Shakespeare Dallas Rides Again

Bonanza, Blazing Saddles, Dallas, Deadwood…and Shakespeare Dallas, all in one ten-gallon mental picture? Yeehaw. Shakespeare Dallas turns on the heat this summer with fetching Western-style stagings of two of the Bard’s best: The Merry Wives of Windsor TX and The Taming of the Shrew. Theatre companies across the country spend considerable energy and time re-imagining Shakespeare’s works in novel ways to make them appealing and readily accessible to today’s audiences. Few do so with Shakespeare Dallas’ comprehensive mastery.

The Merry Wives of Windsor TX erupts as a rip-roaring 60’s era thigh-slapper from its cheesy Olde West storefront set emblazoned with a giant Texas map and a garishly tipsy neon sign sleazily promoting the ‘Garter Inn’ to its toe-tapping hoe-down celebration of marital bliss at Act II’s conclusion. The play’s signature practical jokes, double entendre machinations and marital scheming bound along at unbridled full gallop thanks to the cleverly detailed modern script full of topical references and jokes as adapted by production director Rene Moreno. His re-vision and direction build upon the play’s intrinsic structure, enhancing the scenes and characterizations without losing the original’s sense, even with broad Texan accents. Added musical numbers and current motif innovations foster hilarity. The surprise “Dating Game” send-up at Act I’s conclusion, hosted by the lascivious Nurse Mistress Quickly (comic talent Kara Torvik-Smith in virtuoso form), makes delightful use of Shakespeare’s comical dueling suitors. Act II’s torchy 70’s style pop love song, worthy of Lionel Ritchie, delivered in dulcet tones here by handsome crooner Joseph Maddox, decked out in a snow-white suit with cherry-hued follow spot and choreographed groupies in matching disco-era attire, reflects the Access Hollywood-style nature of the play’s overblown “match-making.” A terrific comparison in modern guise.

Moreno sweeps his large cast of actors on and off the multi-level set as smoothly as Clint Eastwood herding doggies on a ‘Rawhide’ Hollywood cattle drive. Natural, comic stage pictures burst forth in rapid succession with energy and purpose. “Contemplative” monologues, love protestations, thwarted horse and gun play, bodies hustled about in a huge laundry basket, and a stunning Dia De la Muerta “fairy dance” around the Windsor TX Oak Tree keep the laughs and surprises coming fast and loose while unfolding the tale with clarity and definition. The acting ensemble seems to relish the bawdy mayhem they create so effectively.  “Straight guy” T.A. Taylor as the cuckolded Mr. Ford, Drew Walsh as an ingenious, ingenuous Boy Scout, Constance Gold Parry and Kateri Kale as “merry wives” fresh off the page of a Danielle Steele novel, and Christian Taylor as unwilling marriage suitor Slender, the play’s  ‘Nancy boy’ dressed as an unholy cross between Andy Warhol and Lyle Lovett, all entertain and honor the text. Aaron Roberts as  love besotted, murderous French physician Dr. Caius and Michael Johnson as meddling Irish priest Hugh Evans interject yet another layer of utter silliness into the play, along with managing understandable ‘furrin’”accents.  Bradley Campbell is perfectly cast as unbearably pompous, self-impressed John Falstaff; a master of nuanced delivery and physical comedy, his well-honed skills work handily with director Moreno’s over-the-top vision.

The Taming of the Shrew, directed by Shakespeare Dallas’ Artistic Director Raphael Parry, presents equally compelling potential for an Old West realization and is handsomely mounted. Directed as a farcically light melodrama, the production struggles to find a modicum of balance between stylized physicality and more serious themes. A darker play dealing with multi-layered human emotion and issues, Shrew loses impact enacted as a farce. Kate’s capitulation speech at Act II’s conclusion felt particularly awkward with this treatment; Kate (Lydia Mackay) appeared ill at ease throughout the production. Petruchio’s distractingly odd costume as the Easter Bunny in the wedding scene in no way enhanced the play or helped in his character’s development. The choice seemed inserted for cute effect, not for coherence or plot illumination. Ian Leson made an intriguing, laid back, Petruchio in his sexy Paladin black attire, minus typical bluster and fury. I would have preferred viewing him in a production where the dramatic co-existed with the comic. It was pleasant to see the ingénue role of Bianca played with piquancy and spunk by the well-cast Danielle Pickard, instead of sappy compliancy; her  Bianca also seemed better suited to a different production. It’s an attractive presentation even if the style fights the play’s sense.

Shakespeare Dallas rides again and proves that it’s worth enduring an evening of lawn sittage, excessive perspiration and bug spray for a healthy dose of The Bard.

