her run with it. When the army lays siege on Troy for ten years to reclaim Helen and the honor of Greece, they wear khaki cargo pants and red berets. The God, Zeus, dons a sparkly boxer's robe; and Goddesses: feisty Hera (the always brilliant Sharon Lockwood, who also plays Antilochus, and an Asian character, Tu [smacking of Kurosawa's "Ran."]) and Aphrodite (Rene Augesen) wear appropriate attire befitting their status. And Helen (Augesen, of course) is appropriately gowned.

The set, by Daniel Ostling, is simple: two sets of risers - - stage right and left, facing center. And upstage: a huge circle cut out of a flat upstage, across which colored circles move. At one point it becomes the crescent moon. It also serves as a scrim through which the silhouettes of actors in symbolic poses add drama to a scene. Daniel Pelzig did the choreography, and California composer John Glover wrote the sometimes lyrical, sometimes jarring, score. Canned, not live - - not enough money. There is even a ventriloquist (Andy Murry, in two other roles, as well) helping to narrate this seemingly endless tale. At times the dialogue soars like a Shakespearean soliloquy, then it sounds like rap without the backup music, and to enliven things, a short musical number. Groag, if anything, is creative.

Lillian Groag has been involved in Bay Area Theatre since Berkeley Rep produced her "Magic Fire," in. 1999 . She's been a guest artist at California Shakespeare Theater, doing "The Tempest" and Marivaux's "The Triumph of Love" and Shaw's "Arms and the Man."

Still, I came away surprised that three hours had passed. "War Music," and all its weirdness, is engaging.

"Long Day's Journey Into Night"

2008-11-18T17:15:00.001-08:00

Eugene O'Neill's Pulitzer Prize winning, most autobiographical play, is being performed through November 23 at the Diego Rivera Theatre on the campus of City College of San Francisco.

"Long Day's Journey Into Night," directed by Susan Jackson, assisted by Mercedes Segesvary, stars San Francisco's own Lee Meriwether in the roll of Mary Tyrone. Meriwether had graduated from SFCC with a degree in Theatre Arts and went on to become Miss America, winning the talent portion with a dramatic monologue. Meriwether, who lives in Los Angeles, returns often to San Francisco to appear at ACT or in City College productions.

O'Neill's "Journey" is a sad, dispiritng play dealing with a miserly, tyrannical father, James Tyrone (a wooden Dirk Alphin until the final scenes where he loosens up and becomes more animated);his morphine addicted, subjugated wife, Mary Tyrone (a stunning, ethereal Lee Meriwether), and their two sons, Edmund and Jamie. The role of Edmund is played naturally and comfortably by Joshua Forcum. Edmund has inherited his father's acting talent as well as his addiction to drink and whores. Edmund is disappointed in Jamie, a delicate poet who suffers from consumption, a condition his parents deny. Patrick Barresi does a wonderful job as the sickly Jamie over whom his mother hovers with concern for his health. All he wants is to be left alone to write, after working on sailing ships and in South America. Jamie is Eugene O'Neill in his youth.

The play opens in 1912 in the drawing room of the Tyrone's drafty home set on the fog-shrouded North-East coast, rendered in fine detail by scenic designer Patrick Toebe, with effective lighting by Jeffrey Kelly. A mournful fog-horn bellows as the play progesses setting the tone for the telling of Mary Tyrone's lonely, unfufilled life and the dynamics of this disconnected family. (Sound design by George Georges)

Tyrone and his sons know that Mary is still addicted to morphine, which she tries to hide, making excuses that it's medication for her arthritic hands. The drug was first administered to her after the difficult birth of Jamie in a cheap hotel room by an alcoholic doctor, while James Tyrone was on tour. Meriwether holds her hands to show both their former beauty and their current pain-racked state. Mary Tyrone had been studying piano at a convent, with a dream to become a concert pianist. She had met and fell in love with Tyrone who'd visited the convent with a theatre company. The three watch her constantly for signs of her addiction. Their scrutiny is oppressive, making Mary nervous and overly self-conscious about her hair and weight; she derides herself for being fat (which she, of course, isn't). One thing she is, is lonely, very, very lonely to the point of asking her maid, Cathleen (played by Tara Effenbein the night I was therea), to accompany her into town to pick up her perscription for rheumatism, an act that just isn't done in lace-curtain Irish society. Tara portrays Cathleen with a believable servant-class Irish accent and servile, yet attentive, mannerisms, lending authenticity to the small role.

James Tyrone does everything on the cheap regarding his home (unscrewing light bulbs), and his wife and sons' health. Mary complains about the quacks her husband employs to save a buck. When it's revealed that Jamie is indeed tubercular,Tyrone opts to send him to a badly staffed, underfunded State sanatorium.

There is sibling rivalry between the sons, which smooths out over a few drinks shared to commiserate on the sad state of affairs: Mary's addiction, the father's nostaglia for his past sucesses and his sell-out for money by taking an ongoing part beneath his talent, in a popular play; Jamie's health, and Edmund's failing acting career.

In that this play is a well-known classic, its ending is no surprise. One often goes anticipating Mary Tyrone's wedding gown scene. Her husband and sons are at the table, drinking. Mary enters the dimly lit stage, slowly, tentatilvely. Her long white hair is in childish pigtails; she's wearing a white nightgown, carrying her wedding dress in the crook of her harm. It is plain as she speaks that she is lost to them. Yet wherever she is in her mind's eye, she takes us there. Lee Meriwether is a stunning Mary Tyrone throughout.

Deigo Rivera Theatre
50 Phelan Ave., btn Ocean & Judson, San Francisco, CA
Friday and Saturday, November 21 & 22nd, @ 8PM
Sunday, November 23, @ 2PM
$15.00 General; $10 students, seniors.

" 'Tis a Pity She's a Whore"

2008-06-15T16:07:00.000-07:00

‘Tis a Pity She’s a Whore," presented by the American Conservatory Theatre (ACT). Written by John Ford, directed by Carey Perloff, starring ACT member René Augesen and Broadway actor, Michael Hayden.

‘Tis a pity Annabella’s pregnant - - by her brother.

Director Carey Perloff’s use of a dark curtain across the proscenium in ACT's production of “ ’Tis a Pity She’s a Whore” is unusual in that plays these days often open without a suspense-inspiring curtain. The theatre darkens; the audience is hushed. A strange rectangle of reddish light appears to hover in the center of the curtain (a scrim, really), near the top, as though floating above the stage. Ah, the magic of theatre. Ensconced in this red rectangle, almost hidden in set designer Walt Spangler’s giant organ pipes depending unevenly from the flies, is cellist and vocalist, Bonfire Madigan Shive. She opens the show, adding just the right original vocal and/or instrumental element throughout John Ford’s 17th Century, controversial play to bring it into the 21st. Cellist Shive is costumed in gossamer, like an angel - - an angel in Hell. She claims to more or less improvise her howls, screeches, chilling screams, and ominous and lyrical cello runs, to a soundtrack of drumbeats, as the play moves along, though sticks to the script with startling rehearsed emphasis. As in Shakespeare’s or other playwrights’s works of this era, Perloff staged “Whore” to reflect the period in which it was written. “ ‘Tis a Pity,” set in Parma, Italy, concerns an affluent, widowed father determined to find a suitable husband for his comely daughter, Annabella, who has eyes for another.

Along with the organ pipes, Spangler’s deconstructed cathedral set, are multilevel, ingeniously and beautifully lit open, wooden, staircases, and landings, serving as balconies. A small, movable platform lit from below, on which some of the action takes place, slides silently on and off stage. Tortured soul, Giovanni (a passionate Michael Hayden), is on his knees on this platform. He is confessing his sins of lust to Friar Bonavcntura (vet ACT star, Steven Anthony Jones), standing before him. Seems he lusts not after whores, but his beautiful sister, Annabella (René Augesen, for whom there is no role she does not master). When alone, brother and sister speak of their desire for each other in tearful voices, knowing their love is wrong in the eyes of God. Still, they flirt and tease. She answers his agonized question of what should he do? with the provocative, “What you will.” Annabella’s maid, Putana (Sharon Lockwood, always reliable with her strong stage presence), knows what‘s going on and even encourages the siblings‘ trysts. Though Annabella has other suitors, she wants her brother. No good can come of this.

