If the Shorts Fit - Curtain Call Theatre

I first fell in love with theatre through the oft-maligned industry of community theatre. Therefore, when I hear of a community theatre expanding its repertoire outside of the canonized Rogers and Hammerstein and latest Neil Simon comedy, I am intrigued. Thus, my attendance at the Curtain Call Theatre's presentations of original short plays, If the Shorts Fit 2. This evening of eight short plays premiered works that span the gamut from sophomoric playwriting exercises to honestly inspired pieces. But the evening is a conubial joy of local writers and acting community. The talent may be spurious, but the spirit is omnipresent.

On the night I attended, most of the short plays dealt with some aspect of the male/female relationship, which makes one wonder if this is a deliberate choice or happenstance. The first play, "Apple" by Trevor Suthers is a contemporary retelling of the Adam and Eve story. Likewise, "Trouble with Day Care" by Josh McIlvain posits the absurd situation of a father who brings home the wrong baby from daycare. "Jump!" by George J. Bryjak presents a young male on the verge of suicide before he meets the perfect macro-biotic female for his unconsumerist ideals. "Idiots Abroad" broaches the subject of a very American couple maneuvering the autobahn in Germany as well as their personal relationship. "Downhill Ride" by Dave Tucker explores the life of an over-fifty roller-coaster rider through the narration of his best friend.

The high spots of the evening were threefold, each of which presented a view on relationships, form, and expression that were unexpected in this barn cum community theatre. The first surprise of the evening was "Heartbreak Hill" by Lisa Burdick. The protagonist of this play is struggling against the physical tolls of a marathon for cancer as narrated by the many parts of her body. When she finally decides to give up, the multiple aspects of her personality pull together to remind her of the many friends and relations she has lost to the disease. This heartfelt homage to the performances of remembrance that have become so second-nature to our culture (AIDS Walks, Breast Cancer Walks, etc.) is both heartfelt and topical.

"The Dueling Princess" by Lisa Zadok portrays the most eloquent scripting of the shorts presented. This neofeminist/revisionist/fractured Fairy Tale introduces Princess Sophia, a maiden who favors marksmanship over gowns and competition over companionship. Hiding in the local Inn, she observes from privileged anonymity as she is actually the princess of this domain. Enter Lord James, a slovenly prince who attempts to woo Sophia with his charms. However, James learns that he cannot compete with Sophia's marksmanship. Instead, he proffers supplication to her devotion through their mutual childhood experiences. The writing for this play is far more developed than any of its compatriots and I guarantee we'll be hearing from this playwright in generations to come.

The final short presented was "Not Funny," a play written by Christopher Lockheardt, which won the Creaky Award for best short play. Opening on a scene where a husband is stabbed by a knife and a stereotypical wife stands by, the opening line is "I see your point." As delivered by David Edge, the actor posesses all the dead-pan precision of Bob Newhart. The play is primarily conceived around the age-old men are from Mars/women are from Venus conflict, but with the stabbing wit (pun intended) of this playwright, it is an enjoyable and well-written comedic skit.

Although, this was certainly not life-changing theatre, it was inspiring to see so many local professionals and hobbyists working together to deveop and create new work. The Curtain Call Theatre should be acknowledged for their devotion to the work of Boston-area playwrights and the great feeling of community inspired bytheir evening of shorts.

On the Verge of Nora Theatre Company

I applaude the Nora Theatre Company for attempting difficult, literary scripts that many small theatres their size would not touch. Examples include the rarely produced We Won't Pay, We Won't Pay by Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo. Their recent production of Eric Overmeyer's On the Verge falls under the rarely produced category, but fails to deliver a well-produced production. The major problem with the production is Director Wesley Savick's over-conceptualization of a piece that needs less concept and more attention to story-telling.

The three actresses who portray the time-traveling scientists that bridge the time/space continuum range from the mediocre to bad at any given moment in the play. Deanna Dunmyer delivers an over-the-top Lady Macbeth performance in a piece that calls for the subtlety of Chekhov. Alicia Kahn as Fanny delivers a soap operatic performance as the female explorer who sells out to the socially-predicated feminine roles of the 1960s. Only Anna Waldron, as the youngest and most liberated female explorer, displays any concept of attachment with the other actors or connection to the words. I can't help but feel that this director decided upon a concept which included constant pantomime by the performers thus neglecting the opportunity for the performers to connect with the words or character and deliver a performance that is more akinto modern dance than theatre. Likewise, Barlow Adamson's performance as the numerous males encountered by these female explorers was nothing less than uncomfortable. On the Verge as produced by the Nora Theatre Company and directed by Wesley Savick is nothing less than an extraordinary play given a less than stellar production by a company that keeps reproducing lesser-staged productions badly. I can't help but feel that the company is "on the verge" of producing something spectacular. But, as long as they stick to directors who employ bubble machines to highlight the apex of the play, the theatre company has much to learn bout producing quality work for dedicated theatre patrons. For those who are just looking for a good time in Central Square, I suggest you attend the Middle East as it is far more likely to present a well-rehearsed act rather than the shabby presentations of the Nora Theatre Company.

