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June 2007
‘Seven Brides’ @ the Fox
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” Grade: B
8 tonight-Saturday. 2 p.m. Saturday. 1:30 and 7 p.m. Sunday. Theater of the Stars, Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. N.E., Midtown. 404-817-8700; ticketmaster.com.
The verdict: The best little Western musical in town.
If you want to see a creaky, old-fashioned musical get a rip-roaring physical and vocal workout, check out “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” at the Fox Theatre through Sunday.
The preposterously plotted, based-on-a-film, pre-“Brokeback” Western about the rough-hewn courtship of seven goofus mountain men and their willing women has turned Theater of the Stars’ 55th season opener into the summer’s most supremely likable family hoedown.
The all-new production somehow manages to gloss over the fact that the convoluted adaptation of Plutarch’s “Rape of the Sabine Women” has never been much of a contender in the musical-theater realm, despite some delightful tunes from the 1954 movie by Georgia lyricist Johnny Mercer and composer Gene De Paul.
Bless their beautiful hides, director Scott Schwartz and choreographer Patti Colombo deliver an exhilarating entertainment filled to the bursting point with athletic dancers, soaring singers and a seriously fine-looking ensemble of slap-happy cowpokes and pokettes.
Looking as tall as an Oregon evergreen, Adam Pontipee (Edward Watts) has no trouble seducing orphan mess cook Milly Bradon (Michelle Dawson) with his burnished mahogany baritone and form-fitting duds. He’s scruffy at first, but he sure cleans up nice. Yet instead of retiring to a blissful honeymoon under the whispering pines, poor Milly has to grab all six Pontipee bulls by the horns and rebrand them as eligible bachelors for the civilized belles of the nearby town.
Dawson is a divine soprano and terrific actress, and her Milly works wonders with the hungry and isolated Pontipee clan (“Goin’ Courtin’ ”). Not to short-change any of the able bride-actresses, but this show really is a vehicle for Adam, Milly and the Pontipee boys. As portrayed by a sextet of nimble character actors, each brother becomes a rich and indelible character study — from Karl Warden’s muscular, long-haired Daniel to Luke Longacre’s sweetly strapping Caleb to Christian Delcroix’s girlishly pretty Gideon.
Though Tuesday’s opening had a few distracting moments of slow-moving set pieces and wandering spotlights, Anna Louizos’ representations of the log-cabin landscape are nicely cushioned by John McLain’s lighting, and Jess Goldstein’s cowboy breeches and prairie gowns are fun and fetching.
But the real gift of this wedding banquet is the splendid choreography — a crazy quilt of high-kicking hootenanny steps, graceful ballet maneuvers (even by the giant male dancers) and splendid gymnastics involving backflips, somersaults and knockabout fight scenes. “The Challenge Dance” is designed to work the audience into a frenzy, which is exactly what happened Tuesday night.
In 1982, “Seven Brides” had the misfortune of arriving on Broadway at a time when Andrew Lloyd Webber was king. The show closed after five performances but has since staged a comeback as an unstoppable regional-theater fave. A co-production of New Jersey’s Paper Mill Playhouse, Houston’s Theatre Under the Stars and Boston’s North Shore Music Theatre, this version makes the case that “Seven Brides” is an underappreciated gem.
To paraphrase the song about the Roman women of yore, you may be sobbin’ if you don’t see it.
‘The Jammer’ @ Dad’s Garage
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW: “The Jammer” Grade: B-
8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays. Through July 14. $9-$24. Dad’s Garage, 280 Elizabeth St., Atlanta. 404-523-3141, dadsgarage.com.
The verdict: Roller derby play captures the hard-knock nature of life.
On the surface, Jack Lovington appears to be a bumbling fool. But there is poetry in his soul — and a trinity of conflicts piercing his heart.
There’s his girlfriend, Aurora. He thinks she’s beautiful, but his acquaintances call her “dog face” and wince at the sight of her photograph. There’s the Catholic Church, which has become an anchor for this orphan who works in a cardboard factory and moonlights as a taxi driver. And there’s his new love, which is fast pulling him away from his more sacred motives. Jack, as he confesses to his parish priest in the opening moments of “The Jammer,” has been Shanghaied by the thrill of roller derby, and he is about to embark on a journey that will take him far from his Brooklyn comfort zone.
Jack’s dilemma is the central premise of playwright Rolin Jones’ “five-stridin’ valentine” to skating, which Dad’s Garage is staging as “a violently funny roller derby drama.” To its credit, the production finds resident ham Tim Stoltenberg as Jack, a character who brings to mind Ignatius Reilly, the outrageous wiener vendor in John Kennedy Toole’s “A Confederacy of Dunces.” Ridiculous to the extreme, Jones’ play is a prototypical tale of initiation in which a naif character goes on a ramble to discover the world and in the process acquires his education.
True to form, director Kate Warner reaches for the most lunatic and depraved impulses of the ’50s-era script, with its procession of eccentrics: salty-tongued derby competitors, fast-talking sports announcers, desperado skating impresarios and dysfunctional clerics. When it comes to vomit, venereal disease and violence, nothing is off limits here. So if you’re thinking of taking your young skating aficionados to this show, you’ve been dutifully warned.
“The Jammer” is scabrous, hard-core, fascinating and funny.
The skating sequences are vintage Dad’s shtick: a combination of nimble actor-athletes and cardboard cutouts that get moved around by ensemble extras. It’s also chock-full of good performances that luxuriate in the essential weirdness of the material: Luis Hernandez as pigeon-petting Father Domingo, Randy Havens as commentator Bert Fineberg, Tiffany Morgan as femme fatale Lindy Batello and Enoch King as derby boss Lenny Ringle.
