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Volume 13, Issue 17 ~ April 27 - Nay 4, 2005
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Bowie Community Theatre’s An Inspector Calls
The two-room set of this farce has seven doors, and they are all exploited slammingly as characters enter, depart and run into, over and through one another. Reviewed By Dick Wilson The Moonlight Troupers presentation of Lend Me a Tenor at Anne Arundel Community College proves that you don’t have to be professional to produce good comedy. As a college production, this is a standout. Maybe it’s because actors do their best when they’re having fun. That’s the case here in an outrageous, hilarious farce enjoyed to the max by cast and audience as well. Problem is, it’s hard to summarize farce, but I’ll try. It’s 1934 in Cleveland, which is sort of funny in itself, because Cleveland, like many medium-sized American cities, is a place not generally noted for high culture. It’s become a convention that any mention of Cleveland on the American stage is supposed to evoke humor. Ensconced in a Cleveland hotel room, hustling impresario Henry Saunders (played by Brendan M. Leahy) is bringing renowned Italian opera star Tito Marelli (H. Vernon Lewis) to Cleveland to sing the title role in the opera Otello. Saunders, with the help of his frenetic assistant Max (Lawrence W. Griffin), stands to make a fortune through Marelli’s appearance. Everyone is eagerly awaiting Tito’s arrival on the day of the opening, but Tito is not feeling well and shows up very late, accompanied by shrewish and jealous wife Maria. Her humor is a factor in the coming mayhem because Tito (whose nickname is il Stupendo) immediately attracts a horde of adoring fans, some of whom are female. Among these fans is Saunders’ daughter Maggie (Elizabeth Enkiri), with whom Saunders’ assistant Max is in love. At the last minute Tito becomes a problem. The curtain will be going up very soon. Where’s Tito? A succession of misunderstandings results in a presumption of death, a series of other (more minor) misunderstandings and mix-ups, and such running around as you’ve never seen. There’s a bellboy who also wants to be an opera star; there’s a young woman who’s out to seduce Tito as an entrance into the opera world, there’s mistaken identity and there’s lots more. The two-room set has seven doors, and they are all exploited slammingly as characters enter, depart and run into, over and through one another. Lend Me a Tenor garnered seven Tony Awards when the play opened to enthusiastic crowds in New York in 1985. Playwright Ken Ludwig set the play in the ‘30s to maintain the slapstick, frenetic humor. Today’s computer-dependent world couldn’t sustain this kind of action. The cast — all but one are theatrical students — does an exemplary job of handling this humor from a previous era. Especially notable is Lawrence W. Griffin as Max, who is the pivot around whom swarms most of the activity. I especially enjoyed Max’s attempt to imitate an Italian accent: It’s-a-good. But Griffin has lots of very capable help. Lewis, as Tito, also does well with a more bona fide Italian accent, and he convincingly puts an Italian spin on the madcap events. I liked Joy Ajello (the only non-student in the cast) in the role of Julia, Cleveland Grand Opera Guild chairwoman. She’s well named; Her joyful effusiveness does much to lighten her scenes. Colleen Arvidson is excellent in the role of Diana. Arvidson cons both Saunders and the audience as she uses her wiles in an attempt to seduce Tito (or someone who looks like Tito). This play gave me more than I had expected. It’s a funny production, ably presented, and The Moonlight Troupers can be proud of their work. Producer: Barbara Marder. Director: Robert E. Kaufman. Technical Director: Rob Berry. Stage Manager: Amanda Kasten. Costume Designer: Lee Ann Cain. Make-up Designer: Cindy Cassidy. Playing thru April 24 at 7:30pm Th; 8pm FSa; 2pm Su @ Pascal Center for Performing Arts, 101 College Parkway, Arnold. $10-6: 410-777-2457.
To lure audiences, a theater company needs some singular quality. Pasadena Players’ distinction is their aura of fun. Reviewed By Dick Wilson Here’s one for you: A happy, rollicking musical with a religious theme. But it’s not in the same genre as Jesus Christ Superstar or Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Instead, it’s a joyous blaze of color and song that plays out, irreverently but respectfully, the parables as told in the Gospel of Matthew. I’m talkin’ about Godspell, the ebullient Pasadena Players’ production now playing at Anne Arundel Community College. It’s a colorful, funny musical that conveys a serious biblical message from a peculiar point of view. The show begins with 10 of western civilization’s most brilliant philosophers (Nietzsche, Sartre, etc.) and theologians (Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, etc.) expounding their views, all at once. Because they are speaking in unison, their words are babble. In contrast, when Jesus (played by Allan Brenner) speaks, the message is clear. Parables, unlike philosophical arguments, cut straight to the chase. Through song, Jesus and the rest of this excellent cast expound on many parables, such as those that direct us to love our enemies, to exact an eye for an eye and to turn the other cheek when we are wronged. The parable of the Prodigal Son is played out in detail. John the Baptist and Judas (both parts played to excellent effect by Mark Tyler) join Jesus in revealing the biblical human drama, with the able help of the cast who play themselves in the biblical setting. Each cast member is portrayed as a modern rock-and-roll type who, transported back to the old days, plays a part in recreating recognizable pieces of the biblical message. But unlike our mental pictures of those long-ago times