Annabella falls ill; a doctor is summoned, but Putana rightly guesses that her charge is pregnant by her brother. She delivers a powerful line to Giovanni, “She‘s undone!” Another ACT regular, Gregory Wallace, riding around on a sky-blue scooter, plays Bergetto, the buffoon, lending much needed comic relief to this harrowing tragedy which could rival Ford‘s contemporary Shakespeare‘s “Othello“ as both tragedies employ a loyal nursemaid and end with the female lead stabbed to death in her bed. Bergetto lucks out by falling in love with the doctor’s niece, but, he, too, ends up dead, accidentally run through by a zealous soldier who’s after Giovanni.

“Whore” illustrates the differences in religious orders in scenes with Friar Bonaventura, who is kind, reasonable, and warm-hearted towards the sinners, yet preaches against the siblings' sins of the flesh, and his rival for souls, the corrupt Cardinal (Jack Willis), who is judgmental, damning, and controlling. In Perloff's program notes, she states that there is a lot of ambivalence about what is normal in a toxic society, and it’s paradoxical because while we know they are siblings, their love seems almost pure next to the corruption around them. The scenes the Cardinal appears in are bathed in red, blending with his red gown and skull cap. In one such hellish scene, he describes graphically to Annabella what she will face in Hell where she’s bound. The father has Annabella marry Soranzo (a sympathetic Michael Earle Fajordo). Soranzo finds out only later that she’s pregnant by her brother, but is convinced to accept the situation. Still, his mind is poisoned against her by his devious manservant and the zealous soldier.

Plays of this period employ subplots involving suspect identities, betrayed ex-lovers, characters who are mistakenly murdered or wronged. Tragedies end in death of the principles; “ ‘Tis a Pity” is no different. The ending is shockingly bloody, with Bonfire Madison Shive's piercing scream as Giovanni hovers over Annabella’s swollen, bloody belly; his hand, holding a sword, drips blood. Blood-soaked, staggering center stage, arms outstretched, he speaks of Annabella’s heart. One expects to see in his grip either her heart or a bloody fetus. At least on press night, there were neither, though the original play calls for the former. Today, Giovanni would be charged with two murders: his sister's and her fetus's.

" 'Tis a Pity She's a Whore" plays Tuesdays - Friday and Sunday evenings: $17 -$71; Saturday evenings $22-$82 and weekend matinees. Tickets at ACT Ticket Services, 405 Geary Street at Mason. 415-749-2228, and online at www.act-sf.org. Times: Tuesday-Saturday at 8PM (except 6/17 at 7PM), Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 2PM. additional performances Sunday, 6/15 and 7/6 at 7PM

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"THE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL OF GEORGE W. BUSH AND RICHARD B. CHENEY"

2008-05-21T13:32:00.000-07:00

The ISA (International Studies Academy) hosts the World Premier of “The Impeachment Trial of George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney,” May 17th through Friday, May 23 and Saturday, May 24 at 8PM.

This ground-breaking, important, hypothetical, play is produced by Shirley Golub, challenger to Nancy Pelosi on June 3. “As long as I’m on the table,” Ms. Golub says, “impeachment is too! By voting for me on June 3, you can make this production a true, life-imitates-art event.”

Fascinating in its premise,“Impeachment” features a stellar cast with Alexander Cukor as George Bush. Cukor, a Berkeley native now living and pursuing an acting career in Glendale, CA, plays Bush as an easily led, boyish dupe, more interested in football than his own impeachment. Armand J. Blasi is convincing as a snide, disdainful, Dick Cheney. Blasi has been in over a hundred plays and has acted in TV and film.

Dudley Winkoop’s set is a straight ahead courtroom scene with Chief Justice John Roberts presiding from behind the high bench. Roberts is played by Vermont native, Matthew Child, who now lives in Berkeley. Child has international theatre, TV and film experience. A superlative, intense, Caroline Noh, from Leeds, England, is the Defense Counsel. Noh has three decades of theatre, film, and TV to her name in the US, Australia, and England. The defendants and witnesses sit at a table opposite that of House Prosecutor, played by Ray Carlson, who says this “prescient play is a venue of a lifetime,” integrating his passion for social justice and his political activism. Carlson is a social worker by profession. He believes we change the world by speaking truth to power as in this play, then watching the ripple effect. Both Noh and Carlson are believable as they each present their opening statements to the audience, acting as the Senate.

The House Prosecutor charges Bush and Cheney with “high crimes and misdemeanors,” which Defense, of course refutes, calling the impeachment trial a partisan act of grandstanding. Nancy Pelosi is played credibly by political activist, actor and dancer, Janine Boneparth. Currently, Pelosi‘s position is that “impeachment proceedings . . . will distract us from our mission to achieve” the goal of “bringing our troops home safely and soon.“ However, since the play takes place between the present and the November election, the character of Pelosi, realizing that her approval ratings are tanking, speaks more positively, saying that both Democrats and Republicans are more inclined to impeach. Implying that she’ll go along.

The play was directed by Canadian Ray Whelan, who has an impressive fifty-year theatre background. The name of the playwright was not listed on the program, so I asked and was told “Impeachment” was mostly written by actor Greywolf, with revisions done by a committee. Greywolf has an impressive background in theatre, playing everyone from leads in Shakespeare to Scrooge, and Hitler in “Names.“ He’s played an Arab, a Rabbi; and was artistic director and Richard of “Richard III.” Now, he adds Bruce Fein to his roster. Fein had written the articles of impeachment against Clinton, now wrote them against Bush and Cheney. The text for “Impeachment” was obviously accessed from declassified Bush Administration documents available to the public since 9/11, via the Freedom of Information Act. Both prosecutor and defense deliver their lines (often reading from documents) dynamically and engagingly so that legal transcripts and implicating memos, tracts from the US Constitution Articles or Geneva Convention edicts, do not come off as didactic lessons in politics or federal law. Basically, the writers did an incredible job bringing life to this foretelling of an impeachment trial to come.

Defense Counsel and House Prosecutor take turns extracting truths and motives from the witnesses who are called to the stage from the audience. Everyone from the likes of Cheney, Don Rumsfeld (actor and SFGlide Ensemble member Allen L. Roland), and John Yoo (acted by Bay Area theatre regular and ACT vet George Q. Nguyen). Yoo [against whom demonstrations are currently being held regarding his professorship at UC Berkeley] defends his so-called Torture Memo. Except for Cukor as Bush, what works in the actors’ favor is that they refrain from outright imitations of these very public figures, hence making them three dimensional. We get that each defendant sincerely believes, as do myopic fanatics of all stripes, that what he did was for the safety of America and Americans, glossing over facts that prove that he lied to the American people.

The prosecutor calls witness for the prosecution, El Masri (bearded California native and activist Raul Delarosa) to the stand. Masri, a German, born in Lebanon, recounts his kidnapping - - on US orders - - rendition, and torture, and years-long imprisonment without charge. When released, he was dumped on a Beirut street. He had tried to sue the US, but his case was denied. Subsequently, he was arrested for arson and pleaded that his imprisonment and torture severely compromised his mental and emotional state. Actor Delarosa says he “loves this play. It asks Congress to take their responsibilities seriously and reminds us that it’s never too late to throw the bums out of office.” A witness for the Defense was Theodore Olsen (Daryl Barnes), whose wife was killed on Flight 93. He testifies that she’d called him on her cell phone, and contends that the Bush Administration policies - - the Patriot Act - - are working because “not a single person has died since 9/11. (Barnes has a solid acting résumé, both in film and theatre.)