Unfortunately, some of the New York patois and ethnic dialects are a jumble of indecipherable speech. As much as you enjoy this 90-minute show, you may also find yourself wondering if the nuances aren’t buried in the collision of jokes and outsize showmanship. A little more restraint would heighten the emotional contours of this see-sawing comedic adventure.
Jones, a Pulitzer Prize finalist for “The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow,” is a virtuosic and original storyteller who seems as interested in the quiet questioning of the heart as the cacophony of nonsense that exists in the outside realm. A roller-derby rink may not be the most obvious place to conduct an investigation of grace. But as it turns out, skating is a nifty metaphor for the rough physics of life. Soaring, falling, then getting up again.
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THIS WEEK, WENDELL PICKS A MOVIE: “ShowBusiness”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
MOVIE REVIEW
“ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway” Grade: B+
Documentary. Directed by Dori Berinstein. Rated PG for language and some sexual references. At Landmark’s Midtown Art Cinema. 1 hour, 42 minutes.
The verdict: Bright lights, big drama. A delectable trip down Broadway.
Hindsight is 20-20 irony in Dori Berinstein’s new documentary about the 2003-2004 Broadway season. Take that choice moment when a pair of unknown musical-theater writers greet Boy George as he sneaks a cig outside the stage door of Rosie O’Donnell’s $10 million bomb, “Taboo.”
One of the young composers is star-struck by the flamboyant ’80s personality. Boy George, done up in ridiculous drag for his performance as club creature Leigh Bowery, is polite but slightly tuned out, so he barely notices when his fans mention they have their own little Broadway show playing down the street.
That would be “Avenue Q,” the naughty “Sesame Street” sendup that scored a Tony Award for best musical, even as “Taboo” went up in flames without a single Tony but with all the bitterness, backbiting and controversy that typify the Rosie touch.
For “ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway,” Berinstein couldn’t have picked a juicier or more important year to follow with a camera. Besides “Taboo” and “Avenue Q,” the film also chronicles with admirable objectivity the expensive commercial hit “Wicked” and Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori’s lovely but static “Caroline, or Change.”
While the “Wicked” producers boast about their $1 million-a-week box office during the brutal cold of winter, you can see them literally get fatter and fatter. And even the critics predict the “Wizard of Oz” back story will be a shoo-in for best musical, a la “Hairspray” and “The Producers.”
But the victory of the quirky puppet show “Avenue Q” over the jaw-dropping spectacle “Wicked” was a watershed moment that paved the way for unlikely hits such as “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” and this year’s sexually explicit “Spring Awakening,” which won the Tony for best musical.
“ShowBusiness” had no agenda but to record a straight-up account of the drama-within-the-drama, and the piece is a valentine to theater geeks everywhere.
Insiders will eat it up, even if there’s not a whole lot of new information, and savor such revelatory moments as Kristin Chenoweth saying she wants to be green like her “Wicked” co-star Idina Menzel — or Alan Cumming explaining to a fortuneteller who Sean “P. Diddy” Combs is. “Did he die?” the clueless clairvoyant says of the “Raisin in the Sun” lead actor, suggesting that not everyone follows showbiz like showbiz people do.
The camera catches it all: Director George C. Wolfe getting snippy with a child actor during a “Caroline” rehearsal. Boy George saying he had to restrain himself from punching out New York Post theater writer Michael Riedel, whom we get to see in perpetual gadfly mode. “Caroline” star Tonya Pinkins staging a comeback after losing custody of her children. “Taboo” star Euan Morton sporting a Scottish flag under his kilt on Tony night — and looking beaten-up and teary after the show closes prematurely.
But at the end of the day, the billion-dollar Broadway industry wouldn’t amount to a hill of beans if it weren’t for the fans. Live theater inspires the same magic, intensity and fanaticism as sports.
It may be hard to muster much excitement over “Wicked” producers Marc Platt and David Stone’s showing up at a CD signing to announce how their numbers “just keep climbing and climbing.” But there’s something about the red-faced blond boy choking back tears as he queues up to get autographs from the “Wicked” cast that you just can’t shake. Now that’s an indelible image. That’s what it’s all about, kid. That’s show business.
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How ‘Respect’ won mine
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When it comes to reviewing Atlanta theater, I’ll admit I’ve had something of a bias in favor of nonprofits.
Seems to me that a locally produced show, staged by artists with roots in this city, deserves a deeper investment than a commercial venture from out of town. I’m thinking in particular of some of the mediocre material that’s lately become a hallmark of the Woodruff Arts Center’s 14th Street Playhouse.
But after an overdue visit to Dorothy Marcic’s “Respect: A Musical Journey of Women” at the Midtown venue, I may have to rethink my decision-making process. When all is said and done, “Respect” is better entertainment than the New American Shakespeare Tavern’s “Cabaret” or Aurora Theatre’s “Camelot, ” which inaugurates that ensemble’s palatial new digs in Lawrenceville.
As a story, “Respect” —- which uses pop music to tell the story of American womanhood since the beginning of the 20th century —- is wafer-thin. Except for Marcic’s autobiographical persona, it’s really a pastiche: three women playing a variety of characters on a chronological trajectory across time. What delivers it from tedium are its first-rate performances and the joyful, infectious nature of the tunes, which range from “Hard-Hearted Hannah” to “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’.”