when (we think) everybody looked and talked the same way, and everyone sat around looking glum (at least that’s my mental image of year 0000), the members of the Godspell cast look only like themselves. Their outrageously colored costumes and clever facial art convey unmitigated joy. This cast is enthusiastic and relaxed while maintaining on-stage discipline that enables them to easily (at least they make it look easy) handle the intricate choreography. Under the direction of the veteran stage master Chuck Dick, this cast is having as much fun as possible in the midst of hard work. Fun is what I’ve learned to expect at Pasadena Players productions. To be successful in bringing audiences back, it helps if a small theater company has something — some singular quality — to distinguish it from other companies. Pasadena Players’ distinction is that they bring an aura of fun to their productions. It’s not just the ability to put big grins on their faces, and it’s not just enthusiasm. It’s something else that causes all the players to get into and revel in their parts. It’s also the interaction between actors who (you can tell) genuinely like one another. One gets the feeling they would be doing this, happily, even if an audience were not present. Talent also enters into the equation. I especially liked Corey Dunning’s rendition of the song “We Beseech Thee.” In the acting department, Brenner’s version of Jesus almost steals the show. However, this is not to say that there is any lapse in thespian talent by the rest of the cast. To the contrary, every member contributes generously to a fine show. In all, the original, brilliantly colored costuming and clever, playful facial art combined with the abundant musical and acting talent generate a theater experience to be remembered. As a member of the audience you will find it impossible to remain distant from the revelry. That’s what I’m talkin’ about. Godspell: Book by John-Michael Tebelak. Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Producer: Sharon Steele. Director: Chuck Dick. Music Director: Tom Jackson. Choreographer: Jason Kimmell. Stage Manager: Anne Harrison. Thru April 24 at 8pmFSa; 3pm Su & Sa April 23 @ Anne Arundel Community College Humanities Recital Hall, College Parkway, Arnold. $15-12 w/member & age discounts: 410-975-0200 x 2; www.pasadenatheatrecompany.com.”
Reviewed by Dick Wilson As the old-time comedian Jimmy Durante would put it, “Everybody wants to get into the act.” Getting into the act seems to be the one common thread that connects the people — assassins and would-be assassins — who have shot or attempted to shoot American presidents. Such individuals all seem to be social oddballs who, in the grips of some fantasy, see themselves as getting into the act through the performance of such a spectacularly antisocial deed. Colonial Players’ Assassins is a bit of an oddball itself, a musical bringing together the oddballs who killed or tried to kill American presidents. The play opens at a fairgrounds shooting gallery, where an assortment of misfits tries their shooting skills. Instead of prizes, the proprietor gives each customer a reason, tailored to and feeding into that oddball’s own fantasy, as to why he or she should shoot a president. As the proprietor, Walt League introduces the shooters to his game of Shoot The President, Win A Prize, with targets made of human figures. The first customer is Leon Czolgosz, (Mark Hildebrand), a loner who is an avid follower of the anarchist Emma Goldman. Czolgosz is convinced that the source of all his problems is President McKinley; if he can get rid of McKinley, his unhappiness will go away. The proprietor greets Czolgosz with a song: “Everybody’s Got the Right to be Happy.” Other characters — not all assassins, but all real people with a connection to assassination — enter the booth in no particular chronological order: John Hinckley (Greg Peace); President James Garfield (Danny Brooks); Charles Guiteau (Mark Farinas); James Blaine, secretary of state to Garfield (Walt League); John Wilkes Booth (David Thompson); David Herald (Jamie Hanna); Guiseppe Zangara (Dan Herrel); Samuel Byck (Tom Newbrough); Lynette ‘Squeaky’ Fromme (Aimee Lambing); Sara Jane Moore (Wendy Baird); Billy Moore (Ben Logan); President Gerald Ford (Danny Brooks); and Lee Harvey Oswald (Stephen Michael Denninger). That’s a daunting list of characters — 14, count ’em — in addition to a proprietor; a narrator who presents the audience’s point of view; Emma Goldman, a famous anarchist; and various ensemble roles. The assassins have their own reasons for doing what they did, and in their minds it’s all perfectly logical. Hinckley, for example, blames it all on his obsession with the actress Jodie Foster. In similar fashion, Squeaky Fromme points a gun at Gerald Ford to illustrate the extent of her love for Charlie Manson. No less far out (and my favorite for outlandishness) is Guiseppe Zangara, who blamed his stomach pains first on capitalists, then on President Herbert Hoover and finally on Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Zangara did have stomach ulcers, but that cut no ice with the court that sentenced him to die. This is a fascinating aspect of American history, and Colonial Players has mustered a competent cast that more than does justice to the play. As The Proprietor, Walt League sets up the action with his carefree introduction to the shooting game. The various assassins and conspirators are given sympathetic ear as they belly up to the counter. Squeaky Fromme and John Hinckley examine their common connection in the song “Unworthy of Your Love.” Colonial Players here puts on a consistently good, professional work. My nominations for standout performances are:
Unusual among small community theater companies, Colonial Players shows themselves willing to take risks.