Former CIA chief George Tenet (effectively portrayed by Cuban native Raul Ramon Rubio) testifies that he knew Cheney had fudged reports, but couldn‘t stop him, and explained what he really said when “slam dunk’ was twisted to mean approval for action against Iraq. Valerie Plame (Leah Herman) voices her disgust and concerns over lies about her husband’s New York Times article and her outing by Cheney and the smear both she and her husband, Joe Wilson, suffered under the Bush Administration. She says that the impeachment trial must go through to restore the US to it beacon of freedom and democracy under the rule of law dictated by the US Constitution. (Leah Herman is a composed, Plame look-alike. Her acting credits range from New York to the Bay Area.)

Alexandar Cukor does George W. Bush, yet avoids making him a cartoon. Cukor simply gives an honest portrayal of Bush’s speech pattern and physicality. The second act opens with him sitting on the apron, fiddling with a remote, watching and commenting on a football game. On the stand, he implicates himself by stating that Congress is just as guilty as he is by voting for the war. In the end, Bush spurns the Defense Counsel’s closing argument and defends himself, using the old rhetoric to instill fear, wanting only to “pertect Amuricans by fightin’ turrists over there, so we don’t have to fight ‘em over here,” ending with a sincere “God bless Amurica!” The bailiff then calls for a vote. A program note advises “In the end, it’s up to each individual to decide where the truth lies.”

The ISA Theatre
655 DeHaro Street at 18th
San Francisco, Ca
Friday, May 23 and Saturday, May 24, at 8PM
22 Fillmore bus.
Tickets available at: ImpeachPlay.com

CABARET: CCSF Scores Another Hit!

2008-04-23T15:07:00.000-07:00

CABARET: SF City College Theatre Arts Department Scores Another Hit.*

The April 25 through the 27th marks the final weekend of “Cabaret,” another hit for the City College of San Francisco Theatre Arts Department. Directed and choreographed by Deborah Shaw; Musical Director: Michael Shahani.

“Cabaret” was written by composer John Kander with lyrics by Fred Ebb, and book by Joe Masteroff * *

It’s Berlin, 1930s. Nazis are rising to power, but at the Kit Kat Klub, you wouldn’t know it. There, it’s bawdy entertainment with girls, girls, and chorus girls danceg in black Merry Widows, fishnet stockings, and spike heels to an off-key jazz band. There are patrons from all over Europe, single men dance with the Kit Kat girls hired to entertain, married couples spicing up their union, unhitched couples, and unattached girls. A feature of the club is a Kit Kat telephone with cat eyes that light up on every table. See someone you like across the room, call and invite them over! The Master of Ceremonies is impeccably and convincingly played by multi-talented Joseph Stiefvater, in white-face and distinctive eyelashes, accentuating his expressive eyes. He welcomes patrons in several languages, and sings “Willkommen.” Throughout, he introduces acts, comments on current social, cultural, and political scenes in a cynical style, a Brechtian device that is one of the show’s outstanding features. As the MC, Stievater transcends Joel Grey’s interpretation of the role. He leaps on stage in a grand jete. He may execute an entrechat or two between numbers. An opening highlight has the band playing“Cabaret,“ as it rolls out on a wheeled platform, through a gilded curtain.

The part of romantic lead Clifford Bradshaw is played by Corey Lappier, who reminds one of Tom Hanks in looks and acting demeanor. Bradshaw is an American writer who has come to Berlin hoping for inspiration to finish his novel. Claudia Barr gives us an honest portrayal of the spinster Fraulein Schneider in whose rooming house Bradshaw finds lodgings. He had befriended an earnest German on the train, aptly named Ernst Ludwig (a convincing Spencer Peterson with a spot-on accent). Later, Ludwig takes Bradshaw to the Kit Kat Klub where he meets and falls in love with its star attraction, vocalist Sally Bowles, acted by Jennifer Veilleux. Veilleux has a beautiful voice; she plays the role coquettishly. Her fresh-scrubbed look, which, at this stage in her promising career, appears to not quite track with the part of a cynical, abused, hard-bitten night-club singer. As her obvious talent grows, she will find the depth she needs for such a role. Bowles is from London and her life is dicey as the club owner’s mistress; she nonchalantly admits having casual affairs, which Bradshaw, blinded by love, accepts. When she moves in with him, Fraulein Schneider looks the other way as one of her boarders is Fraulein Kost, a prostitute, catering to Nazi adherents (the dark-haired “full-figured“ beauty who plays the role is outstanding) Kost brings in the money for Fraulein Schneider in these difficult economic times which Hitler promises to turn around - - and, eventually, does. Fraulein Schneider is courted by a German Jew fruit-seller, Herr Schultz. Actor Sergio Almaguer nails the character of the aging bachelor, who, despite anti-Semitic rumblings, is unfazed, saying that this will pass in few months, it always does. He can’t be touched. He’s German by birth.

Ludwig engages Bradshaw in a shady deal to make money; after one transaction, he quits. One senses the turn of the tide when Ludwig shows up at the club wearing an arm band bearing a swastika. A pane of glass in Herr Shultz’s store is shattered signaling the beginning of Kristalnacht. Nazi detractors and Jewish sympathizers are beaten. Everything begins to fall apart, including Bradshaw and Bowles, Schulz and Schnieder. The Klub chorus trades Merry Widows for men’s beige shirts, tied at the waist, and sings with the patrons, “Tomorrow Belongs to Me"(the Nazi anthem of the show). Yet, the Kit Kat Klub, like time, goes on - - the MC cavorts and sings, the patrons come, Sally Bowles is still the star, and Fraulien Kost plies her trade with sailors.

Songs, such as “Cabaret,“ and “Tomorrow Belongs to Me,“ are interspersed throughout the production, played by the excellent musicians recreating 1930s cabaret jazz, to which the MC and the cast sing and dance. Stiefvater croons the romantic ballad “If You Could See Her Through My Eyes,” while waltzing with a gorilla wearing an apron and dust cap, playing on the theme of prejudice.

Michael Shahani and Director Shaw are to be commended for the look, sound, and feel of their production in which they had to work with twenty-four student actors who double as singers and dancers. Other outstanding actors are Holly McKay, in a gorgeous rose-beige silk shift, as a pretty Klub regular, courted by eager suitors; Will Chen plays a government official, Klub patron, and later, a Nazi inspecting passports and papers at the train station. There are many other actors whose dedication is instrumental to the success of “Cabaret“ .

* The black and white poster for the show, featuring a reclining nude wearing a military cap and swastika pasties on her breasts, caused an uproar in the College administration. The notoriety only increased interest in the production. The poster was soon edited to remove the pasties and cover the breasts with writing.

**(The production sounded so much like a Brecht-Weill collaboration, Kander was accused of stealing from Kurt Weill. But Lottie Lenya, Weill’s wife, who played Fraulein Schneider in the original, set them straight.)

TANGO Evolution Fires Up Palace of Fine Arts Theatre

2008-04-21T14:48:00.000-07:00

Extreme Tango, in association with Breast Cancer Emergency Fund presented a TANGO Trilogy* at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre in San Francisco.

TANGO Evolution

Program # 1 of the Trilogy:

San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts Theatre was on fire the weekend of April 18-20. Not literally. The combustion was due to the dynamic blending of the award-winning Eroica Trio, bandoneon player, Daniel Binelli, and classical guitarist, Eduardo Isaac. The Eroica Trio is a chamber music ensemble consisting of three gorgeous, lively women in bright red gowns (instead of stodgy, serious people in black): Sara Sant’Ambrogio, cello; Susie Park, violin; and Erika Nickrenz, piano. The newspaper “Tucson Citizen’ wrote of the Eroica Trio: ”They look like supermodels and play like demons on crack.” Eroica Trio has “sent a whole new audience flocking to concert halls around the word. They have performed to capacity crowds at Davies hall with the San Francisco Symphony.