The Merry Wives of Windsor TX runs Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays through July 24. The Taming of the Shrew runs Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays through July 25 at the Samuell-Grand Amphitheatre off Grand Avenue in Dallas.

Tickets: www.shakespearedallas.org, 214-559-2778

PHOTO: Constance Gold Parry, Bradley Campbell, Kateri Cale in The Merry Wives of Windsor TX

Review as submitted to lakewood-now.net

King & Us: a triumph, no puzzlement

Like falling in love at first sight…within the first couple of minutes of the entrances of Mrs. Anna (Luann Aronson) and The King of Siam (Joe Nemmers) in Lyric Stage’s The King and I, the audience finds itself smitten. Good thing, too. This is an unforgettable production, resplendent with a wide array of vocal power, imagination-sparking visual imagery, masterful choreography and the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization’s original Robert Russell Bennett’s orchestration for thirty-five-piece orchestra. What a let down if Mrs. Anna and the King didn’t strum audience heart strings with full resonance. This show’s a winner in every aspect.

Luann Aronson, Joe Nemmers: James Jamison photo

It’s the first time since 1951 that any audience has seen or heard The King and I as it was fully envisioned. Bruce Pomahac, Director of Music for The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization describes the re-creation process, “For four years we’ve been tracking down and examining the original Broadway scripts, scores and instrumental parts in order to put back into the show pieces of the puzzle that have been missing for over fifty years.” To see this musical performed by Lyric Stage’s 2009 cast feels like how it must have during an earlier era when the musical theatre art form dominated the imaginations and tastes of a performance-hungry public. Opening night’s full house adored and cheered and wept over this stunning re-creation. What a score—full, rich, enhanced with tuba and harp and percussive elements, it results in an orchestration that illustrates, foreshadows, accents and sets the tone for a dynamic story of love and transformation.
The believable characterizations and engaging chemistry of Anna and the King of Siam as portrayed by Aronson and Nemmers facilitate the triumph. Ms. Aronson exudes a calm, lady-like grace, and a steady confidence attesting to character and life experience. It makes her a commanding figure, even swathed in the restrictive bodice and huge hoop skirts of late 19th century Western culture, a “burka” of sorts. At the same time, she reveals vulnerability, a modern, human side, so easy to relate to today. Her vocal technique and interpretation are impeccable. Her “Getting to Know You” is as full of warmth and personal delight in addition to lyrical voicing as her “Hello, Young Lovers” reveals the mature sorrow of a widow still capable of deepest passion. This sets the audience up to understand her ultimate entrancement with the King of Siam. And what a king Joe Nemmers creates. Slightly shorter than Aronson, Nemmers dominates the stage through force of personality. He possesses the regal bravado of a caring, intelligent man deeply committed to leading his people wisely yet more and more confused and overwhelmed by an encroaching world that threatens his entire culture. Nemmers has a complicated challenge. Not only does he have to convey the personal transformations of a man falling in love in spite of himself and learning restraint in dealing with other people without losing regal demeanor and control, he has to overcome its Yul Brynner stereotype. Like Brynner, Nemmers isn’t a powerful singer; but that’s where the similarity ends. He infuses the role with a masculine vitality and endearing innocence that makes him a powerful delight to watch. He’s fresh, as though the role has never been performed before. The audience can’t wait to see his exchanges with Mrs. Anna explode. The spontaneous joy and romantic fire generated by their triumphant “Shall We Dance” deserves encore repetition. The audience is swept away by the revelation of honest attraction as its reality overtakes the King and Mrs. Anna. We are all left breathless. Positively breathless.

The Lyric Stage production of The King and I teems with excellent performances. Adrian Li Donni excels in superior vocal delivery and clearly defined acting as the Concubine TupTim’s illegal lover Lun Tha as if Broadway great Alfred Drake has been reborn. The lovers’ duet “I Have Dreamed”, sung with statuesque, glamorous Jung Eun Kim as TupTim, soars to glorious operatic heights in Act 2, while firmly remaining mainstream musical theater, thanks to the talent and skill of the two performers. The Uncle Tom Ballet with twelve dancers plus eight leads and an onstage percussionist, choreographed by Ann Nieman, is a completely transformational, evocative performance unto itself.

The King and I, considered by Oscar Hammerstein to be “our best work”, is about as politically incorrect as a 1951 musical can be.  Yet given the sensitive, respectful staging and interpretation by Music Director Jay Dias and Stage Director Cheryl Denson with a boldly undisguised multi-cultural cast, it makes a potent statement about the clash of incongruent cultures in a fast-paced modern world. We in the Dallas/Ft. Worth region are so lucky that the National Endowment for the Arts saw fit to award Lyric Stage with a grant to mount this magnificent production. Please don’t miss The King and I. It’s no “puzzlement” that it’s a stunning success.