Reviewed by Dick Wilson Something is wrong. Bay Theatre Company’s Betrayal opens on a darkened, austere set where a young man and woman sit, awkwardly, at a café table. Their guarded body postures, their taut facial expressions, their avoidance of prolonged eye contact with one another, even the way their hands move — all combine to inform us that the two people sitting here are isolated within themselves. The tension is electric. We get all this in a few seconds, before a single word is spoken. We also know they are tied together in some deep emotional unpleasantness, the nature of which we don’t yet have a clue. Whatever their circumstance, we know at once that these two share a past though their connection has been severed. If in real life we walked into a restaurant and observed two people under an atmospheric cloud such as this, we would know at a glance that something was amiss. The on-stage couple is Emma (Janet Luby) and Jerry (Jim Chance). When they speak, we learn that the two are married, but not to each other, and that they had a seven-year affair that ended two years ago. We understand what neither Emma nor Jerry gets: their affair has inflicted lasting damage on each of them. Despite their former closeness, they are uncomfortable in each other’s presence, and their discomfort is reflected in their demeanors and in the emptiness of their discussion, despite efforts at spontaneity. During their strained conversation, Emma reveals to Jerry that she told her husband Robert (James Gallagher) about the affair long before it ended. She has waited until now to tell Jerry that she had told Robert. Robert didn’t seem to mind all that much at the time, and this revelation upsets Jerry, who has considered Robert to be his best friend for all these years. So we see betrayal operating on several levels here. Everyone has betrayed everyone else. Playwright Harold Pinter’s theme in this play is the destructive effect that betrayal has on perpetrator and victim alike. He makes his point by giving the play a structure that proceeds from the present to the past, in the process revealing how what is lost is gone forever. We progress from the present-day scene in the café backward in time through nine scenes to the beginning of the affair. Thus we see first what the couple has become and then the road they traveled. But Pinter’s superb writing (he’s been called the best living English playwright) can’t carry the play alone. It takes trained, experienced actors to express the feelings and atmosphere demanded by these tense dramatic situations. Only a fine cast can sustain this kind of tension. Maybe that’s why many theater groups avoid Pinter productions. No hesitancy here. Bay Theatre Company has once again found the right cast to carry this play to the level Pinter intended. Janet Luby, Jim Chance and James Gallagher very ably hold on to their characters in performances that have to be emotionally draining. Luby, in particular, captures gradations of emotion. Even in the few scenes requiring a smile, we see behind that smile an awful weight. She never lets go of the terrible burden that every betrayer has been forced to carry since Judas took his 30 pieces of silver. We get lots of good theater here in Bay Country, and once in a while we get great theater. This is great theater. Don’t miss it. Directed by Karl Kippola. Artistic Director: Lucinda Merry-Browne. Associate Artistic Director: Janet Luby. Stage Manager: Antoinette Doherty. Set Designer: Meaghan Toohey. Lighting Design: Yi-Hui Muriel Lee. Props: Judy Nevins. Playing thru March 26 at 8pm ThFSa; 3pm Su @ Bay Theatre Company, 275 West St., Annapolis (lower level of the West Garrett Office building near traffic circle); parking in West Garrett Garage. $20 w/age discounts; rsvp: 410-268-1333; www.baytheatre.org.
You’re in for another enjoyable evening at this 2nd Star Production Reviewed by Dick Wilson Say Marx Brothers, and serious theater-goers — as well as theater-goers who prefer their theater not-so-serious — think zany. Moderns might replace that 1930s’ term with offbeat, farcical or maybe off-the-wall. The Marx Brothers made Room Service — a successful Broadway play before they did the movie — zany. 2nd Star’s Production doesn’t have the inimitable Marx Brothers, but it does have a capable cast that plays to your sense of offbeat, zany humor. In Room Service, Gordon Miller (played by Jerry Khatcheressian) is a flat-broke, but hopeful, would-be producer seeking to open a play. He and his entourage of 19 actors plus hangers-on occupy a suite of hotel rooms for which they have no money. Miller got into the hotel because his brother-in-law, Joseph Gribble (Jack Degnan) is the manager, but family ties fray. Gribble wants money, and he wants it now. In desperate cahoots with director Harry Binion (Jose de la Mar), and his business manager Faker Englund (James McDaniel V), Miller is searching for money to avoid eviction. As a backup plan, they might skip out of the hotel undetected. Playwright Leo Davis (Alex Campbell) is a hick fresh from the sticks, broke but starry eyed at the thought that his play is going to appear on Broadway. Joining the mix of deadbeats in the hotel, Davis quickly learns about reality when Miller takes his typewriter to pawn. Then hotel inspector Gregory Wagner (Jerry Gietka) shows up from the head office to evict the lot. But Miller and company manage, through elaborate ruses, to remain one step ahead of disaster and a half-step ahead of starvation. Miller is at his wit’s end, and the troupe is on the cusp of eviction when a backer appears, check in hand. Of course, things don’t work out that easily, and many more misadventures take the stage before Miller and company claim the money. Even a play as loony as Room Service needs a main character who provides the spool around which the plot is wound. It takes a strong actor to do this job. Jerry Khatcheressian more than fills the role of Miller; he is Miller for the duration of the play. We couldn’t ask for more. I also liked James McDaniel V as Faker Englund, with his long, mournful face. The tiny role of Hilda Manney (Rose Talbot) adds some extra zing, if only for a moment, due to Talbot’s bouncy performance. The entire madcap play is set in a hotel room that is a tribute to the considerable talent of set designer Lynne E. Wilson. This calm room tones down and almost stabilizes the insanity of the play’s nonstop action. As always, Wilson’s work is notable for its elegance and artfulness. 2nd Star Productions, a community theatre group, says its goal is to create “an atmosphere where people can grow, have fun and feel that their contributions are highly valued.” With each production, this company reaches that goal, and in doing so they’ve consistently brought good entertainment to their audiences. The next 2nd Star offering, the children’s play Cinderella’s Magical Cruise, plays two Wednesdays, March 9 and 16 at 5pm. Room Service by John Murray and Allen Boretz. Producer: Jane B. Wingard. Director: Charles W. Maloney. Assistant Director: Adele Degnan. Stage Manager: Joanne D. Wilson. Set Designer: Lynne E. Wilson. FSa 8pm; Su 3pm @ Bowie Playhouse, White Marsh Park, on southbound MD 3 between US 450 and US 50. $16 w/age discounts: 410-757-5700; www.2ndstarproductions.com.