The musicians not only provided the music for guest artists, the breathtaking Argentine Tango couple, Sebastian Huici and Miriam Larici, but also performed duets and solos in their own right.

The Sunday matinee program began with Huici and Larici dancing to the late bandoneon master Astor Piazzolla’s electrifying, “Libertango,” performed by the Eroica Trio, Isaacs and Benilli. Huici’s entrance grabbed the audience. He leapt on stage with balletic grace, coming together with a sultry Luici in a passionate embrace. Dancing Argentine Tango almost requires one to have a background in ballet and gymnastics with its complex foot- and leg-work, lifts, holds, and sweeping turns. Intricate and extended moves that generate applause. Argentine Tango is a mix of sensuality, passion, jealousy, and romance, with an overarching theme of danger. Each dance tells a story, ending in a mesmerizing, dramatic, sculptural pose.

Sebastian Huici’s costumes throughout were mostly casual and dark - - long-sleeved shirt and full-cut pants, setting off Miriam Larici’s classic tango styles of brilliantly colored, reds, blues, silver and black, split-skirt, silver-threaded, and sequined numbers, with rhinestone accessories. Though in one delightful piece, Larici in an apron and Huici in his undershirt, enacted a domestic scene. Still, they danced Daniel Binelli’s own “Anhelo y Misterio,” a romantic piece, in heavenly white ensembles. Their lines, in white, starkly and breathtakingly contrasted with the dark stage and the musicians subtly lit behind them.

Isaac and Binelli performed duets in Mariano Mores “El Firulete,” Piazzolla’s “Bordel 1900,” and, “Anhelo y Misterio” and each had solos: Benelli acted out comically, with bandoneon on his knee, Carlos Cobian’s “Los Mareados”, and Eduardo Isaac played Piazzolla’s soulful “Mieserere Canyengue.” The trio played Piazzolla’s “Primavera Porteno,” J. Turina’s “Trio #l, Opus 35,” and knocked everyone out with Heitor Villalobos’s romantic, haunting, and heartbreaking, “Aria Cantilena.”

Huici and Larici left the audience in an exalted state with their finale, danced to Piazzolla’s “Adios Nonino,” backed by the Eroica Trio, Isaacs and Benilli, receiving two standing ovations.

Huici, born in Buenos Aries, began ballet training at 17 and by 18 was part of a prestigious Argentine dance school, The Colon Theatre in the Argentine Opera House. He performed with the Kirov Ballet, in several productions. He was also with the London Royal Ballet. Still he had a passion for tango and in 2007 became involved with the Columbia Artists stage production “Tango Buenos Aires," and toured the US.

Miriam Larici, from Matheu, Argentina, started dancing at five, and was trained in classical ballet, jazz and flamenco, gymnastics and tango. She was in Warner Bros. “Mambo Kings” and has been seen on television programs throughout the world, and has been part of the show “Forever Tango” touring world wide. She was lauded by dancer Leslie Caron. Miriam achieved her childhood dream dancing at the Colon Theatre in Buenos Aires, in “Forever Tango.” She has performed for two years at Walter Kerr and Marquis of “Times Square on Broadway.”

Classical guitarist, Argentine-born, Eduardo Isaac‘s acoustic guitar album of 2005, "One for Helen” has been called one of the greatest. He had collaborated with Daniel Binelli in 1997, and now records with New Tango Vision Trio in the Bay Area. Arranger and music director, bandoneon master, Daniel Binelli, of whom famed legendary bandoneon master Astor Piazzolla had said, when he first saw 14 year-old Binelli playing the bandoneon on Argentine TV, “who is that monstor?” He has become a fixture in the Bay Ara. In 2007 his performance in San Francisco’s Delores Park drew a crowd of over 5000.

* Put these next programs on your calendar:

Program 2, Tango x3, Argentine Tango & Brazilian Jazz, with Polly Ferman, Jovino Santos Neto, and Erika Nickrenz, takes place August 15- 16, at 8PM, with a 2 and 7PM shows on Sunday, the 17th

Program #3, Leadings Ladies of Tango, Café Victoria - All female tango, Polly Ferman Music Director, and 7 piece Orchestra, featuring Silvana Deluigi, and dancers; TangoMujer/Tango Con*Fusion, takes place November 28 -29 at 8PM and Sunday, November 30, at 2and 7PM.

Go to: Tedvivian@xtango-sf.com 408.594-1132 or www.xtango-sf.com

Tickets at www.tix.com

"The Beard of Avon" at Diego Rivera Theatre

2008-03-17T12:45:00.000-07:00

City College of San Francisco's Theater Arts Department presnted "The Beard of Avon" over the past two weekends at the beautiful Diego Rivera Theatre on the college campus. "The Beard" was deftly performed by a very talented group of actors and musicians in a production on a par with any professional theatre company’s. Playwright Amy Freed crafted a delightful, highly entertaining hypothetical on who is the true author of the wealth of plays attributed to William Shakespeare. She toys with the unsolvable conundrum which has perplexed theatregoers and scholars for five centuries: Was Shakespeare simply a rather clueless farm boy or a true literary genius exploited by Lord of Oxford's Edward De Vere, who didn't want his name associated with scandalous plays? Or was Frances Bacon the prolific playwright? Or Marlowe, or perhaps Queen Elizabeth herself?

Director John Wilk's opens the play on a rustic multilevel, movable set, which he designed, in front of which sits a bale of hay and a bench. The audience hears a high pitched squeak offstage which sounds a few times before a realistic, mechanical rat scuttles on stage and hides under the bench, followed by Will (Simon Timony) and an old man, Colin (Adam Morgan). The two sit on the bench. Will confesses to Colin that he has these "thought-like things running through my head." Simon Timony plays Will as a wide-eyed, grinning dolt who walks with hesitant, short steps, arms bent and hands flapping.

Will's life is changed forever when a traveling minstrel show comes to Stratford. The lead player in the troupe is Richard Burbage aka Lord Walsingham (Will Chen). Among the other players is Goeffrey Dunderbread (a brilliantly talented Joseph Stiefvater) who plays the female rôles, as was common in 16th Century English theatre. Stiefvater captivates with lyrical, haunting soprano solos. (Jerry Mueller did the music and sound design, with Jeffery Kelly providing the lighting design.) A serious John Heminge (Uzoma Foster) both acts in and serves as manager of the troupe. The Players stage a full-out bawdy romp complete with a flesh-colored, phallic pouch displayed by Burbage moving aside fabric from a bulging burgundy codpiece as he woos, with teasing double-entendres, a beautiful, blonde-tressed wench (Stiefvater). Will, smitten, invites them to dinner. Anne Hathaway, Will's wife (a saucy Beth Trifilo), is not happy because Will wants to run away to London to be an actor.

Amy Freed‘s text comes off as a true Shakespeare comedy. She mimics closely the Bard’s meter and rhyme, and cleverly includes plays within her play. Throughout are witty lines like Will’s confession to Dunderbread: “That girl I loved became my wife, I have not seen her since.“ There is a play, if you will, on how Shakespeare got his name. Was it because his first rôle was that as a spear shaker in a crowd scene?

Unforgettable scenes: Edward De Vere (a perfectly cast DeWayne Spalding) and his delicate, bearded, male lover, Henry Wriothsley (Brian Martin) romp on De Vere’s capacious bed. Later, at one point, Henry picks up a huge hourglass from De Vere’s table and says, “Oh, look at the time, we’ll be late.“ Another is of Will and Anne, disguised as a whore, in Will’s London room where she’s followed him (he‘s been sending her money from his acting gigs), and she muses, “Does he know?” Then De Vere shows up and the three of them essentially make a Will sandwich, on the edge of Will’s bed, and later, Anne-as-whore tumbles about under the covers in De Vere’s bed, both pop up alternately with witty asides. In another scene at Will‘s with De Vere, Shakespeare’s sonnets were born. Soon, De Vere and Heminge begin to recognize that the farm boy has a way with words.