Performances of The King and I continue June 25, 26 and 27 @ 8:00 PM and June 28 @ 2:30 PM.  Performances are in the Irving Arts Center’s Carpenter Performance Hall, 3333 N. Mac Arthur Blvd, Irving, Texas.  Tickets, priced from $20-$50, are available online @ www.lyricstage.org or by calling 972-252-2787.

Hitch a death-defying ride: The Ochre House

“Time is precious and there’s no accounting for it.” So sayeth the writer iconoclast Hunter S. Thompson who suicided at his Colorado retreat on February 20, 2005. Pretty mild comment for a guy who hung out with Hells Angels, was a liberal poster child for the NRA and regularly pissed off the media establishment with his scintillating, irreverent Rolling Stone features (23 years’ worth).  Hunter S. Thompson defies pigeonhole categorization from the git-go. Anybody who tries to capture his essence in stage portrayal submits to a freak show funny-house experience from Hell in just trying to keep up with the energy and free associative thought patterns of this mad genius. Hitch a ride with Matthew Posey’s Ochre House production of 14 Death Defying Acts: An Autopsy of Hunter S. Thompson.  I dare you to survive it without altering your perception of the universe….

Matthew Posey as Hunter S. Thompson

GONZO JOURNALISM: it’s on the books, named in honor of an article Thompson penned in 1970. It’s a narrative journalism style that thrusts a defiant metaphorical finger in the faces of sanitized AP writers everywhere. Subjective experience, slice of life, first person perspective, facts be damned. Let the reader live the experience as the words spill from the writer’s pen.  Jump right into the FUBAR mess of it. Thompson handily set the editorial world on edge and booted it right off a cliff. That’s exactly what Matthew Posey’s production accomplishes. And how. Pass me another American Spirit with that tequila shot. The fourth one.

Scene opens with Hunter (Posey) alternating between typing madly on a worn typewriter and searching his hot pillow hotel room for more pills and booze to get lit. He needs to get to LA. He’s joined in short order by three characters: Gonzo, a puffy, pallid version of the writer who looks like he stepped out of an Elvis Presley Convention, post 1970 (Xander Aulson); seedy, smacked out Leach (Kevin Grammer) with his “girlfriend” an inflated rubber titty lady he alternates between mauling, abusing and cooing over; and Juan, Thompson’s real life son (Ross Mackey) who comes attached to a wailing electric guitar and seems oblivious to his dad’s peculiar ways. They cram themselves into a “car” of sorts, with booze and pills a plenty; the road trip to LA ensues, at least in Hunter’s mind. Highway footage upstage projected behind them manifests the travelogue. You don’t need to be a genius to figure out that Gonzo and Leach are versions of Hunter, at various life stages and altered states of inebriation or drug-induced madness. Posey as Thompson seduces the mind as he drones gonzo gab non-stop, while manning the wheel. Sometimes the cast changes places in the speeding car when different aspects of Thompson rise to the forefront of chatter. Gonzo journalism as living art. Surely Thompson is leering down from some far-off constellation, fried to the gills, old typewriter at hand, laughing and spitting and cursing his approbation in one foul-mouthed cigarette-stale breath. Ha! If you’re a writer, you’ll go home itching to flick on the computer and not look up for hours. If you’re a boozer or into pills, you’ll stop off on the way home to stock up. If you’re a virgin voyeur, you’ll have a baptism you won’t soon forget. Don’t pray you can escape, once you’ve settled into your seat. Why would you want to? It feels better than first time sex on cocaine and is totally legal. The mood-enhancing music, the off kilter lighting, the relentless, raging voice of Thompson pounding words into your head, best sensually provocative yet literary high in town.
Hunter S. Thompson died at his self-described “fortified compound” known as “Owl Farm” in Woody Creek, Colorado, at 5:42 p.m. on February 20, 2005, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

14 Death Defying Acts: An Autopsy on Hunter S. Thompson
Written, directed and performed by Matthew Posey
Runs through June 27, Wed.-Sat. @ 8:15 PM
THE OCHRE HOUSE
825 Exposition Ave., Dallas TX 75226
TICKETS: $15.00 (cash or check at the door)
FOR TICKET RESERVATIONS: (214) 826-6273; theochrehouse@gmail.com

Bring it on! Trinity Shakespeare

It’s time to leap for joy, fans of classical theatre. This past week Fort Worth’s revitalized Trinity Shakespeare Festival sprang forth fully formed, like Athena from the head of Zeus. It’s a bold birth, ready to make dynamic artistic statements and enliven the words of Western culture’s leading playwright with a vision that connects the Bard’s texts to the modern world. Under the guidance of T.J. Walsh and Harry B. Parker, the 2009 Festival employs two Texas Christian University venues to present combined professional/ student staffed and cast productions of comedy Twelfth Night and tragedy Romeo and Juliet. Not always perfect, they both do admirable justice to the plays and provide high caliber entertainment to full house audiences. No tentative rebirth!