Here's hoping their new space at Central Square Theatre will open up new posibilities for them as seems the case for their up-coming season.

"The Color Purple" on Tour

I saw the original Broadway production of The Color Purple in 2006 and, I must admit, I laughed and cried and thought it was better than Cats. However, upon a second viewing of the national tour in the beautiful and historic Wang Theatre, I was left with a sense of antipathy. Why my ardor should cool so quickly is a mystery to me and I can't help but wonder, "What does a show lose when it transfers from Broadway to the road?"


Certainly none of the performances were compromised as many of the original cast members have joined this first national tour. Seeing the TONY-award winning performance of LaChanze was magical, but Kenita Miller's performance as Celie is just as fitting and worthy of accolade. Felicia Fields as Sofia is just as robust and comical as she was on Broadway. However, Angela Robinson's performance as Shug Avery suggested that she might be fighting a cold or withholding her voice. The signature numbers "What about Love?" and "The Color Purple" definitely suffered either due to the fact that they were way out of vocal range for the performers or because the sound balance was off.


And the sound balance was the biggest problem of the production. Having worked in the touring industry, I understand that sound is one of the most problematic aspects of touring a show. Each house is different although the technical equipment that the tour is given is the same. It really seems to be a no-win situation, especially considering a cavernous space such as the Wang. Although it is a beautiful theatre, after seeing this production I completely understand why Broadway Across America takes their performances to the Opera House or the Colonial Theatre. Many important aspects of the production were lost due to poor sound mixing such as the lyrics of the Church Ladies' Greek Chorus-style commentary and the volume level of Celie's anthemic "I'm Here." However, my surrounding audience members didn't seem disturbed by the lack of amplification and the show was received as warmly in this primarily African-American audience as it was on Broadway.


I wonder, however, how well Jersey Boys will play in the same space. Interestingly, Jersey Boys has sold out from July through October whereas The Color Purple has barely sold enough for a two-week run. I can't help but think that this is due to the racism inherent in theatre audiences. This racism is apparent in the Broadway industry across the board. Jersey Boys won the TONY Award for best musical in 2006 against The Color Purple. Historically, musicals that challenge the status quo don't fare at the TONY awards as well as those that reify white, middle-class priviledge and standards. Examples include: The Will Roger's Follies over Once on this Island in 1991; Nine winning over Dreamgirls in 1982; and The Music Man winning over West Side Story in 1958. The legacy of the TONY award is definitely as much about politics as it is about product.

Take last year's TONY Award-winning musical, In the Heights, a Disney-esque, melodramatic (aka Univision) performance that ghettoizes the Latino culture within the purview of the Great White Way. Meanwhile my self-aggrandizing snobbery must admit that the audience with which I saw In the Heights was the most diverse of any Broadway audience I have ever been a part of, including The Color Purple (the latter was primarily African-American while the former included every color of the spectrum and, presumably, every socio-economic status). Meanwhile, the thought-inducing and racially-charged Passing Strange passed virtually unnoticed by TONY voters while it offered a far more intellectual and interesting comment on the presentation of race on the stage. Luckily, Passing Strange has been slated for a Spike Jones film while In the Heights is scheduling its first national tour, which I'm sure will play to major American cities with high ticket sales and without a thought as to the white privilege reified through this very work. My estimation is that white people feel good when they can see a show that presents "otherness" within a safety net of good storytelling without a challenge to their status quo. The Color Purple presents this challenge as it gears its delivery to the African-American audience. The fact that this musical was overlooked for an essentially jukebox musical of dubious merit shows how far we have to go before achieving any semblance of justice for all. The fact that Jersey Boys is outselling The Color Purple at the Wang Theatre is no more than a reflection of the racism of the theatre-going audience in Boston and the racism that continues to pervade our culture and our arts.

Mamet Double Bill at American Repertory Theatre

The American Repertory Theatre (recently renamed TheatER) concludes their season with a celebration of David Mamet's work called "Sex, Satire, Romance, and Ducks." Kicking off the festival was the much lauded Romance, which I was unfortunately unable to see. The Mamet Double Bill currently playing at Zero Arrow Theatre provides dichotomous productions of two of Mamet's one-acts proving why this playwright has earned his merit as a master of American drama and why young actors can rarely do his work justice.