Stiefvater as Dunderbread playing Lavinia in a rehearsal of “Titus Andronicus,” is exquisite, absolute comic genius. It is De Vere’s first play attributed (in Freed’s play) to Will Shakespeare. Stiefvater plays Lavinia with wild imploring eyes, and sucked in cheeks accentuating her cheekbones to depict emaciation. Lavinia is manhandled by Demetrius and Chiron. Dunderbread has folded his hands (theye've been brutally amputated) into his costume exposing wrists which are crossed in front and bound with strips of bright red ribbons to represent blood, I couldn’t help thinking of Julie Taymor’s film of the play, with Laura Fraser as Lavinia, Titus’s daughter.

My only criticism with Wilk’s direction has to do with the placement of Dunderbread as Cleopatra and Henry Wriothesley downstage right and Heminge and De Vere slightly upstage left. Dunderbread is toying seductively with a string of sausages representing the asp who did Cleopatra in, inserting them into her bodice, as Henry hungrily looks on. At the same time, De Vere is pitching his plays to Heminge. In the audience, I was sitting where I could see and hear De Vere and Heminge, while people to my left were busy watching Dunderbread’s antics and laughing. I felt De Vere and Heminge’s conversation that revealed De Vere’s reasons for wanting his plays produced under an assumed name was important information and pointed up why (hypothetically, anyway) Shakespeare became credited for the Lord of Oxford’s work. It was a turning point of the play, which was “upstaged” by Dunderbread and Henry.

Maria Leigh’s Cindy Lauper-like take - - heavily made-up white face, brick red hair - - on Queen Elizabeth was fresh and funny. The Queen sponsors the Players so hoists herself onto her high throne to sit in on their readings. There‘s some hanky-panky going on between this Virgin Queen and De Vere, so she insists he sit close to her on a bench. (The Queen and her court’s sumptuous period costumes, and those of the Players and commoners were outstanding; designed and created by Jose Luis Leiva and Susan Linneman, and crafted by members of CCSF’s costume and make up class.) In one scene, Will and De Vere simply sit and talk to each other about their lives. Since they didn’t know each other before, the exposition for both comes off smooth and believable. Will inadvertantly gives De Vere ideas for plays, while De Vere offers Will advice: “Write what you know,” yet warns him: “Fly not near the flame of Art.”

Disappointed for not being given his due by the Players, Will returns to Stratford and Anne, only to be sent for by the Queen’s men. “Something’s come up,” he says to Anne, “I’ll write.” “I can’t read, you bastard!” Anne screams as he trots off. De Vere is dying of the plague, he hands Will his last play. “Call it ‘Twelfth Night,’” he says, “Or, what you will.”

Once Will is outed as amenable to lending his name to anyone not wanting to be known as a playwright of violent, bawdy, low-class, or scandalous historic plays, writers like Frances Bacon (a hooded Adam Morgan) crowd around, waving manuscripts at him, even the Queen, who’s written a play called, “The Taming of the Shrew.” She demands to see the ending acted out, so Lord Walsingham/Burbage (Will Chen) as Pretucio and Dunderbread as Katherine oblige.

At the finale, Joseph Stiefvater again sings a hauntingly beautiful solo from the set’s upper level which floats dreamlike over the audience.

In April look for “Cabaret”, starring Joseph Steifvater in the Joel Grey rôle as MC. The part is made for him. “Cabaret” is directed and choreographed by Debora Shaw with musical direction by Michael Shahani. It will play on Fridays thru Sundays April 18 to the 27th. Fridays and Saturdays at 8PM and Sundays at 2 PM. Diego Rivera Theatre, 50 Phelan Avenue at Judson. Tickets are $15.00 General, $10.00for students seniors and TBA members. Call 415-239-3100 for more information.

Transportation: BART, 43 Masonic, 29, and 36 Teresita. Parking available nearby.

Jump! Theatre Presents Sara Kane's "4:48 Psychosis"

2007-12-03T14:46:00.000-08:00

Jump! Theatre's production of Sara Kane's "4:48 Psychosis" at the Noh Space in San Francisco 2840 Mariposa Street, between Florida and Alabama, ends December 16. You have two more weekends: Thurs -Sun (no performance Sunday, Dec. 9) to catch this unique creation. Pay what you can on Wednesday, Dec. 5 at 8PM, performance and discussion.

Under Rebecca Longworth's direction, Michael B. Lewis's sets design, and Meja Tyehimba's lighting, Kane's play about her struggle with bi-polar disorder grabs you in a way that few plays or films of this genre can. Briefly, Sarah Kane's first play "Blasted" premiered at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in 1995. She went on to write and direct "Phaedra's Love," 1996; "Cleansed" and "Crave," both in 1998, and a short screenplay "Skin," in 1997. Tragically, she committed suicide after completing "4:48." The play was presented posthumously at the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs in 2000. The London Telegraph called "4:48" "an act of artistic heroism." Her work was considered shocking, and "in yer face." by the public, but discerning critics and theatre professionals hailed her work as a "revolution in modern theatre."

True to Kane's desire to engage audiences at the "emotional and visceral level of wild crowds at a football match," Jump!'s production does not disappoint. Rather than actors playing characters with given names, Longworth, true to Kane's vision of not specifying a number or identity of her cast, created an ensemble of four speaking parts, each assigned the range of emotions and thoughts of one person, in other words, split-offs of one psyche. The emotions and thoughts of Kane's poetic script are expressed as the actors - -Vincent Palo, Nena St. Louis, Paoli Lacy, and Andi C. Trindle - - cross the stage diagonally, separately, while adjusting panels, rolling office chairs, and video cameras on tripods (which are also hand-held at times), or lying flat, as they talk, doing justice to Kane's work. Poetry, as those who read a wide range of poets know, is beautiful, tragic, heartbreaking, surrealistic, visionary, inspirational, and, as Kane has said, visceral. She has incorporated all. The actors wear loose, dark gray, long-sleeve tops and pants lending a uniformity that allows us to see them as divergent manifestations of one person's mind. A video projection designed by Michael B. Lewis appears on screens upstage of fabric panels placed at angles and beautifully lit by Meja Tyehimba. On the screen, we see skewed, double images of whomever is being shot, a fitting visual metaphor for bipolar disorder. The actors sometimes sit in pairs as shrink and patient, each taking turns. One of the most telling bits was Nena St. Louis and Paoli Lacy, as shrinks, discussing, as they pace, heads down, hands to chins, various cases and their prescribed psychotropic medications; they talk about the medications' benefits to a patient, the side-effects and what medications will counteract them.

The actors sometimes hold amber work-lights, bringing them close to another actor, illuminating them, thus lending a haunting ambiance to the softly lit set, which is also projected on the screen. Kane's play is unique in that there are no leads, each actor appears to have equal time and each displays a deep understanding of Kane's poetry. Rebecca Longworth states in her program notes that the play benefits from Kane's personal experience with mental illness, psychotherapy, neuropharmaceuticals, and hospitalization. However, she did not wish to "reduce [her play] to such a simple interpretation" therefore squandering an opportunity to 'confront the implacable.' Longworth also wrote that Jump! Theatre has attempted to create a visual vocabulary that incorporates everyday gestures and familiar relationships to heighten the power of Kane's poetry. They have succeeded.

Please go to http://www.jumptheatre.org/ for more information or call: 415 282-0240. Tickets are $20.00 Call 800-838-3006.

“TAMING OF THE SHREW”

2007-10-21T17:06:00.000-07:00

Shakespeare’s "Taming of the Shrew" at SFCity College’s Diego Rivera Theater.