You won’t encounter more masterfully designed, exquisitely beautiful or performance enhancing sets at any regional venue. Twelfth Night, designed by TCU professor and union designer Michael Heil, with credentials ranging across the US, Europe and Asia, creates lyrical magical surrealism on the proscenium-style Buschman Theatre at Landreth Hall. A massive rectangular panel floats upstage at the back of the uncluttered playing space, painted in rich Mediterranean hues to look like sky. It presides over all action and opens up the space with clean linear definition. While clearly man-made, it constantly reminds the audience of the setting’s proximity to nature and the play’s contrasting themes of artifice and truth. Fanciful, stylized, Styrofoam trees frame the playing space and reinforce the clean Mondrian-like linearity of the overall design. Readily movable elements, the actors use these trees to enhance the humor of particular scenes. Like the free-floating sky painting panel, the trees visually reinforce the contrast between the artificial and the real throughout the play. All other set elements are simple and uncomplicated, either carried in and out by actors or softly flown in from above. A whimsical triumph, takes the breath away.

Chiaroscuro, the contrasting use of light and dark elements in pictorial art, comes to mind in the earth-toned, austere reality of the Brian Clinnin set design for Romeo and Juliet on the thrust of the Hays Theatre at TCU’s Walsh Center. It feels like you’ve entered a Caravaggio or Rubens painting set in Verona, with jutting promontory, precarious “balcony” strung taut on wires high above and a rock-filled gutter bisecting the stage, reinforcing the theme of “two houses divided” when it runs red with blood. Without actors, it’s a peaceful scene; yet the shadows and tension created by the looming balcony, the jagged gutter and the downstage promontory portend of disaster to come. With the actors on stage, solo or in stage combat, the wash of “claire-obscure” light envelops them in every moment. Director Alexander Burns and Lighting designer Michael Skinner envisioned together well, arriving at exquisitely evocative stage pictures. The tragic waste of life, the sadness of parental loss, could not be better expressed through light and structural elements, even before the actors speak Shakespeare’s text.

What works on stage?
Twelfth Night: It’s David Coffee’s show as he croons and intones composer Martin Desjardins songs as the court clown Feste. He comes across as part conjurer/ part madman, seems to spin the illusionary tale of romance and mistaken identity. Secondary characters dominate the stage, from J. Brent Alford as irreverent drunk Sir Toby Belch to scheming, lusty Emily Gray as Maria, to indefatigable Daniel Frederick, clearly favored by the audience, who makes a completely geeky donkey of himself with reckless, joyful abandon any time he strides on stage. David Fluitt creates an unforgettable, suffering steward Malvolio, Shakespeare’s satirical depiction of the Puritan opportunists running amok at Elizabeth I’s court at the time. (Stephen Colbert has nothing on the Bard in the way of incisive character assassination.) Trisha Miller Smith has some lovely moments as Countess in mourning Olivia. I wish she had stronger lead portrayals to act against, so her transition from shrewish mourner to impassioned lover could become more clearly drawn.
Romeo and Juliet: Kelsey Milbourn delivers up a feisty, vibrant and eminently lovable Juliet; I wish she were cast with Montgomery Sutton, Romeo from Shakespeare Dallas’ recent production. Once again, secondary characters provide the most interesting, worthy portrayals: Emily Gray as the chatterbox, seedy Nurse and David Fluitt as Friar Lawrence deserve an entire play to themselves for their intriguing performances; Desmond Ellington makes a sympathetic, feckless Paris, and Bryan Pitts evokes a noble command as the frustrated Prince. Mercutio’s spellbinding “Queen Mab” speech seems unfocused and inconsequential as delivered. Tybalt, the “villain” of the play comes across more like Snidely Whiplash than a tragic hothead caught up in a pointless feud.  This is such a stunning play it’s easy to overlook some less than inspired interpretations. For the production visuals—set, costume, light, stage pictures, stage combat by Eric Domuret and for Richard Frohlich’s entrancing sound design –  ”it’s all one.”

Welcome back to life, Trinity Shakespeare. You’re needed; your aspirations and accomplishments are honorable. I’m delighted to see such enthusiastic, engaged audiences. Bring it on!

