What Happened to the Theatre?

Looking for my theatre reviews? Look no further than My Theatre Ramblings. I've decided to break up the blog again to help those who follow me just for theatre reviews. Enjoy the new style!

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Three Sisters @ Constellation Theatre: Chekhov? Check On!

Photo Credit Constellation Theatre

I went into this night with great hesitation. I've seen two plays by Anton Chekhov before, The Cherry Orchard and The Seagull. Both were just mediocre. They were boring and long. Each left me not with a sense of hopelessness or that things could be better, but with a sense of lost time and a splitting headache.

So I went into Three Sisters expecting much of the same of the "woah is me" from my previous Chekhov experiences. With slightly higher hopes since Lanford Wilson, one of my favorite American playwrights, translated this play!

The moment I entered the theatre, I knew this was going to be a more enjoyable experience than those in the past. The set designer, A. J. Guban, completely revamped the Source Theatre and turned it into theatre in the round! And the director, Allison Arkell Stockman, really used this to help tell the complacency of the story.

Three Sisters is about three Russian woman and their brother, of the Prozorov family. They once all lived in Moscow and long to go back, but were moved to some outpost because of their father's military career. Oh how they all long to return to Moscow.

So much action is packed into the 4 acts of this play (and yet full of typical Chekhov inaction). No one does anything, but thanks to the direction of Stockman, the play continued to move at a wonderful pace not too typical of Chekhov interpretations. Though at the same time none of the inaction and despondency was lost due to faster pacing.

Of course Stockman can't get all the credit. We have to look at the wonderful cast too! Every person on stage seemed to have a great understanding of his/her character and how they related to each other and the story proper.

One of the standout performers was Katy Carkuff (portraying Natasha - finacee/wife to Andrei Prozorov). During the intermission I turned to my theatre partner and said, "God, I loath Natasha." And my theatre partner said, "well you're not supposed to like her." And I said, "Carkuff has done such a great job portraying the naive girl with the ulterior motive." And as the second half continues, Carkuff continues to make that transition from frumpy girl to a giant bitch. Natasha believes that since she is married to the male Prozorov, she has the right to run the household, despite her implied affairs with Protopopov (the town's "mayor"). Carkuff's performance was very believable and well acted. I look forward to her returning for many more Constellation performances.

Another great performer was Catherine  Deadman (Masha Kulygin (nee Prozorov)). The play opens with Masha (and her sisters) mourning over the death of their father one year earlier. Her hopelessness is very typical of Chekhov, and Deadman could have been easily swayed into the boring aspects of this character. But Deadman brought life to this listless character. You really felt for her as Masha settled into life with her boring husband, Kulygin (portrayed by Ashely Ivey). You wanted her to end up with Vershinin (Michael John Casey) as the two teased the audience with their torrid love affair (often portrayed as torrid through Deadman's and Casey's body language, verses the few words spoken about it in the actual play). Casey also stood out because of his reluctant desire to be with Masha and abandon his suicidal wife and their two daughters.

Shakespearean actor, Billy Finn (Tuzenbach) was not only nice to look at, but wonderful in keeping the pacing of the play more "American," as his character talked the most of change but did the least (other than fall in love with Irina Prozorov (Amy Quiggins))

The whole of Three Sisters' cast were fabulous. Really giving the fairly new Constellation Theatre a strong foothold for drawing in talented actors. 

Three Sisters is performed Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at the Source Theatre in the U Street Corridor from now until February 21. Tickets can be purchased here ranging from $17 - $25. Seating is general admission and I recommend sitting on the left side (behind the round table with two chairs). Arrive 15 minutes prior to curtain to get great seats. The show runs nearly three hours, with just one intermission. Due to the nature of the "round theatre" there will be no late seating.






  

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Check out The Permanent Collect @ Roundhouse in Bethesda, MD

 

In the program, the Dramaturg, Jacqueline Lawtron, said "when you put a white person and a black person on stage, befroe they even open their mouths, it's a play about race." This is right when it comes to Permanent Collection. The play opens with Sterling North - played by Craig Wallace, - a business man, recounting the events of the morning to the audience. Sterling is a black man, driving a jag, wearing expensive clothes and pulled over for DWB (driving while black). He's on his way to his new job as the curator at the Morris Collection (an art gallery that has recently been bequeathed to a historically black college (said to have been Alfred Morris' last "screw you" to the art community).

So right from the beginning, we know that this play is going to be heavy, and full of racial tensions.  And the moment Sterling meets Paul Barrow - played by Jeff Allin,- the museum's director of education, things seem to hit the fan. Sterling has already made some changes to the staffing at the collection, which don't sit well with Paul. From the beginning of their relationship, it's hard to tell if Paul dislikes Sterling because he is Black or because he is changing too much.