City College of San Francisco’s Theatre Arts Department is presenting Shakespeare’s light-hearted comedy, “Taming of the Shrew”, co-directed by Susan Jackson and Thea Gold, at the college’s Diego Rivera Theatre.

Jackson and Gold have creatively updated the play to 1969, San Francisco’s Summer of Love, which works beautifully. As Shakespeare intended,“Shrew” is performed with the Induction (Prologue, set in 2005), a common theatrical device in the 16th century. Most productions omit it entirely as Christopher Sly (Anthony Agesti in this production) never again appears. Sly is a beggar - - in this case, a homeless man. He is found passed out drunk by a gaggle of rich, titled socialites, who dress him in a tuxedo and luxurious trappings while he‘s unconscious. When he comes to, they convince him he is a Lord, a wealthy property owner in his own right. The actors in this scene: The Hostess (Cynthia Bette) and Lady (Angela Knutson.) are costumed in striking black and white cocktail dresses, a distinct contrast to costumes in the rest of the play. Will Chen plays The Page, who is passed off to Sly as a comely woman, his Lady, his wife. Chen does a believable turn in a short skirt, black tights, and high heels revealing shapely legs that any women would envy. They tell Sly he will be entertained by players who have just arrived to present a sort of “history.” Sly and “Wife” descend into the audience and take seats in the front row. Other theatre companies’ productions leave Sly on stage to respond to the action. Many feel it distracts from the action and through-line of the play: Baptista must marry off his eldest daughter, Katherina, before his youngest - - comely, obedient Bianca - - can be wed. Yet Katherine is considered by all to be ornery and sharp- tongued. Though Bianca has many anxious suitors, they must wait. Baptista and others work to find a man for Katherine. But when Petrucio comes to town looking for a rich wife and shows an interest in Kate, his men try to dissuade him. He sees winning her as a challenge. Bets are made.

The set is simple: four rectangular, gauzy, tie-dye banners stand upstage right and left; a gorgeous turquoise blue backdrop on which hangs high on its center a huge, brilliant-yellow, smiling sun. The cast, as each appear, is costumed in the style of the era: bright colors, tie dye, worsted vests over loose, colorful shirts, bell-bottoms, head scarves. Bianca (Tamara Lin Shaputis), in contrast, wears a conservative, dark, pantsuit. Ms. Shaputis is a winsome, sweet Bianca. She convincingly changes, once married, to bcome more like Kate: stubborn and willful, until she witnesses her sister‘s transformation after she marries Petrucio. Earlier, one gets a sense of Bianca’s sensuality when she dances to Jefferson Airplane’s “Somebody to Love.” Other pop songs of the times, like, “Here Comes the Sun”, coinciding with the action, or foreshadowing it, enhance the production.

Jackson and Gold inventively staged some of the action in the aisles. Also, they stayed true to the manner of productions in the 1500s by having men play women and vice versa. One of Bianca‘s suitors, Gremio, played by HollyMcKay, costumed in a grey three-piece suit, tie and hat, tries to convince Baptista (Joe Albert Tamayo) of his solvency. A noted performance is Joseph Stiefvater as Hortensio, yet another Bianca suitor, passing himself off as a talented musician who will teach her to play. Stiefvater possesses comic timing and a wonderful physicality as well as sharp articulation. He uses space beautifully, literally taking the stage. Once disguised in a frizzy black wig and long kimono, he somehow loses his presence as Hortensio in order to become more suitable to Bianca.

Will Chen, as Petrucio, wears the black leather fringe jacket of a biker and pants to match
His delivery is slow, measured, and grounded in contrast to Katherine’s (Leah Ann England) venom-spewed attacks. Her costume is a cranberry velvet, sleeveless gown with white lace trim. England’s nuanced performance gives her character the shadings not seen in many Kates. She gives you a sense of Kate’s vulnerability, which underscores her reasons for coming off like a bitch. Petrucio is determined to tame her. Money, property, and birth play into gaining parental approval and by discovering Petrucio’s lineage as a gentleman from Verona, Baptista okays him as a mate for Kate.

Though Shakespeare’s language, story, plot, theme, and action is unmatched in works by any playwright since, it’s still cringe inducing to witness Petrucio’s brainwashing of Kate. He convinces her to call the sun the moon, and that an oldster with withered cheeks and white hair is a young ravishing beauty. Even as Kate gives in and he changes his mind, she still goes along. And at the end of the play, Bianca and the Widow (Cynthia Belle) disobey their mates and leave the wedding banquet (staged like a hippie picnic in Golden Gate Park). Petrucio sends Kate to fetch them and make them behave as she has learned. She does, then launches into this long spiel basically saying that she’d let her husband step on her with his muddy boots and do a bunch of other noxious stuff to her if it pleased him, admonishing her women friends that disobeying your husband makes you ugly and old; “Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy, keeper, thy sovereign . . . ”

Some Shakespearean scholars contend that “The Taming os the Shrew” is psychologically discerning and that Shakespeare intended for Kate to fall in love with Petrucio at first sight, which the actor playing her should reveal in her expression as soon as she sees him. Underlying this is the idea that she was sick of the single life and enduring the attention given to her sister. She wants a man but is locked into negative behavior that’s become habitual, she doesn’t have a clue as to how to get a man. Petrucio is said to see through this and play up to her, using this little known side of hers to his advantage. He offers her the chance for freedom from her single, oppressive life at home, by getting married. I suppose it’s nice to think so.

Other notable performances are Xi Wu, as a hunter and later as a servant to Petrucio; Vincent Nel as Lucentio, in love with Bianca. Nel is believable as a nerd, carrying around an armload of books and wooing Bianca by teaching her Latin. Simon Timony as Grumio, servant to Petrucio shows confidence by his careful, but not flat elocution, his ease, grace and unmannered execution of his slightly comic role. The eighteen or more actors entering and exiting the stage and aisles in various guises and disguises, maintain character and believability in their roles, some taking on more than one. With the final lines, including the famous, “Kiss me Kate . . .”, and the curtain call, an Epilogue is added showing black and white photographs projected on the backdrop of each couple depicting how they look in 2005.

Along with directors Susan Jackson and Thea Gold, and the actors, kudos to the stage manager, costumers, make-up staff, set designers and carpenters, audio and visual technicians, as well as the rest of the production crew, for their contribution to a totally satisfying production. Final performances are Friday, October 26 and Saturday October 27, at 8 PM, and on Sunday, October 28 at 2 PM. Diego Rivera Theatre, 50 Phelan Ave. (Corner of Judson), SF. General Admision $15.00; St5udents, Seniors, and TBA Members $10.00 Phone (415) 239-3100/3132

Muni: 43, 47, 36, 29, Meto M train, 23 (On Monterey). BART (Balboa Bart Station).

Monday Night Marsh

2007-08-02T14:38:00.000-07:00

Every Monday night The Marsh, located at 1062 Valencia Street, San Franciso, features new, short, solo performances by a wide range of writer/actors. Here you will experience at least three fresh, edgey pieces, and you will never be disappointed. The pieces are in a workshop stage. Performers try out their material in this venue where the small audiences are likely to be made up of other theatre folk. Feedback, therefor, is constructive and encouraging. The actors are certainly not amateurs.

I went to the Marsh last Monday night. July 30. The line-up consisted of Enzo Lombard, a multi-talented world traveler who writes novels, does stand-up, sings in musicals, and directs documentary films. He's been in show biz since the age of 5. Next up was Zoe Shell Sameth, another world traveler, who lived for a time in Sri Lanka. She has won a Truman Scholarship award, was honored and featured as Channel 5's "Homeland Hero" for her work in bringing the arts and continuing education to Bay Area at-risk youth. And finally, Sonya Wozniak, who bills herself as a monologuist, and is a self-proclaimed graduate of "way too many schools."