Here, then, is a brief look at these three very different musical offerings around town —- what works, what doesn’t, and how the resources of nonprofit theaters often don’t live up to expectations.
“Camelot”
By producing this Alan Jay Lerner/Frederick Loewe epic, Aurora means well. It’s a perfectly respectful, if somewhat unimaginative, beginning. But director Freddie Ashley is probably hamstrung in his casting. Producing artistic director Anthony Rodriguez, who often takes the lead in his own productions, plays King Arthur. When small ensembles attempt to mount sprawling productions, they often don’t have the money to hire uniformly excellent actors, so they make do the best they can. In this case, the Aurora doesn’t have a single Actors’ Equity player, and it kind of shows.
Through June 24. Aurora Theatre, 128 Pike St., Lawrenceville. 770-476-7926, www.auroratheatre.com.
“Cabaret”
When the secondary tale of Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz becomes more compelling than the story of Sally Bowles and Clifford Bradshaw, you know there’s a problem, old chum. This spotty offering left me wishing for a truly top-notch production of the John Kander and Fred Ebb classic. If the Alliance Theatre’s “Jacques Brel … ” proves alive and well on the Hertz Stage this fall, maybe artistic director Susan V. Booth will consider making the journey from Paris to Berlin. That said, the Tavern’s publike room is the perfect venue for this erotic romp.
Through July 1. New American Shakespeare Tavern, 499 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta. 404-874-5299, shakespearetavern.com.
“Respect”
The professionalism pays off here —- with fantastic performances by Atlanta actress Denitra Isler and out-of-towners Amy Miller Brennan, Cory A. Farinacci and Mary Kathryn Kaye. Playing historical figures like Rosa Parks and just regular gals trying to cope with life, these women have winning personalities and serious vocal chops. Which is always a good thing when taking on tunes sung by Doris Day, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Billie Holiday and Tammy Wynette. If you want my R-E-S-P-E-C-T, you’ve got to earn it. They do.
Open-ended run. 14th Street Playhouse, 173 14th St. in Midtown. 404-733-4750, www.14thstplayhouse.org. Author:
‘Servant’ has one true master: Lunacy
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“The Servant of Two Masters”
Grade: B
8 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and in rotating repertory with “Pericles” beginning June 28. Through July 28. $15-$40. Georgia Shakespeare, Conant Performing Arts Center, Oglethorpe University, 4484 Peachtree Road N.E., Atlanta. 404-264-0020; gashakespeare.org
The verdict: In its own galaxy of silliness.
Georgia Shakespeare never misses a chance to slather on the slapshtick, the clown shtick or any other kind of shtick having to do with the ridiculous conventions of commedia dell’arte.
A couple of summers ago, the company that was born in a tent returned to its circus roots with a reinvented “Comedy of Errors” that was a raucous parade of vagabond baton-twirlers, silly sobriquets and Harpo look-alikes. Before that, it was a Fellini-esque makeover of “The Taming of the Shrew.” Now guest director Dan McCleary uses banana peels and juggling drumsticks to yuk up the classic Carlo Goldoni farce “The Servant of Two Masters.”
Just when you think you’ve seen it all, along comes this out-of-control, Buster Keaton-meets-Roy Rogers riff on the tale of double-duping Truffaldino and his pair of foolishly misguided masters, Florindo and Beatrice. The freewheeling joke-within-a-joke gets off to its dubious beginning with a gag: A so-called “traveling” group of thespians has arrived on the Oglethorpe University campus to put on a 41/2-hour production of “Richard III.”
Uh-oh. Wrong show. The Shakespeare tragedy won’t happen here until October, and tonight’s ticket-holders are psyched for “Servant.” No problem, says Master of Revels Rob Cleveland. Thus begins this impromptu-looking makeover of a story pieced together a few hundred years ago by itinerant Italian performers who were improvisational commedians in their own right.
As the night lurches forth, it’s a conceit that marries ripped-from-the-headlines references to Paris Hilton, Alec Baldwin and Michael Vick with local gags about Decatur, Buckhead, Coca-Cola and Chick-fil-A.
Confused already?
I found myself alternately wishing these cutups would just get on with the Goldoni, then surrendering to the nonsense with helpless abandon, and secretly hoping I could return for a second look. On opening night, a power failure prompted the actors to move forward into the remaining available light — and heightened the feeling that they were indeed making it up as they went along. It was the perfect setup for Cleveland to open Act 2 with a joke about “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.”
Like some kind of deranged Janus head, Chris Ensweiler’s Truffaldino was a procession of split personalities, impersonating everyone from Nixon to the current president. Long considered one of the best comedians in town, Ensweiler outdoes himself here — giving one of the most outrageous and ingenious performances of the year. Daniel May, an actor who often gets cast in serious and intense roles, is in fine form as Florindo, “a simple cowboy from Honolulu,” who galumphs onstage like Roy Rogers astride an imaginary and very loose Trigger.
Also good are Crystal Dickinson as a voluptuous Mae West-style Brighella; Carolyn Cook as the trouser-wearing Beatrice; and Zechariah Pierce as a hyper-masculine Silvio (think Johnny Drama on steroids).
If you sit on the front row, you’ll want to beware the onstage trough of water, which becomes a punch-bowl repository for airborne props and other splashy shenanigans.
A wonderfully over-the-top homage to vaudeville and silent films, this “Servant” is a collision course of clowns, lunatics and flying drumsticks — so unforgivably bad that it’s kind of swell.
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BREAKING NEWS: Fennelly quits Express
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just eight months after being named artistic director of Actor’s Express, Bill Fennelly has resigned the Atlanta theater to pursue a New York project, and the Express board has chosen Alliance Theatre literary manager Freddie Ashley as Fennelly’s replacement.