Trinity Shakespeare Festival runs at TCU through June 28, with Twelfth Night and Romeo and Juliet in repertory.
Tickets:
817-257-5770
boxoffice@trinityshakes.org

On the Receiving End: Water Tower Theatre

“Let’s give this another try….”
The Receptionist at Water Tower Theatre delivers a mind-bending paranoia punch, and I don’t mean the saccharine kind served from a crystal bowl. It’s a wallop you don’t see coming. This one act play gives the idea of “being present and accountable” startling new meaning.

During the 2007-2008 New York theatrical season, Adam Bock’s dark comedy with savage underlying social commentary was produced Off Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club. “I was the temp receptionist at a temp office. Then I got a job as a receptionist at a design firm in San Francisco and worked there for three years. I discovered I have a facility for it. Most people can’t do it….

The Receptionist is) about how people work, and how your work impacts you.” But there’s more.

This one clever hour jolt opens, innocently enough, on a middle management office boss, Mr. Raymond,  (Randy Pearlman) sitting downstage center in a chair under an intense light, delivering a monologue to unknown persons about hunting rabbits and the finer points of fly-fishing. Pretty jolly fellow, pretty innocuous monologue. Except there is something a trifle unsettling about him; several lines seem out of context, like his conclusion. “Let’s give this another try….”

The scene immediately widens to reveal a pleasant, generic blah office with blah wall art and blah office music (exquisitely executed by Clare Floyd Devries). The office receptionist, Beverly, (Nancy Sherrard) captures audience attention and never lets go. She launches into a non-stop rapid-fire mixed monologue conversation with multiple incoming phone calls and several in person arrivals. Director Marianne Galloway has fine-tuned this performance to thrum like a Stradivarius violin. Sherrard hits every beat, phrase and chord, from the tilt of an eyebrow to the motherly pause with an anxious phone-caller to the sympathetic ear for an officemate in romantic distress, like a first chair violinist. When does she breathe? Her portrayal is an unforgettable triumph, full of humor, pathos, diffidence and gossipmonger all at one time. Playwright Bock should see this keen realization. “I wanted to write about somebody who had to manage a whole bunch of different kinds of language,” he says. “She has to talk one way to someone she doesn’t know, another way to someone she knows but doesn’t like, another way to a friendly person, another way to someone walking in. I thought it would be great to watch an actress have to quickly shift between all those different languages.”

Enter Beverly’s office mate Lorraine, ever late, same lame excuse, always blubbering about her narcissistic boyfriend and her codependent inability to shed him. Jennifer Pasion brings a genuine quality to this role, even with its farcical behavior and laugh lines. Every office has a ditsy gal like Lorraine. Shortly after, “main office” three-piece suit guy Martin arrives for an appointment with Mr. Raymond but finds himself drawn into a silly flirtation with Lorraine. Robert McCollum’s smooth style and wholesome good looks present a predictable up and comer’s demeanor. Warm smile, polite, charming. Yet, there’s something disturbing about him, intangible, lurking, hard to shake off.

That’s all I’m saying. Other than The Receptionist is the tightest script on the boards, with some of the crispest ensemble acting and well-defined direction in Dallas today. Coming full circle, at the play’s conclusion, the sense and context of Mr. Raymond’s opening monologue hit with a thud, considering Pearlman’s deceivingly innocent delivery. Adam Bock says he wrote this one-act “in response to the politics of the time, 2006/2007”. Artistically speaking, it whisks the audience into a unexpected twilight zone. “Let’s give this another try”, shall we?

Water Tower Theatre’s The Receptionist runs through June 21, 2009 in the Studio Theatre at the Addison Theatre Centre, 15650 Addison Road in Addison, Texas.
Performance times are Thursdays at 7:30 PM, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 PM, and Sundays at 2:00 PM.  Tickets are $20.
WTT Box Office: 972.450.6232 or online at www.watertowertheatre.org.

Quotes from Theatre Development Fund’s “Live NY Performances” page

Days of Wine and Roses at Rover Dramawerks

Wow. A two act infomercial, relentlessly torchy, about the nightmare of alcohol abuse and the shining hope Alcoholics Anonymous offers. Stage-worthy entertainment?  “You’d be surprised how much fun you can have sober” exclaims newly sober drunk Joe, clutching his little red book, to remorselessly plastered wife Kirsten near the end of Act II in  Days of Wine and Roses, by JP Miller.

Fun like a dead barrel of monkeys.

How does a theatre company select its shows? More specifically, why would Plano’s Rover Dramawerks select something so labored and preachy, so utterly depressing, no matter how well intentioned? I never saw the 1962 film, starring Jack Lemmon, Lee Remick, and Charles Bickford. My only previous encounter with the work is the hysterical send-up skit of it Carol Burnett did on her weekly television show. Frankly, I prefer her version. Over the top works better for laughs. Come on, guys. There are so many fine works of stage drama out there that deal with alcohol and its detrimental effects on people’s lives; just because your mission is to “produce lost or forgotten works of well-known authors” doesn’t justify dredging up a trite downer like this play, an adaptation of a 1958 teleplay turned into a not-so successful Jack Lemmon vehicle. I asked Rover Dramawerks’ house staff if this was chosen as part of some sort of partnership with the city of Plano re: alcohol awareness, a social cause. Nope. Artistic merits.