The first act of the double bill is The Duck Variations - pun, no doubt, intended. The framing device of two men on a park bench pontificating life, death, and ecological disaster is certainly not new (i.e. Albee's Zoo Story and Lee Blessing's A Walk in the Woods). But in the masterful hands of Mamet and the talented company of the A.R.T., the play soars with revelation like post-modern scripture. Like many of Mamet's plays, the dialogue is about everything and nothing. Two aging men sit on a park bench discussing the first signs of spring: ducks, boats, the vernal signifiers of regeneration. Yet as the play progresses, the seemingly absurd dialogue slips into philosophy on life, relationships, and death.

The most rewarding aspect of the production is the simplicity of staging and mastery of presence. Director Marcus Stern serves the script with reverence and simplicity allowing the script to take center stage over concept or spectacle. The only perceived directorial staging is a moment where the two men stand from the park bench while narrating the plight of a duck in flight during hunting season. The fact that the pedestrian act of standing from a park bench should register as a directorial decision confirms the fact that the production of The Duck Variations achieves its intended purpose of presenting a slice of life naturalistically while delivering philosophy that is both topical and universal.

The credit for the production, however, cannot deny the talent of Will Lebow and Thomas Derrah. As company members of the A.R.T., I must admit I have grown tired of seeing their stock performances over time. Will Lebow typically hides behind his voice while Thomas Derrah over-performs his characters. However, as this play is about two men who have known each other for a long time, the familiarity of these two actors not only works, but adds to the production. Will Lebow's simplicity as George is, quite possibly, one of his strongest performances in recent memory. Thomas Derrah's character, though slightly over-dramatized, displays this masterful character actor's command. The Duck Variations is the epitome of what the A.R.T. does well: a company of talented actors bringing to life quality dramatic texts under the auspices of creative direction.

Whereas the first one-act of the evening is a lesson in how to do Mamet right, the second act, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, is how to do Mamet wrong. A production by the students of the MXAT Institute (A.R.T.'s MFA training program), Sexual Perversity in Chicago is more like a series of painful presentations in an Acting 101 class. The direction, design, and performances are so ill-conceived and executed one can only wonder how these students are earning MFA's and why A.R.T. would include this aberration as part of their mainstage season. Directed by Dramaturgy student Paul Stacey, the play takes place all over the Zero Arrow Theatre space making transitions laborious and highlighting the lack of focus that seems to be a central theme to the production. Not one of the actors conveys a sense of purpose, relationship, or identity in a play that is essentially about relationships and identity. Looking into the eyes of these actors is like watching a blank screen with no connection to their characters, words, or action. The diction of the actors is precise to a fault, as if they were reading their lines for a hearing-impaired audience. Likewise, the design of the show is less than A.R.T. standards with costumes that look like they were pulled from a rack at Garment District, unfocused lighting and a minimalist set that impeded rather than improved the production. I am more than willing to concede to the standards of academic theatre; however, this production is worse than most undergraduate productions in Boston. I have high hopes for Diane Paulus' assumption as Artistic Director of the A.R.T. Here's hoping that an overhaul of the MXAT Institute is part of her plan.

Boston's Summer Musicals

As the weather has finally melted into sultry days and snowless nights, theatres around Boston conclude their seasons with lighter fare. What is it about summer that makes people crave musicals? Perhaps warm temperatures goad us into craving mindless frivolity, a cognitive shedding of the heavy winter layers. An analogic test might conclude: February is to Chekhov as June is to Rogers and Hammerstein. Whatever the reason, three theatres around town are producing New England premieres of musicals that range from completely frivolous to moderately moribund with equally diverse success.


Let's start with the bad news first. In the program notes to Speakeasy Stage Company's Jerry Springer: The Opera, director Paul Daigneault pontificates as to why this work has not been produced more widely on American stages. A hit in London and at international Fringe Festivals, Jerry Springer: The Opera has been one of those rare gems that does not translate well into regional or community theatre fare. My personal opinion is that the work is far too satirical of American culture to truly resonate with American audiences, except for the most self-deprecating. Although the show has been selling well - no doubt promulgated by the crazy Catholic's protest of the opening weekend's performance - this production is one of the most amateurish and ill-directed works I have seen on Speakeasy's Stage.