Ashley, an up-and-coming Atlanta director and recent winner of a Charles Loridans Foundation “encouragement” grant for individual artists, is expected to join the edgy downtown ensemble July 9. Friday was Fennelly’s last day at the Express.
Fennelly, who is currently shepherding the new musical “Frankenstein” toward a fall off-Broadway opening and potential Broadway run, said he could not reconcile the demands of both jobs.
“These two things in my life were in conflict,” the 33-year-old Connecticut native said Friday, “and it was becoming painful for us to negotiate my time on this outside project, which I had before I interviewed for this job.”
“I think some people might think it’s a selfish decision,” he said of his unusually brief tenure. “I tried to do what was in the best interest of the company.”
His departure was not a surprise. In an April interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he said that the transition from the world of commercial theater to running a small non-profit organization had been stressful. Fund-raising was particularly intimidating, he said. “I’ve never had to raise anything more than my rent on a monthly basis,” the newcomer said at the time. Before coming to Atlanta, he was associate director of Broadway’s Tony Award-winning “Jersey Boys” and staged the national tour of Disney’s “The Lion King.”
“Bill made a very considered, heartfelt decision about what was in the best interest of Actor’s Express because of his great love and passion for the theater,” board chair Donna Darroch said, “and he had a previous commitment to this show that has fortunately morphed into an off-Broadway run.”
Ashley, 34, is the Express’ fourth director in seven years. Atlanta native Chris Coleman, who co-founded the company in 1988 with Harold Leaver, left for Portland’s Center Stage in 2000.
A finalist for Fennelly’s job in October, Ashley has no experience running a theater. “It’s a thrill and it’s scary,” he said, “but that’s outweighed by how exciting it is.”
“We just feel extremely fortunate that Freddie was still interested in joining us,” Darroch said. “The transition will feel extremely smooth because Freddie is already so much a part of Actor’s Express.”
Ashley, who grew up in Rome, Ga., has been in the Alliance’s literary department for seven years; prior to that, he was a buyer-bookkeeper for the theater’s scene shop. He has a theater degree from Shorter College and MFA in performance from the University of Southern Mississippi.
His professional directing debut was 2002’s “Lend Me A Tenor” at Aurora Theatre. Since then, he has directed all over town. Last season, Ashley staged the Express’ critically acclaimed “I Am My Own Wife” and its box-office hit “The Great American Trailer Park Musical.” His 2004 production of Theatre Gael’s “A Man of No Importance” was named one of the year’s best shows by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His “Camelot,” currently at the Aurora Theatre, was the inaugural show of the ensemble’s new Lawrenceville venue.
Coincidentally, Ashley had already been tapped to directed the Express’ 20th season opener, Carlos Murillo’s “dark play or stories for boys,” in September. He says he’d like to see Fennelly return to direct during the season.
In an interview Friday, Ashley said he’s aware the Express’ high turnover rate might be an obstacle to fund-raising. But he said his familiarity with Atlanta audiences gives him a headstart and that he has every intention of sticking around.
“I am in this for the long haul. I am invested in this community as an artist and I intend to invest in this theater … for years. It’s time this theater had a sustained period of leadership again.”
“I’m thrilled,” Fennelly added, “ because I think he much more than myself is a man of Atlanta. He’s very rooted in Atlanta, and I think that’s a very good thing for the next chapter of the Express.”
WENDELL’S WEEKEND PICK: ‘Respect’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. GRADE: B-
If you could pick one song as the soundtrack of your life, what would it be? Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive,” perhaps. The Gershwins’ “Someone to Watch Over Me,” maybe. How about Janis Joplin’s trademark “Piece of My Heart”?
Such is the premise of Dorothy Marcic’s “Respect: A Musical Journey of Women,” the jukebox revue on the 14th Street Playhouse mainstage that charts the history of the American female as a chronicle of hard work, disappointment, strength, integrity and love.
Marcic may not win a prize for her storytelling formula, in which an autobiographical character aligns her personal journey with a timeline of key moments in history that has all the panache of a grade-school textbook.
But the author, who has a background as a leadership-seminar instructor, has a way of interlacing show-business icons with figures from the social movement, so “Respect” ends up being as much about Donna Reed, Annette Funicello and Marilyn Monroe as it does Ida B. Wells, Rosa Parks and Betty Friedan.
If “Respect” is overloaded with Top 40 ditties about boy lust, it also has a few honest things to say about the immigrant experience, alcoholic husbands, single moms and the indomitable spirit of the female psyche. But instead of operating like a blistering social critique, it comes off as a warmhearted, generous and life-affirming piece of entertainment pie.
“Respect” — like the wildly popular Abba homage “Mamma Mia!” — isn’t intended as a showcase for sexy, Las Vegas-style performers, or at least not in this version by director Seth Greenleaf and choreographer Barbara Flaten.
Playing Marcic’s autobiographical Dorothy, Mary Kathryn Kaye exudes the polished professionalism of an infomercial host who can’t stop beaming about the truth and virtue of her product. This narrative adventure couldn’t possibly be as funny as giggly Dorothy seems to think it is, yet you can’t help getting sucked into the theatrical nonsense involving Betty Boop, Rosie the Riveter, “I Love Lucy” and Barbie.