Admittedly, I was late getting to the Marsh due to just missing a bus at a time of evening where the wait for the next one is a half-hour. So, I saw only the last five or ten minutes of what compact, wirey, and nimble Enzo Lombard presented: "Love Humiliation & Karaoke." But what I did see made me wish I'd gotten there on time! It was poignant and ended with a Karaoke pop ballad. The man can sing! Enzo has a web site (http://www.enzolombard.com/) so I will check it out and make point to see more of his work.

The fifteen or twenty minutes of petite Zoe Shell Sameth's "Taste of Enlightenment" is just a small taste, if you will, of a show she feels will eventually run for two hours. I had seen another part of it at the Spring 2007 Marin Fringe's Solo and One-Act Festival, where Zoe tied for a first place acting award. Zoe takes you along with her during the time she spent in Sri Lanka a couple of decades ago, just prior to that country's ongoing civil war. She calls her experience "topsy-turvy" in a country so foreign to her she felt she lost and found herself again and again as she wandered the "maze of new relationships." Through her acting, she allows us to see the people, smell the various fragrances, taste the food, and hear the cacophony of sounds from both villagers and wildlife. Zoe brings her characters to life with her spot on accents. Confusing to her was her meeting with a wise man who curses like a rapper. Why? She finds out. The revelation helps her to discover herself in, as Blake would write, "a grain of sand." Sameth is not afraid to stop and be still every so often. This allows us to experience the imagery she lets float before us. I look forward to seeing her entire piece one day. She wore an embroidered, gold, Indian cotton, hip-lengh shift and dark pants, my only wish is that she would lose her detracting sport shoes and opt for the more fitting sandals. Zoe has the voice of the very young Elizabeth Taylor and the mature look of Melina Kanakaredes of "CSI NY", including her tumble of rich, dark hair. Zoe's website is http://www.zoeplanet.com/

The final performance by Sonya Wozniak, "One Night in Alameda" was a hoot. Wozniak is a plain-looking, tall, full-bodied woman (NOT "full-figured"), in a pony-tail, dressed in a sleeveless blouse and calf-length, full skirt, who looks like she just dropped her kids off at the playground. Her character is that of a new divorcee who is invited to a solstice potluck/sex party. Once there, she decides to just go for it. And she does - - and tells us about it in the most graphic descriptions of who's doing what to whom and where and how I have ever heard or seen in my years of going to live theatre. Usually, stuff like this is stupid, amateurish, boring, and just not funny. Somehow, the way Wozniak delivers her material makes it inoffensive and fall-out-of- your-chair funny. I think it has to do with her matter-of-factness. Her characterizations of the other party-goers were absolutely right on. She took you somewhere you weren't sure you wanted to go in the first place, and weren't really sure why you were there once you arrived, but found yourself having a blast. Still, you knew when you'd had enough, as her character did, to just go around and say your goodbyes in the accepted Miss Manners manner, to writhing, sweating, naked bodies thrashing about on every available surface. At one point, Sonya literally lets down her hair and instantly transforms herself into this beautiful, super desirable woman. Sonya calls herself a pseudo-intellectual who loves comic books and big talk, which is "the opposite of small talk". Her performance was way big, big, big talk! Keep your eyes and ears open for when Sonya Wozniak next performs. There is no website listed in the program for her. Don't forget her.

The Marsh has nurtured many performers who have had long running shows there and have gone on to other venues: Charlie Varon, Marga Gomez, Ed Holmes, Josh Kornbluth, and more! You can become part of this roster by contacting Patti Meyer, program director, by email: patti@themarsh.org.

"After the War'

2007-03-31T12:51:00.000-07:00

"After the War" is Philip Kan Gotanda's new play which was commissioned by ACT and had its World Premiere on March 28 at ACT's Geary Theatre in San Francisco. "War" is supported by a cast of nine, each a standout, a well-delineated character and a major contributor to the story, under ACT Artistic Director Cary Perloff's superb direction. Yet because of this there are some problems in the play's focus and intent. "War" is set in 1948 in Japanese Town (as it was called at the time) in San Francisco's Fillmore District. The backstory concerns a subject that for over 60 years has not gained much attention by the majority of non-Asians and the rest of the world: the forced relocation of Japanese Americans on the West Coast, in 1942 during World War Two, by a Federal mandate enacted by then president Franklin D. Roosevelt. Whole families had been uprooted from their homes and businesses and transported, carrying the allowed one suitcase each, to internment camps in Oregon, Colorado, and Arizona.

Gotanda's play focuses on those who returned to Japanese Town and tried to resume their lives. When the Japanese had left the area, African-Americans, who came to the Bay Area from the South to work in the shipyards, moved in, as well as Jewish and Irish families. "After the War" stars Hiro Kanagawa as Chester Monkawa, who'd managed to re-occupy his home, one of the many four-story Victorians that had made up the residential section bordering the bustling commercial and business district on Fillmore Street. Monkawa has turned his heavily mortaged home into a boarding house in order to make the payments.

Scene designer Donald Eastman constructed on a revolving stage an incredible re-creation not only of the interior of Chester's four-story Victorian but the typical wooden, precariously rickety back stairs leading to the top floor. There's a common front room and dining room, a staircase to the upper floors, a kitchen, an attic room, and back porch. Each area in which scenes take place is gorgeously lit by lighting designers James F. Ingalls's and Nancy Shertler's sensitive, provocative lighting. The only drawback to this towering juggernaut of a set is that it creaks and rumbles distractingly, like an old sailing ship, as it slowly, agonizingly revolves. Each time it moved, I found myself holding my breath until it stopped.

Chet, as he is called, a lapsed jazz musician who in Chicago played trumpet with Lionel Hampton before the war, runs his boarding house with the help of beautiful, dedicated, Lillian Okamura (Sala Iwamatsu), his deceased brother Tad's fiancé, who keeps the books. It is brought out that Tad died a hero in the war. Chet's boarders include core ACT actor Steven Anthony Jones as Earl T. Worthing, an unemployed laborer, laid-off from an Oakland shipyard after the war; Leona Hitchings, Earl's sister-in law (Harriett D. Foy), who cooks and cleans for Earl and takes care of his daughter, Bernice (who never appears). We learn that Earl's wife had left him; Carrie Paff plays blonde, seductive, self-proclaimed "Okie," Mary-Louise Tucker, a dance-hall girl from Chicago. Included in the cast is tall, gangly Benji Tucker (Ted Welch), her mentally challenged brother; delightful Olga Mikhoels (Delia McDougall), a Russian ex-pat, by way of Yokohama, who speaks better Japanese than English, and finally, the unforgettable Mr. Oji (Francis Jue), a bespectacled, beret-wearing, sad-sack, but endearing, not-by-choice bachelor. Despite the many characters inhabiting "War", Gotands has finely drawn each one and each is memorable.

The play is enhanced by a references to the popular culture. people, and places in the Fillmore, and a 1940s' jazz and be-bop score by Anthony Brown, with nostalgic sound bites of Perry Como, Earl's favorite, much to Chet's horror, "I've never known a black man who digs Perry Como!" Act One clips along with humor and sharp repartee among the boarders as they cross paths in the living-room or on the stairs. allowing us to get to know them. The highlight of the first act is the delivery of a genuine table-model Philco television set. With Benji's help, Earl and Chet relay the antenna up the backstairs to install on the roof.

Each character has a secret past, divulged as the play moves forward, which at times borders on soap opera. There is a contest between Chet and Earl as they almost come to blows over who suffers more - - blacks or Japanese. Playwright Gotanda included the plight of the Japanese "no-no boys" as an aspect of Chet's character. "No-no boys" were the Japanese men who'd not signed "yes - yes" on offical documents in the camps, marking their allegiance to and willingness to go to war for the US. Chet, along with other "no-nos", had been sent to the "No-No"detention camp in Tule Lake. He talks about how even now he's reviled by the Japanese who swore loyalty to the US and went to war. Chet vociferously expounds his reasons for his act, and feels guilty for his brother's death.