When you see a Bay Theatre Company Production, sometimes your brain is overtaxed and all of your emotions get a workout. But that’s what good theater is supposed to do. Reviewed by Dick Wilson They did pull it off. They did, indeed, once again. Bay Theatre Company has successfully presented a play that pulls its audience into a world populated by the actors and the audience. With its successful three-day run of the one-man play Chesapeake, Chesapeake Country’s newest, and only professional, theater company comes through, as usual, with a quality product. Bay Theatre Company has a mission that they’re not bashful about sharing: to produce superb theatre for a discerning public. This they do, again and again, in captivating productions that often steer the viewer slightly off the beaten path into rarely explored areas that may be gloomy, gleeful or somewhere in between. No run-of-the-mill, everyday, light-as-a-feather productions here. Instead, we see the full range of quality theatre: dark drama as in Oleanna (2002); complex character study as in Art (2003); and subtle comedy as in Sneeze (2004). Sometimes your brain is overtaxed and all of your emotions get a workout, but that’s what good theater is supposed to do. That’s how Will Shakespeare made his name, and that’s how Bay Theatre Company is making theirs. he company doesn’t specialize in any particular genre, such as the Shakespearean; the standard to which they hold is quality, and it doesn’t much matter to the company how difficult a play is. They’ll do it, regardless, if they feel it meets their high standards and if they feel they can do justice to the playwright and the audience. But they don’t produce obtuse works that audiences may find difficult to understand. You never get the feeling that the company is pandering to an audience of pretentious sophisticates. A case in point is Chesapeake, which just completed a three-day run. The play examines the mindsets and motivations of two opponents in a long-standing argument. Their argument is fairly simple: censorship vs. no censorship. The substance of the play is the interaction between the arguers as each tries to manipulate and persuade the other to alter his point of view. A dog, a Chesapeake Bay retriever who never appears onstage, figures large as the holder of the argument’s middle ground. That sounds simple, but it’s not. First of all, it’s one man who plays both sides. Second, we in the audience are pulled back and forth as every nuance of each side’s argument is explored, dissected and reconstructed, sometimes in ways that come as a surprise. All this is accomplished in two acts by one actor on a minimalist stage with no props and some sound effects. Chesapeake is Art. It becomes Art when the actor uses both sides of the argument to whipsaw himself and us back and forth. Even so, Chesapeake was far more than a one-man show. Bay Theatre Company professionals selected the work, conceived its structure on their stage, cast the actor who performed it, directed the actor and stage crew through rehearsals and then waited to see the results of their efforts. Judging from the enthusiastic audience reaction, they can be proud. As a professional theater company, this one is willing to take risks in its choices, knowing that it can draw on professional talent to pull off difficult productions. The evidence thus far — going on four years of successful plays — indicates that Bay Theatre Company knows what it’s doing. Bay Country is lucky to have them.
How a good dog got squeezed between art and politics. Previewed by Dick Wilson Three days! That’s all the time that Bay Theatre Company gives us to view an onstage Battle Royal as two sides square off in the one-man play. On the one side is a conservative senator; on the other is the entire art world. In between is a Chesapeake retriever. Sound familiar? It should, for most of it’s straight out of real life. In the last decade, conservative North Carolina senator Jesse Helms took offense at government support for art he considered obscene and blasphemous. So he proposed that government withhold funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. But the endowment — which makes monetary grants for works of art, including theatrical works — is supposed to be free of political influence. A vociferous argument ensued between conservatives and liberals, resulting in a compromise of sorts. Funds were withheld from some of the more controversial artistic projects. The cultural chasm gapes in Chesapeake, as each side mocks, derides, satirizes and otherwise demeans the other. Whichever side you fall on, the play’s the thing, and Chesapeake promises to be a lively production, if past Bay Theatre stagings are any indication. Chesapeake will run for only three days: January 28, 29 and 30. Proceeds will help defray expenses as the company launches its 2005 season. One of those expenses is salary. Unlike most other local theatrical companies, Bay Theatre Company pays all of the people who participate in the making of its plays. That means everybody — actors, stagehands, designers, production staff — gets paid. Paying professional theatrical talent for the quality that will draw customers and revenue is the idea behind the three-year-old not-for-profit. The not-for-profit part is easy; few people get rich in small local theatre. Ticket sales pay for only a small part of expenses. Most of the funding comes from grants and donations. In a business that’s inherently risky, this company has shown itself willing to walk the cutting edge. Oleanna (2002), Art (2003) and The Sneeze (2004) are among the company’s top-tier successes. Success after success is not bad for a company that had to rehearse and stage its first productions on a converted volleyball court. Following Chesapeake, Bay Theatre Company brings on Harold Pinter’s famous Betrayal (Feb. 18–March 25) as its first full-run play of the regular season. By putting the end before the beginning, Harold Pinter broke new ground with Betrayal, which in 1983 was made into a movie starring Jeremy Irons. The play’s theme and unusual structure were also used in a Seinfeld TV episode. But first comes Chesapeake, which you’ll have to see if you want to know how that dog got in. 8pm @ 275 West St. (lower level of the West Garrett Office Building); parking in West Garrett Garage, Annapolis. $20 donation; rsvp: 410-268-1333; www.baytheatre.org.