I hate to see a good company waste its time (and money) and the talents of a strong director and a capable, if lost, cast on a play with a dated, wooden, soap opera bad script and predictable proselytizing plot. It even ends with main character Joe mumbling the Serenity Prayer. No chorus of angels? It’s not that I object to the prayer or its sentiments. Nor to the good work AA does. This play would drive one to drink if one didn’t already imbibe.

When this pet project of JP Miller’s emerged in 1958, he received high acclaim for the clear dramatization of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings (still a mystery in the early 1950s). The teleplay received strong praise for its non-glamorized examination of the alcoholic’s life descent. The New York Times’ Jack Gould raved in his review. “It was a brilliant and compelling work… Mr. Miller’s dialogue was especially fine, natural, vivid and understated. Miss (Piper) Laurie’s performance was enough to make the flesh crawl; yet it also always elicited deep sympathy. …Mr. (Cliff) Robertson achieved first-rate contrast between the sober man fighting to hold on and the hopeless drunk whose only courage came from the bottle.” Rover Dramawerk’s script (maybe not the teleplay’s?) is so stiff and trite it’s hard for the actors to look like anything but stereotypes of what a “drunk” should be. Kind of like watching “Reefer Madness” – perhaps it had relevant impact for its time, hard to take it seriously today, much less sit through it.

A note to parents of young children, like the ones with bored babes whimpering, sneezing and rustling two rows below me tonight:
This play is not for kids. Do not bring them with you. Get a babysitter. Or, rent the 1962 movie and stay home.

The cast: Jim Croall, Heather Hill, Erik Knapp, Daphne Coulonge, James Hansen Price, Robin Daphne Coulonge, Greg Hullett, Dana Harrison.
The director: Lisa Devine.
Bless you all; you certainly put forth honest effort. I hate writing negative reviews.
Days of Wine and Roses runs through June 21 at the Cox Building Playhouse in Plano
Tickets: www.roverdramawerks.com

Picture Perfect at the Bath House

One Thirty Productions welcomes in summer with a spry production of Neil Simon’s I Ought To Be In Pictures, which explores the challenges of estrangement and reconnection in a strained father-daughter relationship. Who is the real adult here? Who’s bringing up whom? Find out at the Bath House Cultural Center .

This 1979 three-person comedy was Simon’s eighteenth play in a long string of winners. It premiered in LA at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles with Tony Curtis as Herb. After seventeen previews, the Broadway production, directed by Herbert Ross, opened on April 3, 1980 at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre, where it ran for 324 performances. Ron Liebman portrayed Herb, Dinah Manoff was daughter Libby, and Joyce Van Patten was Herb’s girlfriend Steffy. Manoff’s performance won her the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play; she reprised her role in a 1982 film version that featured Walter Matthau as Herb.

In the One Thirty Productions’ version, directed by the nationally credentialed Larry Randolph, regional actor Michael Corolla employs his commanding confidence and well-articulated voice to create a clear picture of a neurotic screenwriter who abandoned his family sixteen years earlier to pursue an unfettered bachelor life in southern California. Things haven’t gone so well for commitment-phobic Herb with perpetual writer’s block, but he does maintain a lukewarm romantic attachment to pragmatic studio make-up artist Steffy, who keeps him somewhat anchored to the human race. Regional Rabin winner Mary-Margaret Pyeatt presents a very down-to-earth Steffy; she’s serene and kind-hearted, accepts Herb with all his infuriating inconsistencies. Pyeatt’s Steffy provides a soft, steady contrast to Herb’s moods and explosive nature.

When Herb’s almost-adult daughter Libby arrives, unannounced, wearing a hitch-hiker’s back pack along with a chip on her shoulder the size of a N. California redwood tree, Steffy steps back to watch the lost pieces of Herb’s life puzzle sort themselves out. Even though Pyeatt isn’t on stage as much as the other two actors, her presence is always felt. She conveys an easy air of self-reliance and acceptance of life’s twists and turns. You know she’s always in control, gently, even if she’s not in a scene.

As Libby, director Randolph cast One Thirty Productions newcomer Marilyn Setu. A multiple Column Award nominee, Ms. Setu’s voice and physical presence fit the needs of angry daughter Libby to a “T”. There is an anxious quality to her performance that makes her portrayal the least at ease in the play, but she has a keen sense of comic timing and responds well to the hard-edged rebuffs she receives from Corolla’s Herb. Corolla and Setu make a believable picture as father and daughter.