As the play goes on, Paul becomes very friendly with Sterling's assistant, Kanika Weaver - played by Jessica Frances Dukes (who in my opinion steals the show with her candid approach to racism and was so well acted). But what gets the ball rolling is when Sterling wants to add some more art to the collection (pulling it from the storage department). But Paul wants to uphold Alfred Morris' will, that no changes to the permanent collection will be allowed. Again, it's have to tell if Paul is upset about the changes or about the fact that the new art is African. (The current collection on display includes hundreds of paintings by European men, but only four small African statues and masks). 

Things get blown out of proportion and Gillian Crane, local style reporter - played by Susan Lynskey - gets involved. Paul looses his job and is slandered as a racist. Sterling is quoted as calling Paul and his protest group the "Ku Klux Klan." Kanika is fired for not being able to keep quiet (or was it because she was trying to play for both teams? black and white?) In the final scene with Kanika she talks about how she never thinks about herself as black, but there is always someone there to remind her of it. How she hoped that it wouldn't ever matter; it just wasn't something that was important to her (in her mid-20s) as opposed to Sterling, 40's - 50's who had to claw his way up the corporate ladder.

A few years later, Paul revisits the Morris Collection and it is revealed that because of the lawsuit he brought upon Sterling, the Collection was moving "downtown" to a new arts district, with corporate sponsors. (All things that Mr. Morris despised). Paul becomes upset at this prospect but understands it, thus making it more confusing if he just hates change or is a racist. 

The script of this play was amazing! I couldn't believe how emotional this play was. And how well acted it was too. As I said before, Dukes (Kanika Weaver), did steal the show. Her characterizations were very believable, he voice and body represented her generation well. I could easily see myself taking on her position of being unable to definitely take a side.  While at the same time, both Wallace and Allin also performed wonderfully in their roles. They seemed to really work at creating the tension. Props to director Timothy Douglas, and his creative team. The sounds, lights, costumes and props truly enhanced the whole experience. I do have to draw attention to Tony Cisek's set. I was disappointed to find out that this set didn't take advantage to Round House's revolving stage. But as the play went on, I quickly forgot about it, because the set was so stunning, with it's blank picture frames (that could be lit from the rear to help create new scenes).

Now, one thing I didn't get was the random vignettes where Alfred Morris (played by Lawrence Redmond) would come out on stage and would appear to help explain about the Morris Collections' exclusivity or help deny the fact that he was a racist himself. But they never came across to me. Again, could this have been another example of not being able to take both sides. And since Morris didn't want to take either side, he was never able to express ideas for any side. 

Hidden underneath all this was a criticism of the media. Reporter Gillian Crane, seems to be very unbiased, giving both sides equal chances to be represented in the press. But the thing is, she seems to have to push Paul into action. Is she just doing this to create more drama for her own writing? This critic also wonders what she was doing in the "epilogue;" did she ever transfer to the city desk to leave the politics of the suburban style section?

The play runs through February 21, 2010 at the Round House Theatre in Bethesda. I say check it out now. Purchase tickets here

  

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Too Much Light Makes Baby Go Blind

Go check out Too Much Light Makes Baby Go Blind at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre in DC.

This was a crazy play, or  more like 30 vignettes, that looked at different social issues from Gay Rights to what it means to be a father, birth, etc. All these 30 plays (some funny, some serious) took place in 60 minutes!

The crazy part is, that each show is slightly different. At the end of each show an audience member rolls a die and that is how many plays must be replaced for the following night's show!

Angels in America

Yesterday I was privileged enough to spend the entire day at the Forum Theatre in Silver Spring, where I just got to see Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on American Themes by Tony Kushner. This play (in two epic 3.5 hour parts) tells the story of Prior Walter's decent and accent to become a Prophet for the new Millennium and the trials and tribulations of those around him and beyond him in the mid-80s.

The whole play spans 8 acts and an epilogue. (Three in the first play Millennium Approaches and five in Perestroika).

Millennium introduces the main characters of Prior and his lover/boyfriend of 4.5 years, Lewis (over sexed, under paid, Jew, worrier, that can't handle change); the closeted, self-loathing, Republican, Mormon Joe and his Valium-addicted, hallucinating wife;  Roy Cohen, closeted, Republican, lawyer who after dialing 15 numbers can get the president's wife on the phone and feels like he can rule the world; Ethel Rosen (a ghost) killed during the McCarthy Trials - Roy had a hand in her death; Harper, Joe's Mormon mother; Belez, Prior's best friend from their drag days; and The Angel. Along with various other characters that are double and triple cast by the 8 actors.

Prior announces he has AIDS which sets off a chain of events that connects all the characters (Except Ethel).

This is such an amazing script. It talks about AIDS and AZT, McCarthyism, Mormonism, love, sex, drugs and father/son relationships. All this in 7 hours!