Reviewed by Dick Wilson Superb acting and clever plot make this novelty a comedy that gives adults good reason to warm up these cold nights by the fire of live theatre. As Bees in Honey Drown — now showing at Colonial Players as the first play of Chesapeake Country’s new year — is a deep exploration of a seemingly shallow subject, let’s dig right in. Evan Wyler (played by Jud Wegner) is an aspiring young New York author who has written a first novel that’s been favorably reviewed in the New York press. He hasn’t made any money yet, but he’s sure that fame and fortune are near. He’s more than a little in awe of himself. His picture has even appeared in a magazine. Suddenly, the mysterious Alexa Vere de Vere (Vicki Wuest), a self-described socialite, bounces into Evan’s life. She showers him with praise, saying that she’s so taken with his novel and his picture in the magazine that only he can write the story of her fascinating life. Alexa plies Evan with effusive praise. Evan, of course, is dazzled and soon they are having lunch together. He accepts her offer of a $1,000 per week salary — all for hanging out with her and taking notes. She will pay for everything, she says, but her “accountants don’t allow her to carry cash.” Evan pays for lunch, and Alexa repays him. Next, Alexa buys Evan a new suit, and he is hopelessly in her thrall. As Bees in Honey Drown reveals itself from the inside out, much like the opening of a rose. We don’t learn until almost halfway through that Alexa has been defrauding Evan from the beginning; he’s out of pocket (on his credit card, which Alexa had promised to pay) to the tune of thousands of dollars. When Alexa disappears, he learns he’s been had. Evan, however, wants revenge. Soon he’s finding her victims everywhere he looks. One of those is Mike (Richard McGraw), an artist who claims to have “made” Alexa into what she is. The details of Alexa’s life indeed do make a fascinating story. Mike’s tale is that he and Alexa came to New York together from a small town in Pennsylvania. Alexa — whose real name was then the less exotic Brenda Gelb — came up with an idea to make money. With coaching from Mike, Brenda metamorphosed into Alexa Vere de Vere. Soon Alexa is gushing over the phone like a real New York socialite (“I’m so glad I could reach you, dahling; this is Alexa Vere de Vere; I know you’re so-o-o-o busy, but I heard of this mahvelous art show …” You get the idea.) Next thing you know, art buyers are clamoring to buy Mike’s art, and Alexa realizes she’s on to something. Alexa Vere de Vere: with a name like that you gotta be good. Alexa revels in her newfound persona; she leaves Mike, taking some of his money with her, to embark on a new career as a fleecer of young artists, who she finds by looking through magazines. As a con artist, Alexa does right well, but at a cost. She leaves in her wake a lot of really angry, chagrined people. Evan, being one of the lately chagrined, plans a revenge that will, if he pulls it off, write the perfectly ironic end to Alexa’s con-girl career. As the virtuoso scam artist, Vicki Wuest absolutely sparkles. The transformation from Brenda Gelb to Alexa Vere de Vere is a special delight. Wuest is so good that you can’t help wondering if it’s the same or different actresses playing Brenda and Alexa. While Alexa and Evan are the primary characters, others fill out the story. Cliff Gilmore, Mary C. Rogers, Marky Regensburg and Richard McGraw, each playing multiple roles, are all convincing and funny as victims of Alexa’s talent. McGraw’s portrayal of Mike, as the first victim, is especially worthy of note. In As Bees in Honey Drown, Colonial Players continues its tradition of performing plays new to Chesapeake Country. Superb acting and clever plot make this novelty a comedy that gives adults good reason to warm up these cold nights by the fire of live theatre. As Bees in Honey Drown. by Douglas Carter Beane. Director: Carol Youmans. Assistant to director: Barbara Ripani. Production manager: Nancy Long. Stage manager: Jane Chambers. Assistant stage manager: Jeannie Mincher. Playing thru Feb. 12 at ThFSa 8pm; Su 2:30pm; also 7:30pm Jan. 23 & Feb. 6 @ Colonial Players, 108 East Street, Annapolis. $15-10 w/ age discounts: 410-268-7373.