Mary-Louise and Olga appear more alive and active in the play, whereas Lillian seems to simply sit at the table doing Chet's books, and Leona is in the kitchen, cooking for Earl, though the dialogue between them and their men is funny, saucy, serious, and caring. Cultural differences among them regarding food and custom are treated with light humor. One heart-warming scene occurs when Chet and Lillian decide to have a television party. Olga helps hang decorations. Lillian and Leona prepare their favorite dishes. All the boarders gather in the front room and the set is turned on to the ChesterfieldVariety Show starring Perry Como (The audience sees the back of the set; the actors faces are lit by its glow). Mary Louise, in a red dress, makes a rare appearance (she says she always takes the backstairs so she won't bother anyone coming in late from her dance-hall job). Como sings an upbeat song and everyone dances. Suspicions surface when Chet and Earl dance with Mary-Louise.

A respite from the seemingly endless expostion is Olga's flirtation with Mr. Oji. Both are delightfully playful though Mr. Oji is sheepish and self-deprecating. Soon they discover they like to dance and there is a lively scene of the two of them dancing to a Tommy Dorsey recording. Their budding romance is compromised when her sponser, abusive Mr. Goto (silver-haired, dapper, Sab Shimono) a mortage broker and exploiter of his own people, who is seen leaving Olga's room from time-to-time, finds out about them when he comes to collect the mortgage payment from Chet. Then drastic complications arise between Earl, Chet, and Mary-Louise - - and who knew whom and when and Benji unwittingly reveals Earl's involvement with his sister - - which lends the play an even more soap-operaish bent.

"After the War" is two-and-a-half hours long. Towards the end of Act 2, when tensions escalate and a rifle appears, rather than being climactic, the play at this point seems tiresome. At the end Gotanda solves sticky issues by having the emotionally and psychologically torn characters, not rooted in Japanese Town, simply pack up their cardboard suitcases and leave.
There is a lot to love about Gotanda's play. In fact, he packed so many facets of modern humanity into "War," he has enough material to write more.

Gotanda, at a discussion a couple of weeks before opening night, talked about rewrites and explained that he thought "After the War" had gone through as many as six "finished" drafts. Program notes stated that a few days before and during the preview runs, actors were still getting new lines to memorize. With some editing and focus, Philip Kan Gotanda's "After the War" will rank along with the historically and politically charged plays of Arthur Miller. We are witnessing the career trajectory of a major playwright.

HEDDA GABLER, by Henrik Ibsen, at ACT

2007-03-09T16:10:00.001-08:00

Ibsen's "Hedda Gabler" starring René Augesen, is in its final weekend at ACT's Geary Theatre, ending Sunday March 11, but no mind as another theatre company is sure to mount it soon. It is always interesting to compare productions of classic plays. ACT's "Hedda" is presented with a new translation from the Norwegian by Paul Walsh; it is directed by E. T. White. "Hedda" written in 1890, is probably Ibsen's most performed play besides "A Doll's House," which was presented by ACT four years ago, and again, translated by Walsh, and also starred Ms Augesen as Nora.

Basically, "Hedda Gabler" is about what a woman, livng in the Victorian era, must do in order to climb socially. The character of Hedda can be and has been played many ways. White, it seems, wanted Augesen to play her like Bette Davis's Regina in the 1941 film adaptation of Lillian Hellman's "Little Foxes." Augesens's Hedda is totally ruthless with no redeeming qualities, a shame as it doesn't allow us to sympathize. I've seen the esteemed, venerated, Augusen in many productions over the years in all kinds of roles. It's too bad she's constrained to one note in this one. Hedda and Jorgen Tesman (played by understudy Andrew Hurteau the night I was there), newlyweds, having been on honeymoon for six months, return to their new home, bought and furnished, while they were away, with a huge loan from Jorgen's Aunt Juliane (the versatile Sharon Lockwood), which Jorgen will pay back once he receives his professorship. Jorgen is a researcher and writer, who has yet to be published. Hedda married him based on his pending appointment.

Hedda and Jorgen had barely arrived in their new home when Hedda must deal with Jorgen's aunt whose only desire is to see that her nephew is happy and comfortable. She brings flowers, lots of them, to brighten up the newyweds home. Hedda does things right off to clue us in on what kind of woman she is. She knowingly, it turns out, mistakes Aunt Julie's hat for Berte, the maid's (brilliant, acerbic Barbara Oliver) and mocks it, then paying a bouquet of flowers, lying on the piano, no mind, she slides a case containing her dead father's prize pistols on it, shoving the flowers to the floor (throughout the play, she abuses flowers often). Her next visitor is Mrs. Thea Elvsted, a young widow (well-acted by Finnerty Steeves, with a distinctive Jennifer Jones coloration). Thea has left her older mentor, Ejlert Lovborg, a philosopher whose book had just come out. She had sneaked away from him in the middle of the night. They had been living upcountry where she had sat at his side in abject servitude for years, helping him with his book. Lovborg is about to publish his second. Hedda's treatment of Thea is tantamount to that of the most popular cheerleader's in school to a class chump: teasing, taunting, chiding, and insulting, all while caressing Thea's face and playing with her abundant hair (in fact, they had been classmates in grammar school). Hedda responds to Jorgen as so much dirty laundry to be dumped into a bin and forgotten. He is so besotted he can't see her for what she is. Hedda reacts with revulsion to subtle hints that she could be pregnant.

Enter blustery, paunchy Commissioner Brack (Jack Willis), a sleazy politician with eyes for the ladies, especially Hedda. He says, salaciously, that while Jorgen is busy doing research, he wouldn't mind keeping Hedda company; in fact Jorgen is so clueless, he encourages the idea. Things come to a head when Jorgen is told he is in competition with Lovborg for the professorship. Sure the published, brilliant Lovborg will win, Hedda feels she has lost everything. Her hopes dashed, she complains that no one of any social standing will come visit her. She will be shunned. She swans around moaning about how poor she is. Then, tall, handsome, cerebral Lovborg (Stephen Barker Turner) shows up, new manuscript in hand, looking for Thea, who has gone upstairs to rest. He and Hedda, who had been lovers till she threw him over for more promising game (Jorgen) reminisce about the past. and bemoan the situation they're stuck in now - - he having lost both Hedda and Thea; she, well, everything. Truths are outed. There are hints that Lovborg is an alcoholic. Amidst the sturm and drang (except for head-in-the air Jorgen), Brack announces he's having a party at the club and pressures the men to join him, leaving the women behind. Hedda then displays overt acts of seduction to Thea, once the men are gone, which raises questions. However, during Victorian times, woman often were demonstrative in their affection for one another. Yet Hedda, it is clear, loves no one but herself.

Things come to a roiling end. Is the manuscript lost? Did Lovborg die of self-inflicted gunshot wounds by the very pistol Hedda had given him? But, nevermind. Thea and now Jorgen find they have much work to do together, and hop to it immediately, which leaves Hedda out of the picture entirely. She lets them know how this affects her, allowing her no out but . . . . What an insult to Commissioner Brack!

The set of the Tesman home is gorgeous. Designed by Kent Dorsey, using Victorian furnishings and arches, he also made great use of thin bamboo curtains as both a room divider and scrim, all beautifully coordinated with lighting by Alexander V. Nichols. John Gromada scored the original music and sound. My only complaint was the employment of scaffolding and catwalks behind and above the set through which, on opening curtain, a monstrous glacier gleamed (Ibsen's plays most always feature a glacier). From time to time the characters would appear above the set on the catwalks before their entrances, which I found distracting. All in all, the play moves along and keeps us engaged due to the excellent cast, the script enhanced by Walsh's punched up translation, and White's dynamic direction.