Watching the play yesterday was a trial, but worth it. The first part was too reminiscent of the movie (right down to casting and costuming) while the second part had more of the director adding his own ideas. The play was well acted. I believe that this performance was amazing. I hope to one day write a play that is as powerfully performed as this! 

Theatre Ketchup

So this weekend I saw a lot of theatre! And it's time to play "catch-up"

Thursday 10/8: A Flea In Her Ear presented at Source Theatre. This French farce was hilarious! All because of a pair of suspenders, one household in France is thrown upside down as one spouse thinks the other is cheating! The show was great, I saw a Pay What You Can. The space is awkwardly long, so some of the action was far from me, but because of the intimate seating, I could deal with it. The acting was great too!

Friday 10/9: The Alchemist by Ben Jonson at Shakespeare Theatre Company. I have a subscription to the Shakespeare Theatre Company this season, and so far, I'm enjoying it. The Alchemist is about two swindlers who's plans unravel as the play draws to an end. This was my first show by Jonson (A Shakespearean contemporary) and was very enjoyable! The acting was superb and I really enjoyed the show (other than sitting next to a woman who thought the show was WAY more laugh out loud than it really was).

Saturday 10/10: Mike Birbiglia at Warner. This man is so funny! I love him, he quickly became my favorite comedian! But I did have some problems with the show as a "Show." I see a lot of theatre. But I've never seen a show start 20 minutes late! That was crazy. Then there was a crappy singing comedian who performed for 20mins! I expected some sort of warm up act, but this guy just never made me laugh. Then there was a 15 min intermission! (Which seemed like a waste of time. )

Monday 10/12: Laramie Project Epilogue presented locally by Arena Stage. Is a look back at what Laramie is like now. This play was presented in 150 cities across the world last night (free). The actors/actresses were amazing as was the script. It still asks the tough questions of what is life like after a hate crime; what can we do to make life easier for GLBT people all over the world. I was in complete tears the entire first act!

"Gotta Sing, Sing..." Why Musical Theatre is the best...

Ok, so I know that I'm pretty gay, but this is one stereotype that I'm proud to have!

Musical Theatre, particularly American Musical Theatre, has changed my life.

Let's begin as a child. I watched 7 movies over and over as a child. 6 of which were musical theatre: Mary Poppins, Hello Dolly, Grease, Grease 2, and Wizard of Oz (and Saved by the Bell Hawaiian Style is the non-MT one). (Look soon for a post on Saved by the Bell). Musical Theatre encompassed a lot of my life.

I would watch these movies over and over and over again. I love the way these movies would make me feel and how I could easily relive the movies by just thinking of the music. As I grew older, you know, like 5, Disney reached it's Animated Renaissance with Little Mermaid, and I found out something important about musical theatre (particularly the Disney genre): Ariel wanted something, she needed it, she had to have it, and she went for it (as with the other movies above). I've since come to realize that my love for Ariel has come from my homosexuality, because she wasn't excepted by her family for the person she loved. I can empathize with her, because I'm ostracized from some of my friends and family because of who I love. So as a young boy I saw myself reflected on the screen in a female mermaid!

Then there came other movie musicals. Best Little Whorehouse! OMG. MAN ASS. That's not the only reason I loved it though. I found this musical by the time I was 6. Again, I found something in the musical that I wasn't getting from the rest of the movies I saw: Adult themes and exposure to things that would matter later to me in life (like female prostitution).

Gypsy came next. We never had this on tape, but I saw this on AMC once and loved it. Mom and I stayed up past midnight to watch it all. Again, this musical was about being something that you're not. Changing who you are and why you do what you do. Louis was being forced to be her sister (which younger bother has never felt like that). And once she found something she was good at (stripping) she finally became confident.

Then I rediscovered Grease and Grease 2. This time, it was Grease 2 that really stuck on me. Just like the original, it has great music, but this time it was a male lead. And he hid in his "Charades" pretending to be the cool rider, while being the "nerd." By the end, after his reveal, he was some sort of combination of the two. Many years later, I auditioned for my high school musical theatre program with his song and little did I know that I had been playing in my own charades and it was only musical theatre that allowed me to confront those issues (discussed later). [BTW if anyone has a motorcycle and a leather jacket, I'd love to reenact the scene when Stephanie gets taken away from the gas station by "cool rider"]

Then something amazing happened! I went to see Beauty and the Beast on Broadway! That opened a new door. When I saw musical theatre live, I finally understood something. You can't lie when your in a musical. You can't lie when you sing. The need for singing comes from you soul and you can't lie from your soul (unless you truly believe what your singing). But look at RENT, despite all the deception that happens it's only when Roger and Mimi sing to each other, does all the truth come out. Sweet from Buffy the Vampire Slayer's musical episode even says something to that effect (and is the point of the episode that Buffy can no longer hide the fact that she is living in hell because she was in heaven)

My "charades": It was when I was performing in Little Shop that I realized I was gay. Because of the accepting environment of the cast of MT, I was able to accept myself for who I was, and just like Seymour, come to terms with who I am (I just hope I don't get eaten by a big plant).