Chesapeake Music Hall knew how to find talent, and they knew how to nourish us. Most of all, they knew how to take us away from the humdrum real world into the more interesting world of a play. by Dick Wilson We are always distressed to hear of the passing of an old friend. We hear now that Chesapeake Music Hall, the only dinner theatre for Bay theatre-goers in Anne Arundel and Calvert counties, will close its doors because of declining revenues. After the December 26 performance of Yuletide Cheers, a musical extravaganza for the season, Chesapeake Music Hall will bring down the curtain for the last time. For the nearly 10 years of its life (its 10th birthday would have come in January, 2005), Chesapeake Music Hall knew how to find talent, and they knew how to nourish us. Most of all, they knew how to take us away from the humdrum real world into the more interesting world of a play. The management team that selects the script and casts the actors, the designers who create the sets, the musicians, the men and women who handle the carpentry, painting, lighting and myriad other tasks, not to mention the cast: All these people join to create an invented world that will — if all these factors are aligned — have the power to kidnap its audience for a couple of hours. Sherry Kay Anderson — who produced, performed, designed and choreographed every production — never faltered in her quest to provide high-end entertainment to Bay Country audiences. Collaborating with such long-time production staffers as musical director Anita O’Connor and sound and lighting director Folger Ridout, she created believable artificial worlds where audiences entered and loitered. It takes both talent and money — lots of both — to mount a theatrical production. The dinner theatre business needs talent that’s more versatile than most, because the acting talent is also a crucial part of the food service. How the actors, doubling as waiters and bus persons, managed to simultaneously meet the physical demands of acting, dancing, waiting tables and cleaning up in between and afterward while maintaining a cheerful demeanor was always a source of wonder to me. Yet they were invariably in high spirits and always seemed eager to take time out to chat with audience members. Chesapeake Music Hall was wealthy in hard-working talent. Money was harder to come by, and had, like the talent, to stretch farther. The term dinner in dinner theatre means food. That extra ingredient — food — poses budgetary and artistic challenges that conventional theatrical operations need not face. For a decade, the Music Hall has prefaced good theatre with good food in a warm, friendly atmosphere where audiences dined to their hearts’ content. The food, consisting usually of simple dishes, was always tasty and in ample supply. We didn’t get filet mignon, but what we did get was excellent and varied, and we could always go back for seconds. Well fed, Bay Weekly has reviewed many of the Music Hall’s productions, and rarely have we tendered a harsh criticism. We’ve watched many young performers mature from green wannabees into accomplished players as they filled their roles on the Music Hall’s small stage. It’s been a pleasure to watch these actors grow, and we’re sure that in the future we will continue to see them perform on Bay Country’s other stages. In its long run, Chesapeake Music Hall has put on many, if not most, of the plays (usually musicals) that have become dinner theatre standards: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, Music Man, Hello Dolly! and Camelot are just a few of the excellent musicals that have graced the Music Hall boards. Some productions were outstanding; last year’s version of Chicago garnered high praise from many reviewers, including Bay Weekly. The annual production of A Christmas Carol has always been a sellout. The Music Hall occasionally presented serious (or comic), non-musical drama; its very first production was The Foreigner. But dinner-theatre patrons, who often attend as families, respond most readily to musicals, so musicals were the usual fare. Nothing lasts forever. Chesapeake Music Hall is no exception, and that’s too bad. When the Music Hall stages its finale on December 26, Bay Country will lose a part of our lives that will be hard to replace. We patrons will keep our memories and look back fondly on the friendliness, the food and, most of all, the excellent entertainment they gave us for 10 great years.
With its able cast of children and teens, Merely Players helps us to hold on to what matters. Reviewed by Dick Wilson Merely Players amateur theatre company serves up a second course of warmth and comfort in Little Women. We are reassured, with an opening medley of old Christmas carols, that this story of a family divided from its father by the Civil War will not be too harsh. The four Marsh sisters and their mother work together to stave off disaster and overcome many adversities. Sisters Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy grow spiritually as they progress through childhood and adolescence. Louisa May Alcott wrote the novel in 1868 as a fictionalized account of her experiences. The book was a hit, selling at least 15,000 copies, a huge success in those days. Its 47 chapters each relate a vignette in the family’s life. The play is fashioned in much the same style, as a series of small, separate but related events, all contained within three acts. As a scene ends, the lights are lowered for another small drama to begin. The drama within each tightly compacted scene leads into the next scene and often refers back to previous themes from previous scenes, so the story is joined seamlessly. Jo (played by Erin Tarpley) is the oldest sister, and most of the worrying for all the sisters falls on her. She has to traverse her own rocky path, however. In many ways the story is about Jo, with the rest of the family as background. Tarpley is an excellent Jo, believable as the stabilizing force. Meg (Ilana Kowarski), Beth (Bronwyn van Joolen/Jesse Bennett) and Amy (Addie Binstock/Armida Lowe) all contribute mightily as Jo’s younger sisters. Especially strong is Binstock, who projects a small voice in a big way. Marmee (Emily Coree) is the mother who must bear all her children’s sorrows while providing emotional sustenance. Other significant roles are Laurie (Matt Burns) and Brook (Dylan Roche), both of whom provide romantic interest. The role of Laurie is multi-dimensional, and Burns handles it well. The role of Brook is smaller, but Roche does credit to it. Little Women is the kind of play we look for when we want to escape, for a little while, from the stresses of the time in which we live. With its able cast of children and teens, Merely Players helps us do that. Director: Beverly Hill van Joolen. Stage manager: Rebecca Binstock. Production assistant: Lisa Farnsworth Howard. Set designer: Jim Dell. Costume manager: Helen Brierley. Light/sound technician: Zach Arnie. Playing thru Dec. 12 at 8pm FSa; 3pm Su @ Chesapeake Arts Center, Brooklyn Park. $12; rsvp: 410-636-6597; www.merelyplayers.net.