As the threesome who perform most of the frenetically paced schtick, Amy Miller Brennan, Cory A. Farinacci and Denitra Isler are dynamos all: terrific singers with comedic brio and powerful acting kits. Farinacci is a petite but brassy belter (though an odd choice for depicting Monroe). Brennan is by turns giddy and heartbreaking (even as Betty Boop). And Isler gets to do a sequence on Rosa Parks (which feels a tad long and heavy-freighted).
Matching songs to their chronological place in time doesn’t seem to be Marcic’s strong suit. Rodgers and Hart’s “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” (1940), for instance, turns up in the section on the ’60s.
But she does make some salient but subtle points about the treatment of women down through the ages. In her grandmother’s day, she says, strong women were dismissed as mean. (Cue to “Hard-Hearted Hannah.”) And after battling for permission to vote and wear pants, the independent types were still criticized —for having the audacity to go to work. As campy as “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” sounds today, when it was first recorded, in 1966, it actually intimidated men, according to our narrator.
Featherweight though it may be, “Respect” honors the first tenet of musical theater. When there’s no other way to express an emotion, do a song. “Tall Paul.” “Animal Crackers in My Soup.” “Tain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do.” “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.” “I Am Woman.” “Bend Me, Shape Me.”
Part of the fun is guessing which tune will pop up next. Are you ready, girls?
THE 411: 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Open-ended. $39.50. 14th Street Playhouse, 173 14th St., Midtown. 404-733-4750; www.woodruff center.org/14thstplayhouse
THE VERDICT: Where the girls are: a giddy and infectious jukebox revue.
‘Cabaret’ @ Shakespeare Tavern
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. Grade: C-
The cast of the New American Shakespeare Tavern’s “Cabaret” deserves to be lined up and spanked.
Not for giving a bad performance. But for imbuing the seedy underbelly of 1930s Berlin with all the decadence and debauchery that made it such a fascinatingly taboo subject for novelist Christopher Isherwood and his autobiographical “Berlin Stories.”
At the naughty heart of John Kander and Fred Ebb’s 31-year-old musical is the Kit Kat Club, where an epicene emcee encourages bisexual nooky and frames the tale of lonely-hearts Sally Bowles and Clifford Bradshaw (Isherwood’s doppelganger). Sally is a sexually insatiable burlesque diva. Clifford is everybody’s boy-toy and the penniless writer with whom she shares a room.
Though the master of ceremonies (Jeff McKerley) assures us that the nightclub is a safety zone from the troubles of the outside world, it’s really a subterfuge for sinister politics and doomed romance. While Sally (Agnes Harty) and Clifford (Matt Nitchie) get tangled in their web of sexual co-dependency, their unmarried landlady, Fraulein Schneider (Ellen McQueen), is courted by an adoring old schnapps-breath named Herr Schultz (Clark Taylor).
To its credit, director Heidi Cline’s staging captures the suffocating sense of despair lurking under the carefree exterior. But this “Cabaret” often feels more like a really good dinner-theater production than a top-notch professional endeavor.
The Tavern’s intimate scale and cabaret-style atmosphere make it the ideal venue for the material, and some of the performances are quite entertaining. But no matter how much you admire the ensemble for experimenting outside the familiar Shakespeare canon, at three hours (including a 15-minute intermission), the show is long and frustratingly uneven.
Harty’s take on Sally is more that of bulldozing dominatrix than blithe-spirited tomboy and soul mate to Clifford. Harty’s big breakout numbers are dynamic, but her English accent is all over the map. Nitchie captures Clifford’s erotic confusion without ever being wispy, but in this roomful of outsize personalities, he fails to make much of an impression.
Oddly enough, the real standout here is McQueen as the shy, homely Fraulein Schneider (“So What?”), who so reluctantly falls for Herr Schultz and his gifts of oranges and pineapples (“It Couldn’t Please Me More”). Their sweet autumnal romance becomes the delicate counterweight for the sordid world swirling around them. With her low-pitched voice and quirky movement vocabulary, McQueen is the real deal. Drunk, giddy and perhaps not long for this world, Herr Schultz is reminiscent of the terminally ill but bubbly Otto in “Grand Hotel.”
You should also keep your eye on the sailor-baiting Fraulein Kost (LaLa Cochran, always a hoot) and the cunningly manipulative Ernst Ludwig (Jeff Watkins). As emcee, McKerley is low and lascivious —- an equal opportunity crotch grabber and provocateur. McKerley also choreographed the company’s dance moves, which are appropriately louche and only loosely Fosse-esque.
One interesting thing is the way some of the actors double as musicians. Thus you may see Watkins act out a scene and then stealthily move to the balcony to play the clarinet. The technique is vaguely reminiscent of John Doyle’s “Company” and “Sweeney Todd, ” though not as streamlined.
If in the end this “Cabaret” is a disappointing, the ensemble seems to be having a rollicking good time, yet the darker elements of Isherwood’s story never get lost in the merriment. By insisting that you not sit alone in your room, the emcee really is a prophet of doom.
THE 411: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 6:30 p.m. Sundays. Through July 1. $10-$32. New American Shakespeare Tavern, 499 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta. 404-874-5299, shakespearetavern.com.
THE VERDICT: Uneven, but packs a punch.
And the Tony goes to …
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday night’s Tony Awards confirmed what true theater believers have been saying for years. American theater is smart, relevant and teeming with fresh ideas.
With multiple wins for Tom Stoppard’s sprawling “The Coast of Utopia” trilogy (seven Tonys ) and the glorious alternative rock musical “Spring Awakening” (eight), there was evidence that the art form is experiencing a renaissance.