The chorus of Jerry Springer: The Opera is the studio audience, but in this production the chorus mills about on stage dressed as trailer-trashy as the talk show guests. Add into this the (assumedly) Brechtian device of having the actual audience sit on-stage and you have the uncomfortable position of where to focus and what is appropriate audience/actor interaction. The only reason this is mentioned is because there seemed to be only two professional actors in the entire company who could command the stage over the audience presence on-stage or the masturbatory performances of the ensemble. The two shining moments of professionalism were Kerry Dowling and Amelia Broome whose performance salvaged an otherwise chaotic and misdirected evening of theatre. Some of the performers delivered vocally adept performances such as Luke Grooms and Joelle Lurie who obviously have operatic training, but lacked direction and an actor's command of the stage. To answer Mr. Daigneault's query as to why Jerry Spring: The Opera isn't more widely produced, one need not look further than this production. It is simply too large for most theatres to cast and too complex for many directors too handle.

The response to [Boston Globe reviewer] Louise Kennedy's review of the Huntington Theatre's Pirates has been far more controversial than the show itself. The gulf between the ecstatic audience reception and Ms. Kennedy's frigid review (not to mention Managing Director Michael Maso's public response) has been the stuff that backstage musicals are made of. My personal opinion falls somewhere in the middle finding Pirates both a delightful take on Gilbert and Sullivan's classic Pirates of Penzance and a cheap, bawdy vaudeville where anything goes for a laugh. I do, however, countermine the argument that the show is mere frivolity with little to no thought. The idea to combine the narratives of Pirates of the Carribean with Gilbert and Sullivan's classic is nothing short of inspired even though the execution may at times condescend to the lowest common denominator. The fact that G&S's work is outside the domain of copyright laws allows the creative team to contemporize the humor by changing dialogue and lyrics. This is what makes living theatre such a delight and I only wish that contemporary writers understood the necessity to up-date theatrical work in order to prevent it from becoming a museum piece.

I can gladly say that this is one of the few Huntington shows where I don't leave praising the set over the performance. Director Gordon Greenberg has put together a stellar cast using national and local talent and paces the show at 20 knots. All the beloved characters from Gilbert and Sullivan's original are in place with jokes and bits that make them more of-the-moment and more self-aware. Indeed, the self-awareness of the show - actors breaking the fourth wall to milk the audience - is one of the most refreshing aspects of the production and revive this standard to contemporary, professional standards. The show made me giggle with such abandon as Spamalot while allowing me to rediscover the great melodies invented by the genius Arthur S. Sullivan. I felt like I was rediscovering Pirates all over again sans boring recitative and laborious plot.

The performances are, across the board, of Huntington standards - which, I was shocked to learn include many students from area schools. The pirate ensemble of chorus boys falls a little too quickly into mugging, but their athleticism makes up for this fault. Farah Alvin's Mabel is perfectly executed in voice and acting. Her performance is so spot-on that one cannot imagine a more perfectly suitable star. Anderson Davis as Frederic plays a believably dense blond and deservedly brings down the house with his America Idol rendition of "Oh, Is There Not One Maiden?" Yet the true star of any Pirates of Penzance is the Modern Major General and Ed Dixon does not disappoint. His performance has the ability to single-handedly argue for a revival of vaudeville.

The last summer musical - and one to most tug at my heartstrings - is the Lyric Stage's glorious production of Grey Gardens. I saw the original Broadway production of this show and I wondered how the Lyric would pull it off. But, pull it off they did with uniquely original staging by Spiro Veloudos and a star-studded cast of local Boston actors. The music, which is difficult to say the least, was perfectly executed by Musical Director Scott Goldberg and talent. The thrust staging of the production was so well executed by Mr. Veloudos and scenic designer Cristina Todesco that one realizes the show does not need all the bells and whistles (and fly systems and million dollar budgets) employed in the original production. Instead, Lyric Stage committed to the beautiful music and heartfelt story and delivered a great performance.

One criticism is that the direction felt a little too directed toward "a musical" whereas this is a dramatic story told through music. In Act I Leigh Barret, as the matriarch Edith Bouvier Beale was allowed to fall into her barren-eyed auto-actor that so often accompanies her vocally bravura performances. In Act II, however, as the mentally haunted Little Edie, she delivers a performance that is both emotionally charged and completely unbelievably believable. The other true star of the show was Aimee Dougherty as the young Little Edie in Act I. Ms. Dougherty maybe overcast in Boston area theatres, but in this production, she found her niche and shined with all the star quality that she truly possesses. Sarah deLima as the elder Edith Bouvier Beale also shone with a delectable voice and the perfect physical representation of the character. I also must praise Miranda Gelch whose young Jacqueline Bouvier was the splitting image of her namesake.

It has been an exciting season in Boston this year with much more excitement to come as Diane Paulus assumes the ranks of Artistic Director at A.R.T. However, each theatre sent us off to our summers on the Cape (or stuck in the sultry city) with a little musical verite and much enjoyment to ponder as we sip cape cods on the shore.