Then came Wicked. Taking one of my most beloved stories from childhood (I had even dedicated the month of May as a child to the Wizard of Oz), and giving it a new twist. The musical explores the friendship of GaLinda (The Good, of the North) and Elphaba (The "wicked" witch of the West). I found this musical when my own friendships were being tested and tried! When I finally saw the musical, I felt like I could never be the same person, because the story was so soul searching, that I can't even describe yet how it has moved me.

Granted, some musicals are purely entertainment: Legally Blonde comes to mind right away, but most have truly struck something deep within me. And in the words of Ariel, "Watch and you'll see, one day I'll be, part of your world!"

 

(As Always, these aren't my pictures)

Julius Caesar

This past summer I got to spend a glorious week in the NYC metro area. I partied the weekend away and saw two Free Shakespeare Shows.

I saw Julius Caesar performed Gorilla Style by the Gorilla Repertory Theatre. It was performed WAY uptown near the Cloisters. It took about an hour on metro just to get up there, but it was worth it. This Gorilla style was performed in a beautiful setting in a park. There were many different playing areas, but the three most powerful were: the cliff walk way - used in a vital into scene where the conversation began  before the audience could see the actors, so it truly felt like we were eves dropping on a scene; the stair - two stories high at least, was used to make powerful statements about power and its inequities; and the tunnel - again, another long walk way that really made it seem that we were eves dropping.

The cast of mostly men were powerful and moving, and didn't allow this sometimes slow moving play to drag.

I was worried about not sitting in a seat to experience theatre, but because each scene took place in a different location, I wasn't on the ground too much, and there were lots of leaning places.

I hope that next summer, I'll be able to catch another show by them.

Much Ado About Nothing

So I saw a bunch of plays in my quest to see all of Shakespeare, before I started the blog, so I'll back track and review them.

On August 28, 2009 I saw Much Ado About Nothing at Olney Theatre. This was another free performance (a preview). It was supposed to be outside, but Hurricane Daniel pushed it inside, I assume this space was once a barn.

The show was standard good. Nothing to write home about.

Much Ado is about the misunderstanding and eves droppings that occur around two sets of lovers: Claudio/Hero, Benedict/Beatrice; with a minor plot involving Jon the Bastard (the Prince's brother); and random guards-men.

Much Ado in general, although a good plot, lacks a certain something that I like about Shakespearean comedies (It has all the grace and charm of Midsummer but lacks fairies). I'm not sure what it's missing, but hopefully by the time I've seen all of Shakespeare, I'll have a more defined view of it.

As for the performance itself, like I said, it was generally good, with no one thing standing out as great/amazing. There was a surprise of double casting the Prince and the Bastard. It took a few moments before I realized he wasn't the same person (and I'm highly familiar with the play). But after it was understood, the transitions between characters were clear.

All-in-all I'm happy this was a free event.

Taming of the Shrew

Wow! Just Wow!

The Shakespeare Theatre Company STC, presents their 20th season of "Free For All" and what a 20th is was!!!!

Last night, in my quest to see all of Shakespeare, I saw this production of Taming of the Shrew. And it was probably one of the best performances of not only free Shakespeare, but any Shakespeare, I've ever seen!

I'd like to reflect on one down side, then move to the Amazingness of the rest of the play. The set. Although it was beautiful, it was reflective (think department store storefront windows with mirrors behind them). I just personal don't like being able to see the audience. Also, something the theatre couldn't help, I was quite literally surrounded by people using listening devices; so I would hear the actors on stage and then a second delay, I'd hear them again in my neighbors ears :(

But now to what worked! The chemistry between all the actors! This is what really made the play amazing. Even the energy of the ensemble seemed to mesh well to make this a great experience.

Senor Babtista was a loving father throughout, wanting only the best for his daughters. While a plethora of guys (three of way varying ages) woo his youngest daughter; the highly attractive  Bianca; Petruchio tries to tame Kate into a more obedient wife. With very few subplots to keep tract of, this Shakespeare story is simple and easy to follow.

The play calls for quick wit and a decisive tongue.  And the actors playing Petruchio and Katherine (Kate) was amazing! When their characters first met, the actors were given the task to continue to deliver Shakespearean text while having a physical fight, and making it all funny! Every slap, every kick, every thing, was just perfectly timed to get the most laughs!

If you're in the DC area, I recommend that you check this show out!