“Now let’s have no more nonsense about the state of the American theater,” said “Utopia” director and Tony winner Jack O’Brien of the ambitious project, which was produced in repertory at Lincoln Center Theatre. O’Brien even hinted that the New York landmark should be rechristened the national theater.
“Spring Awakening,” Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik’s bristling and energetic makeover of German playwright Frank Wedekind’s 1891 classic of teen angst, won best musical, plus awards for best original score and book and an acting award for John Gallagher Jr., who plays the character Moritz — the one with the spiked hair.
“Musical theater rocks,” said Sheik, picking up his award for best score with co-winner and lyricist Sater. “I am so, so proud to be a part of the American theater,” Sater said in a heartfelt speech, collecting his medallion for best book.
Michael Mayer, the show’s director, praised his parents for accepting him. “I’m one of the lucky ones. I had parents I could talk to,” Mayer said. In “Spring Awakening,” a group of teenagers are vilified by parents and teachers for trying to express their pent-up sexual feelings. Mayer, who is openly gay, said he once awoke to find a copy of Judy Garland’s “Judy at Carnegie Hall” on his pillow.
The awards ceremony, presented at Radio City Music Hall, brooked few surprises, although the cast of “Spring Awakening” performed a raucous medley that didn’t flinch from using the “B” word from the show’s big song, “The B—— of Living.”
The message of acceptance reverberated throughout the three-hour broadcast, and the night was delightfully sprinkled with quirky diva performances and acceptance speeches. “I’m over the hill in the show of a lifetime,” said Christine Ebersole, who won best actress-musical for “Grey Gardens.”
“This is for the Edies,” she said, referring to her character. “May they live in our hearts for ever.”
The show never lacked energy, but it’s true wake-up call came from “Grey Gardens” star Mary Louise Wilson, who won in the featured actress category for her portrayal as the aging Big Edie Beale. “Everybody’s been so articulate,” Wilson said. She then leaned her head back and let out a roaring whoop that sounded like a hog call.
Among the memorable moments, Ben Vereen saluted his “godson,” Atlanta’s Usher, for making his Broadway debut in “Chicago.” Ebersole warbled Little Edie Beale’s fashion manifesto from “Grey Gardens.” “Spring Awakening” choreographer Bill T. Jones literally danced on stage. Best actor-play Frank Langella (“Frost/Nixon”) gave a passionate speech about the majesty of theater. And best actress-play Julie White (“The Little Dog Laughed”) lost her stuff — “I can’t feel my hands. Is that a bad thing?” — then rebounded to give one of the funniest speeches of the night.
“I played a hideous agent, and my agent has never been hideous — to my face,” said the astonished winner.
“Let’s talk about the people who are not here,” choreographer Jones said in what seemed poised to be a political tirade. “Some above. Some probably below. Anyway, you know who you are.” Jones concluded by thanking his lover. “I am a happy man.” Making an appearance to plug his show, composer John Kander said: “Our show ‘Curtains’ is a kind of valentine to the world of musical theater that Fred Ebb and I were allowed to live in for 40 years.”
Scooping up his award for featured actor in “Spring Awakening,” quavery-voiced John Gallagher Jr. quoted his character Moritz: “Truly, truly, truly, heaven must feel like this.” Film star Billy Crudup, who won for his featured performance in “The Coast of Utopia,” seemed grateful just for having his name pronounced correctly. (It’s “crude-up.”)
The show opened with the cast of “A Chorus Line” singing in front of Radio Music Hall — and continued with a clever conceit from “A Chorus Line,” now in revival on Broadway: The musical’s domineering director character (Michael Berresse) calling places and announcing presenters as if they were trying out for his next hit, The Tonys.
In the pre-telecast, Bob Crowley — who won for scenic design of both a play (“The Coast of Utopia”) and musical (“Mary Poppins”) — said that he must have “swallowed” the Blarney Stone . “I’m completely gob-smacked,” said the British artist who took home a Tony for last year’s “The History Boys.”
Among other important winners: Stephen Sondheim’s “Company” won for musical revival, and, in an upset, David Hyde Pierce beat Raul Esparza to take the best acting award in a musical for “Curtains.”
My take on the Tonys — now what do you think?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ON TELEVISION. “The 61st Annual Tony Awards” 8-11 p.m. Sunday on CBS
A musical about sexually curious German youth will rock the house, and a nine-hour trilogy about Russian intellectuals will play like caviar and vodka. At least, that’s what I hope happens at this year’s Tony Awards, which are to be handed out tonight in New York.
This may be the year 2007, but the musical and play with the most nominations, “Spring Awakening” and “The Coast of Utopia,” are firmly grounded in the 19th century, proof perhaps that contemporary culture hasn’t lost touch with the fullness of history and literature.
Oh, I suppose we ’60s children could muster at least a spoonful of sugar for “Mary Poppins.” But a best-musical honor for Disney’s family musical would be supercali-unacceptable.
Ditto a best-play win for August Wilson’s “Radio Golf.”
The late dramatist’s final work deserves a silent tribute for the undiminished eloquence of his unprecedented 10-play cycle as a whole. And I hope to goodness that Anthony Chisholm or John Earl Jelks, who are competing against each other as featured actors, will win. But giving “Radio Golf” the best-play honor could send a false signal, I believe.
Of course, the thought process of every awards-giving institution I can think of — from the Oscars to the Pulitzers — is shot through with politics, commercialism, sentimentality, self-aggrandizement and sour grapes. That’s exactly why they exist in their own special galaxy — so maddening, so exciting, so glamorous.