Reviewed by Dick Wilson Part of the American holiday experience is mass nostalgia for things the way they were back in supposedly happier, simpler, more innocent times. A pair of pageants now playing in northern Anne Arundel County satisfies our nostalgic hunger: Pasadena Theatre Company’s It’s a Wonderful Life and Merely Players’ Little Women (see page 25). It’s a Wonderful Life — created originally as a movie starring Jimmy Stewart in 1946 — opens with George Bailey (played by Mark Tyler) crying for help as he contemplates jumping off a bridge. Bailey is a good and honest man whose life is perennially on the verge of calamity, and his cry is heard in heaven. Guardian angel Clarence (Marty Hayes) is sent to deliver him. However, Clarence has problems of his own; he’s only an Angel 2nd Class, which means that he hasn’t yet earned his wings. The George Bailey case will be Clarence’s big chance. Clarence helps George revisit the stages of his life that have led him to this moment. We see his dreams of college overtaken by events: his father’s death and his succession in the family business, which traps him in the humdrum little town of Bedford Falls. Next the villain of the piece, rich Mr. Potter (Chuck Dick), threatens to ruin Baily’s Building & Loan and the people who depend on it for their livelihoods. There are many good performances, including Tyler as George Bailey and Hayes as Clarence. But Chuck Dick as Mr. Potter (hiss!) is outstanding in his portrayal of this self-serving shell of a man. Second Class Angel Clarence’s presentation concludes by showing what would have been if George Bailey had never been born: Without George, Bedford Falls would have been a barren, ugly place full of every imaginable social evil. Without conscious intent, George Bailey has helped make the town into a nurturing, industrious and happy place where all of the inhabitants contribute to the collective well-being. In Pasadena Theater Company’s excellent production, we have all the warmth we could wish for. The masterful plot following the threads that connect people carries two messages: First, that no matter what we do or fail to do, others are affected; and second, good will prevail. Director: Sharon Steele. Executive producer: Anthony Anzalone. Costumes: Linda Swann. Technical director and lighting design: Chuck Dick. Set design: John Strawbridge. Set artist: Lynn Wilson. Stage manager: Anne Harrison. Playing thru Dec. 12 at 8pm FSa & 3pm Su @ Anne Arundel Community College Humanities Recital Hall, Arnold; $12; rsvp: 410-975-0200; www.pasadenatheatrecompany.com.
Here power is its own motive, its own reward – and its own aphrodisiac. Reviewed by Sandra Olivetti Martin Among the dozen reasons you should find your way to the United States Naval Academy to see MacBeth is the antidote it gives to the pious platitudes of 21st century political discourse. Here power is its own motive, its own reward — and its own aphrodisiac. These young midshipmen — and women, for there is no androgyny in this masquerade — strip down aspiration to its elements. From the incantation of the witches till MacBeth meets his fate, drive rules, primitive and plain. For the three hours this play lasts — with the exception of the 10-minute intermission after Act III, when white-gloved Mids reassert order — the decorum of the United States Naval Academy disappears into Shakespeare’s fearful story. MacBeth will be king hereafter. Is he set on his unlawful quest by fate, or do the three witches reveal the heart of his own desire? Either way, once the seed is started, it cannot help but grow. Lady MacBeth, his other self, nurtures it when he will not. But the blood they shed is sticky, covering lord, lady and all they touch. On the formal stage of Mahan Hall, all the elements conspire to revive that tragedy in our hearts as before our eyes. First, the play itself. Shakespeare has woven each scene and act inexorably into the next, so that fate is sealed in the moment of its conception. Second, the set. Fog billows over the rocky Celtic cross of designer Richard Montgomery’s stage, wrapping you and each playgoer, rapt, into the illusion as persuasive as a dream. Third, the actors. This is no movie, no impersonation by absent image. These actors are real flesh and blood. Their bodies have been forged by director Christy Stanlake — an English prof at the Academy —and costumer Montgomery — a professional designer who collaborates with Stanlake — into the persuasive element of the drama. Solid legs; sinuous arms; bared muscles of MacBeth’s back exert allure — whether you call it erotic or sensual — of flesh to flesh. The audience feels it as palpably as characters, who seduce one another to each new possibility. Fourth, the costuming, which intensifies allure and atavism. Bare, tattooed limbs are clothed in rough skins, leather, horn and homespun, as if man and beast were close kin. Women, who wear a finer, gossamer cloth, seem to gain from their garb affinity with spirits. Ornament seems not forged but twined, as if vine branched naturally to man and woman until MacBeth and his lady seem a damned version of Adam and Eve. But these primitives are so clever and glib and manipulative that we recognize our cerebral selves in them. Thus fifth is Shakespeare’s heady language, for it engineers a bridge — undamaged by the four hundred years separating him from us — linking us to the full humanity of these barbarous, dark-age Celts. And them to us. Inaudibility weakened that bridge, as voices were swallowed up in great hall. Sitting up front up to the side, we often strained to hear. Sixth, the dance, which transforms coming and going, persuading and rejecting, rejoicing and remorse into the poetry of bodies in motion. Seventh, the Masqueraders. From first to last, these actors have put on their characters from the inside out. The three witches (Rae Katz, Rachael Pitchford and Margie Drake) rejoice in the sticky spell they are casting. Lady MacBeth (Stephanie Hoffman) welcomes power as she would a lover, and nourishes ambition as she would suckle a baby. Macbeth (Jack Treptow) grows stronger in his part as lets go the man he has been to embrace the monster he is becoming. Even a gaggle of soldiers standing aside as MacBeth soloquizes are Celts with their own affairs in mind — not Mids playing a part. Eighth, the stripping away of pretense, that lets you see how behavior is born in the brain and driven by motive into being. Ninth, tenth, eleventh? Those are discoveries waiting for you the final nights of this masquerade. Twelfth? When it is over, we shake with fear and pity, which is what tragedy leaves us with when we fathom the possibilities our nature holds. Playing Nov. 19-20 at 8pm @ U.S. Naval Academy’s Mahan Hall, Annapolis. Walk into main gate w/photo id or ride free shuttle from Naval Football stadium blue parking lot, 2nd right after Taylor Ave. $10: 410-293-tixs.