This isn’t a Harold Pinter drama—it’s a Simon comedy: everybody gets sorted out happily at the end. One Thirty Productions provides another sweet afternoon’s divertissement for its unique mid-day performance time theatre with I Ought To Be in Pictures. Show runs through June 6. All performances are at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  Tickets are $14.00 at the door and $12.00 with a reservation.  Group rates are available for parties of five or more people.  For additional information and reservations, please call 214-532-1709. or visit www.bathhousecultural.com

Casa on the Money: Always, Patsy Cline

During the music-filled stage fantasy about a fan’s encounter with country/pop singer Patsy Cline, the fan reports Patsy told her: “I don’t want to get rich; I just want to live good.” Maybe Patsy Cline did make that remark, but there’s no question about her estate raking in substantial bucks based on audience attendance and response to Casa Manana’s Always, Patsy Cline running through June 7 at the venerable Ft. Worth venue. Casting film and TV star Sally Struthers as the fan doesn’t hurt either.

Patsy Cline

In addition to Ms. Struthers, the two-act performance features Julie Johnson as the iconic song-stylist. Ms. Johnson graduated from Austin College in Sherman and has had a distinguished career in film, concert and on stage, including on Broadway. Through the evening she sings twenty-seven numbers, some in their entirety. With not much to the show’s plot or dialogue, it’s crucial that the “Patsy” embody enough of the singer’s persona and unique vocal style and interpretation to thrill the audience and carry the show along. Johnson fills the bill. In stature, expression and song, Ms. Johnson offers a smooth, effective presentation, creating a believable Patsy Cline.  She inspires spontaneous applause and cheers with her soulful renditions of Cline’s classic repertoire: Crazy, Sweet Dreams, She’s Got You. The show also contains numbers primarily associated with other artists. Although Johnson sings them well, in clear Patsy Cline style, they feel slightly out of place, like filler. Johnson has performed the role of Patsy six times.

Sally Struthers has a charming delivery and strong stage presence, but she doesn’t seem well-suited to the role of Louise, the blue collar divorcee who develops a passion and eventual letter writing friendship with Cline. Antics and predictable shtick dominate the dialogue scenes – often appearing out of context and distracting. Occasionally she delivers what feels like a mechanical line reading, particularly when addressing the audience directly. Her selection of a “random” cowboy audience member to drag up on stage for a dance looked and felt downright phony. Johnson singing as Patsy got shoved aside, hardly fitting playwright Ted Swindley’s intentions. The audience guffawed, but the scene came off as awkward and staged, not spontaneous. Struthers’ costuming as Louise in no way flatters her, makes her look dwarf-like, freakish, with heavy hanging hair blocking much of her face. It’s not a convincing, comfortable performance from someone with a lifetime of sterling accomplishment including Emmy and Golden Globe Awards. Why is someone of Struthers’ caliber and background touring the  summer musical circuit in this role?

Accompaniment, adding much needed vitality to the production, is provided with panache and accuracy by a six-piece band: W. Brent Sawyer on piano/ conducting, James Aaron on steel guitar, Rex Bozarth on upright bass, Drew Lang on percussion, Gordon McCloud on fiddle/guitar and Kim Platko on guitar. They provide excellent back up to Julie Johnson’s superior singing.

Always, Patsy Cline is a nostalgia hit, pleasing to attend, but offering little substance. Its success indicates the depth and range of musical impact the singer had, in spite of her death in a plane crash at age 30 after a short six-year career span in the 60’s. Die-hard Patsy Cline fans will adore Julie Johnson in this production. Newbies will enjoy the music, the light-hearted banter and maybe become Patsy fans, as well. And the Cline estate? Makes out like a bandit.
Always, Patsy Cline runs through Sunday June 7 at Casa Manana in Ft. Worth.
Tickets: 817.332.2272 or http://www.casamanana.org/summer/patsy.html

http://www.casamanana.org

Flower Mound’s Wiser & Deeper Tuna

If there is truly no rest for the wicked, Rabin and Column award-winning stage director/actor Chris Robinson must be a very naughty boy. He just completed directing the delightful 60’s bedroom farce Under the Yum Yum Tree for Grapevine’s Runway Theatre (running through June 7). Now he’s appearing in the two-actor multiple character comic marathon Greater Tuna at Flower Mound Performing Arts Theatre. Did I mention he co-directed this Tuna production as well? Somebody give this man an award for creative endurance. Talk about living for art.