As is often the case, the Broadway buzz has a southward spin this season. So don’t tell me Atlanta has no theater royalty.
As the Alliance Theatre picks up its Regional Tony Award, the city should also keep an eye on “Radio Golf,” because hometown director Kenny Leon staged it. “Driving Miss Daisy” author Alfred Uhry wasn’t nominated for “LoveMusik,” but the off-kilter love story about German composer Kurt Weill and his wife drew a respectable four nods. And Atlanta native Dana Ivey, the original Miss Daisy and Tony Award winner for Uhry’s “The Last Night of Ballyhoo,” is up again for the revival of “Butley.”
So here we are, poised to gather in front of the TV and toss bouquets — and perhaps a rotten tomato or two — at the winners and losers of the 61st annual Antoinette Perry Awards. Here are my thoughts. Please weigh on this blog with yours.
Best musical
John Kander and Fred Ebb’s “Curtains” no doubt has its charm, and No. 17 Cherry Tree Lane hasn’t been the same since the arrival of one Miss Mary Poppins. But this year, theater mavens have been clucking over the arrival of two genuinely fresh musical-theater offerings. Both “Grey Gardens” (based on the film documentary about Jackie Kennedy’s eccentric cousins) and “Spring Awakening” (adapted from a once-scandalous 1891 classic by German Frank Wedekind) are worthy of Tonys. But my vote goes to “Spring Awakening,” which is absolutely irresistible from start to finish.
Best original score
With “Spring Awakening,” alt rocker Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater (book and lyrics) have penned a collection of tunes as sharp and piercing as a punk rocker’s safety pins.
Best play
Tom Stoppard’s “The Coast of Utopia” may strain a bit in the middle, but it’s a remarkable achievement that makes the other nominees (“Frost/Nixon,” “Radio Golf” and “The Little Dog Laughed”) look pale by comparison.
Best revival of a musical
I suspect that John Doyle’s stylish revival of Sondheim’s “Company” will win. But for my money, “A Chorus Line” is a better revival. (Also nominated: “110 in the Shade” and “The Apple Tree,” starring Tony contender Audra McDonald.)
Best revival of a play
I would probably go with Eric Bogosian’s scabrous, pungent and creepily up-to-the-minute “Talk Radio,” starring the scabrous, pungent and creepily up-to-the minute Liev Schreiber. But by all accounts, “Journey’s End,” R.C. Sherriff’s 1928 study of wartime claustrophobia, is superb and will probably take the Tony.
Lead actor in a musical
Raúl Esparza will probably win for his star turn in “Company,” but my vote goes to Michael Cerveris, for fully inhabiting the peculiarities of Kurt Weill in “LoveMusik.”
Lead actress in a musical
Christine Ebersole, for “Grey Gardens,” in which she plays Edith Bouvier Beale and daughter Little Edie. Prepare yourself for her performance tonight of “The Revolutionary Costume for Today.”
Lead actor in a play
Frank Langella, who plays the impeached president in “Frost/Nixon,” faces tough competition in Schreiber and Brian F. O’Byrne (“Utopia”), but Langella is the genuine article.
Lead actress in a play
Vanessa Redgrave (“The Year of Magical Thinking”). Angela Lansbury (“Deuce”). Swoosie Kurtz (“Heartbreak House”). That’s pretty tall company. But I have a feeling the medallion will go to Eve Best, who apparently makes mincemeat of Kevin Spacey in “A Moon for the Misbegotten.”
Direction of a musical
Michael Mayer, for his spare, uncluttered and inventive staging of “Spring Awakening.”
Direction of a play
Jack O’Brien should win for the sprawling and gorgeously designed “Coast of Utopia.”
Choreography
Bill T. Jones, for fusing punk menace with the urgency of adolescent desire in “Spring Awakening.” His choreography will make your hair stand straight up.
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‘Camelot’ @ Lawrenceville’s new Aurora
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. Grade: B -
Merlin himself couldn’t have summoned a feat of magic as nifty as this.
After operating for years in a cavelike former hardware store in Duluth, Aurora Theatre has entered its “Camelot” phase.
With producing artistic director Anthony Rodriguez wearing King Arthur’s bejeweled crown and associate producer Ann-Carol Pence counting time backstage as musical director, the theater unveiled its opulently appointed $3.5 million space Saturday night in downtown Lawrenceville.
“I would like to welcome you to your new Aurora Theatre,” marketing director Al Stilo said in a brief but buoyant speech just seconds before the curtain went up on the Alan Jay Lerner-Frederick Loewe classic. “How do you like it?”
To be honest, sir, we like it very much.
Judging from this ambitious first production—which boasts an 18-member ensemble, an eight-piece orchestra and a new degree of design elegance—the Aurora is off to a bright and shining beginning in its handsome castle.
The audience is sitting in the palm of its hands. What remains is for the chatty, hard-working Rodriguez and Pence to elevate their artistic product to a level of excellence that matches their remarkably successful approach to community-building. It’s up to this energetic, homespun bunch of thespians to give Gwinnett County a professional playhouse that can hold its own with the best in Atlanta.
Toward that end, director Freddie Ashley’s “Camelot” sets the stage nicely and tunefully. It’s a sturdy take on a somewhat stodgy show.
Though the Arthurian legend is a fusty affair that begs for a little fresh air, we’ll have to wait for that pre-Raphaelite makeover (Fiona Leonard’s costumes are standard-issue Elizabethan) or that radical new political gender-bender. (The betrayal of King Hillary, anyone?)