Twin Beach Players’ The Foreigner Reviewed by Carrie Steele Playing on stereotypes, this comedy nudges you to look how perceived differences can unite – and divide – people.
Reviewed by Dick Wilson It’s funny and it’s sad, but the fight goes on, and so does life.
Reviewed by Dick Wilson At Bay Theatre Company, the complex and funny yet tragic Crimes of the Heart grabs you from the outset as three sisters — just ordinary folks — struggle with unsolvable problems.
Reviewed by Dick Wilson Kiss Me Kate, now playing at Chesapeake Music Hall, is the kind of play theater people call a “play-within-a-play.” With good writing, direction and acting, a properly executed play-within-a-play satisfies the theater-goer with memorable entertainment as action and dialogue is interwoven back and forth between the foreground and background plays. When it’s done right, as it is in this production, the audience gets wrapped up in both plays at the same time. The action in such dramas is usually set in a theater, where a group of actors stage a play with a storyline that parallels the plot the actors are performing. Thus each actor has two roles: the one in the foreground story and the one in the background story. In this production, the foreground story is Kiss Me Kate, and the background play is Shakespeare’s Taming of The Shrew. This excellent Music Hall production of Kiss Me Kate contains all of the right elements: fine directing and acting by the staff and cast, while Sam and Bella Spewack and William Shakespeare combined (working in different centuries) to give us the good writing. Kiss Me Kate ran on Broadway for 1,070 shows, then moved to London for a run of 400 performances. The play won many awards and in 1953 was adapted to a movie, starring Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson. As the foreground play opens, we find Fred Graham (David Bosley-Reynolds) in his foreground role as director for Taming of The Shrew. Fred, who also has a role in the play he is directing, is exhorting the cast to prepare for their roles on stage. He manages problems and deals with cantankerous temperaments. And cantankerous temperaments is a quality all the characters in both the foreground and background plays — Fred included — possess in abundance. Fred has problems. He has to deal with an ex-wife who he thinks is determined to make his life miserable and, more importantly perhaps, he has to deal with a $10,000 debt he denies owing — “a debt of honor” some gangsters claim he owes to their boss as a result of a craps game. Fred’s shrewish ex-wife is Lilli Vanessi (Sheri Kuznicki), who plays the role of Katharine in the background play. Lilli has a soft spot for ex-husband Fred, but she won’t admit it to herself. She has another problem: She is held hostage by the gangsters who want Fred to pay up his supposed gambling debt. The gangsters wrangle parts in the background play to keep guard over Lilli. Bosley-Reynolds, as Fred/Petruchio, and Kuznicki, as Lilli/Katharine, move between their foreground/background roles effortlessly. Bosley-Reynolds is especially effective in the way he gives each character a distinct persona. He is not the same character moving between the two roles, and that’s one of the devices that make this show a success. Each of his likable characters suffers in its own right. Fred (Petruchio) and Lilli (Katharine) are the main characters in both the foreground and background plays, but many others in this excellent cast contribute. The two gangsters (Robert Biedermann and Tim King) are hilarious as the hoods who, in awe of the theater world, are sent to collect “the dough” from Fred. Biedermann drives the fun with an authentic New York Godfather accent, and he and King own the stage for their regrettably short on-stage turns. Biedermann and King top themselves in their song duet “Brush Up Your Shakespeare.” Cole Porter wrote the music, and his genius shows in such other enduring songs as “Wunderbar,” “Too Darn Hot” and “Always True To You (In My Fashion).” The singing voices of Sheri Kuznicki and Heather Scheeler are especially notable. The history of this play imitates its content. A producer named Saint Subber conceived the idea for the play while watching a London performance of The Taming Of The Shrew, which featured the veteran acting team of Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontanne. Lunt and Fontanne had a legendarily stormy backstage relationship — just as contentious as the one between the Shakespeare play’s characters. Following Subber’s concept, the writers Samuel and Bella Spewack wrote Kiss Me Kate. The Spewacks were a divorced couple who also had a tempestuous true-life relationship. They remarried after the show went on Broadway, but whether they continued to battle with the same intensity we do not know. Present-day audiences may take valuable lessons here. Squabbling spouses may either patch up their relationships or, perhaps, learn some useful tricks for the domestic battlefield. Directors: Peter Kaiser and Jerry Vess. Producer, choreographer, set designer: Sherry Kay Anderson. Musical directors: Marsha Goldsmith and Anita O’Connor. Costumers: Judi Drinks and Christine Pruitt. Set builder: Bill Smith and Co. Sound and lighting designer: Folger Ridout. Sound and lighting technicians: Rondell Bryant and Chris Manning. Stage manager: R. Brett Rohrer. Dance captain: Nicole Anderson. Playing thru Nov. 13: FSa buffet 6:30pm & show 8pm; Su buffet 1pm & show 2:30pm; @ Chesapeake Music Hall, 339 Busch’s Frontage Rd., Annapolis. $35-32 w/day and age discounts, including $25 Customer Appreciation Month price thru October. rsvp: 410-626-7515.
Pasadena Players’ Godspell same way, and everyone sat around looking glum (at least that’s my mental image of year 0000), the members of the Godspell cast look only like themselves. Their outrageously colored costumes and clever facial art convey unmitigated joy. |
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© COPYRIGHT 2004 by New Bay Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved. |
Curtain Call
Bowie Community Theatre’s An Inspector Calls