If you know the play Greater Tuna, it feels comfy as a favorite pair of dusty old cowboy boots. It’s been around the pasture and back, national and internationally speaking; but it’s always a welcome experience. If you aren’t familiar with the show, you’re in for a real treat as you encounter the homespun humor and wisdom of the nineteen denizens of the “third smallest town” in Texas, the fictional Tuna.

In some Greater Tuna productions, the director chooses to emph asize the farcical comedy of the piece with much shtick and gimmickry, dazzling the audience with the speed of costume and character transitions and the campy-ness of portrayals. FMPAT’s is a different sort of Greater Tuna, a wiser and deeper, thoughtfully paced, even reflective, production. Restaged as it is by Chris Robinson and Ryan Roach, with assistance from executive producer Scott Kirkham, this Greater Tuna maintains the humor and madcap pacing but allows the humanity to shine through. What gives this play the universal appeal it has isn’t just its comedy, it’s the deeply felt emotion that underscore the actions and motivations of its loony but believable characters. It’s better appreciated if the laughs just happen as the characters reveal their vulnerabilities and greatest desires. In accomplishing this feat FMPAT scores a genuine winner. Actors Robinson and Roach bring a depth, skill level and obvious joy to their performances that attest to their distinctive professionalism and dedication to performance art.

About Chris Robinson: He recently gave a Column Award winning performance as Natalie Green in Uptown Player’s acclaimed extended production The Facts of Life: The Lost Episode and reprised his role for a special engagement on RSVP Vacation Cruises. Chris has performed in the DFW theater community for over nineteen years, as well as at several regional theaters across the country. Chris has been seen locally at: Uptown Players, Stage West, Runway Theater, Garland Summer Musicals, Oklahoma’s Lyric Theater, and Garland Civic Theater: Chris has also appeared as Al Deluca in three productions of A Chorus Line. In addition to performing, Chris also directs, choreographs, and designs multi-media for many theater companies in DFW. A Rabin and multiple Column Award winner, Chris serves on the board of directors for The Column Awards and produces the multi-media for the ceremony each year.
About Ryan Roach: Charles Ryan Roach makes his FMPAT debut with Greater Tuna.  Ryan has performed throughout the DFW area, most recently as Lycus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum for WaterTower Theatre, where he has also appeared in Parade and Urinetown: The Musical. Roach’s diverse, encompassing work has received wide acclaim at Theatre Three, Contemporary Theatre of Dallas, Lyric Stage, Theatre Arlington, Stage West, Uptown Players, and Shakespeare Dallas. Roach has served on the Board of Directors for The Column Awards since its inception, and is a graduate of The University of North Texas and The British American Drama Academy’s Midsummer at Oxford program.

Greater Tuna encompasses the interactions of the town’s nineteen residents, ranging from the macho town sheriff to a sulky teenaged girl and her murderous thug brother to the town’s leading matron, its pompous reverend, and the wide-eyed president of the local humane society. All explore aspects of life againstthe backdrop filter of the town’s local radio station, through the perceptions of its radio DJ duo Thurston and Arles. Robinson and Roach create vivid, memorable portrayals and move smoothly through the myriad transitions. Can’t review Greater Tuna without a shout out to its intrepid costume designer, FMPAT’s Ryan Matthieu Smith. Not a hair out of place, every ensemble and funky wig supports both actors in the clear creation of all characters. Smith has designed for many theaters in the Metroplex and has received both Column Awards and Critics Forum Awards for his work. Ryan lives in Los Angeles where he has styled for Rachel Zoe, fashion designer George Clinton, and worked with renowned photographers such as Gilles Bensimon and David Lachapelle.  Ryan is also the artistic Director of The Wit Gallery in Dallas. He is currently producing two reality television shows and recently completed the screenplay for The Beautiful People.
Characters, in order of appearance-
Charles Ryan Roach:
Thurston Wheelis
Elmer Watkins
Bertha Bumiller
Leonard Childers
Pearl Burras
R.R. Snavely
Reverand Spikes
Sheriff Givens
Hank Bumiller
Chris Robinson:
Arles Struvie
Didi Snavely
Harold Dean Lattimer
Petey Fisk
Jody Bumiller
Stanley Bumiller
Charlene Bumiller
Chad Hartford
Phinas Blye
Vera Carp

Head down to Greater Tuna for a dose of impeccably timed comedy and the gentle revelation of universal human truth.  The show runs through June 7 at the cosy FMPAT performance space at 830 Parker Square in Flower Mound, just west of Lewisville on FM 1171.
Tickets: www.fmpat.org 972-724-2147
Make it an entire evening. Dine ahead of time at one of the finer Parker Square restaurants: http://www.parkersquare.com

Bios excerpted from the FMPAT Greater Tuna show program.

Greater Tuna is written by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears and Ed Howard