The good news is that Lerner and Loewe’s catchy songs have withstood the vagaries of time and fashion, and set designers Patrick Campbell and Geoffrey Brown offer a lovely background of soaring arches hung with tapestries — all lit to a sumptuous glow by Rob Dillard.
Among actors, Rodriguez plays the accidental king with the built-in vulnerability and melancholy pre-ordained by Merlin (Tony Brown). Marcie Millard’s Guenevere is earthy and endearing, though a little mismatched for statuesque Lancelot (Bradley Bergeron).
As the French knight and duplicitious friend of Arthur, Bergeron has a beautiful tenor voice and a commanding presence. He’s easily the best singer in the company and the sexiest leg of the love triangle, but the spark between this Lance and this Guen never quite ignites.
And even though Brandon O’Dell gets to wear the coolest tights and tunic in Camelot, he doesn’t seem to have the serpentine edge for the vicious Mordred. That said, Daniel Burnley makes for a perfectly crusty Pellinore. Ensemble member Ricardo Aponte lights up the room with his sunny smile and nimble footwork (he also doubles as choreographer). And Edward Sneed gives one singularly enchanting solo.
The thought of building a new theater and mounting a complicated first production at the same time makes the mind reel. Talk about a sword in a stone.
“Camelot” may not be a perfect offering, but it’s a well-intentioned and spirited adventure. Arthur didn’t ask to be king, and he was plagued by insecurities and self-doubt. But his ideals of peacemaking and fairness remain essential to this day.
And as for the new Aurora, it’s a theater fit for a king. As the song says: “There’s simply not a more congenial spot for happily-ever-aftering than here in Camelot.”
THE 411: 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays. 2:30 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays. Through June 24. $18-$25. Aurora Theatre, 128 Pike St., Lawrenceville. 770-476-7926; auroratheatre.com
THE VERDICT: A shining achievement.
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Weekend pick: ‘Charm School’ @ Horizon
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. Grade: B
We could all use a visit to “Charm School,” the diversity training seminar where the characters in Larry Larson and Eddie Levi Lee’s new comedy are banished to learn the etiquette of the politically correct.
In the case of Raymond Saunders, a beer-swigging, joke-loving redneck from Macon, the visit to Diversity Training International in Seattle is tantamount to a weeklong stay in Purgatory. Though Ray claims his heart is pure, and we are prone to believe him, he’s in hot water for telling a racially offensive joke at the bakery-supply company where he works. Rather than fire this likable guy on the verge of retirement, his boss, Joe, decides to join him at the retreat.
Now running at Horizon Theatre and starring the legendary writing team of Lee and Larson as Ray and Joe, respectively, “Charm School” is a delicately nuanced investigation into the human side of a hotly debated, politically charged topic. Larson and Lee wisely refrain from judging their characters — opting instead to capture their comic vulnerability and queasy, soul-searching ambivalence.
The point of this funny, provocative play is that language once deemed harmless can now be considered tasteless, inappropriate and offensive in the court of public opinion. As the play points out again and again, one man’s bonhomie is another’s call to arms.
Anyone who’s ever sat through a diversity session will recognize the fictional DTI, with its break-off encounters, role-playing and cocktail hour. And then there’s facilitator Carol (magnificently played by Yvonne Singh), who must alternately play the part of referee, camp counselor and PC spokesmodel. Though Carol’s goal seems to be to remain in control at all times, her subtle-to-a-fault body language gives her away every time. “We’re getting to it, people!” Carol enthuses after one particularly intense moment. “We are getting to the heart of it!” Her self-congratulatory air is spot-on.
In a series of miniature vaudevilles that break up the narrative, Neal Hazard and Megan Hayes perform skits that at first appear to be a part of the training but eventually morph into their own theatrical world. To the audience, the vignettes progress from the raucously funny to the awkward and unforgivable. And to Ray, there’s an additional level of discomfort when seminar employees Rob (Hazard) and Donna (Hayes) reveal that they are married in real life. Rob, you see, is black and Donna is white.
As the tension builds, Ray won’t apologize for his unfortunate comments because he doesn’t think he did anything wrong. Joe doesn’t want to can Ray because he’s like a surrogate father. Yet he has a responsibility to protect his other employees and his company’s integrity. Larson and Lee, to their credit, don’t let us off easily. Each man remains true to his motives, and there is no unequivocal answer to their dilemma.
Imperfect as the argument it presents, “Charm School” runs about 20 minutes longer than it should. And some of the offstage family business involving Ray’s wife, Joe’s father and conference attendee Sheila’s (Ann Wilson) personal struggles make it feel a little more cluttered than necessary. But it is a smartly conceived piece of writing, uniformly well acted and directed by Jeff and Lisa Adler.
And it’s a welcome addition to an important national debate — the same one that’s cropped up in the Don Imus controversy and has been bandied about in such recent plays as August Wilson’s “Radio Golf” on Broadway and Lydia R. Diamond’s “Stick Fly” at True Colors Theatre. As Ray says, “How can you talk about the word without saying the word?”
Ray argues that in our quest for sensitivity and fear of confrontation, we sanitize our conversation of all playfulness, spontaneity and truth. Carol thinks that tiny transgressions can lead to more monstrous ones. That both characters are right is a tribute to this marvelous little play’s spirit of generosity and forgiveness.
THE 411: 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Fridays; 8:30 p.m. Saturdays; 5 p.m. Sundays. Through June 24. $20-$25. Horizon Theatre, 1083 Austin Ave., Little Five Points. 404-584-7450, horizontheatre.com.
THE VERDICT: An important play about the PC debate. It charms and alarms.
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