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Thursday, August 16, 2007
WENDELL’S WEEKEND PICK: ‘Annie Get Your Gun’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. Grade: B. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays. 2:30 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays. 10 a.m. Aug. 22. Through Sept. 9. $18-$25. Aurora Theatre, 128 Pike St., Lawrenceville. 678-226-6222; auroratheatre.com. Bottom line: A sure shot.
To modern listeners, Ethel Merman can be a campy ear-full. Not everything about her was appealing, to paraphrase “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” her signature song from “Annie Get Your Gun.”
For most folks, Merman’s sandblasted version of that anthem to vaudeville rings truer to Vegas and Disney than Annie Oakley and Buffalo Bill, the sharp-shooting tomboy and Wild West impresario at the core of the Irving Berlin classic.
But to hear Aurora Theatre’s delightful staging of the 1946 masterpiece is to forget The Merm and wallow in the giddy romance and corn-pone silliness of the creaky plot — originally penned by Herbert and Dorothy Fields and updated by Peter Stone for the 1999 Broadway revival starring Bernadette Peters.
For the opening of Aurora’s first season in its gleaming new Lawrenceville home, director Susan Reid packs a marvelously effective pistol — nailing the details of the sprawling, overstuffed, old-fashioned show as handily as Annie dispatching her multitudes of clay pigeons.
You know you’re in for some bodacious entertainment the second Frank Butler (Rob Lawhon) steps into the spotlight for the first number: a plaintive, no-frills version of “There’s No Business Like Show Business.” Lawhon, who captured the soul of Hank Williams in Theatrical Outfit’s “Lonesome Highway” a couple of years ago, is a top-notch vocalist with a slight twang and lady-killing hangdog looks.
Before Annie (Natasha Drena) galumphs into view, and even for a good spell afterward, the coquettish Dolly Tate (Barbara Cole Uterhardt) tries to finagle her way into the saddle with Frank. But by simply “Doin’ What Comes Naturally,” Annie lassos Frank with her earnest heart, vivacious country personality and competitive edge. What makes their on-again, off-again courtship so sparky is their unwavering thirst to win. Anything she can do, he can do better. And vice versa. Eventually, there’s got to be a draw.
Drena is a wonderfully fresh presence and sure-shot comedian. But for the better part of Act One, her voice seemed slight and slow to warm, even on the more lyrical tunes like “Moonshine Lullaby”and “They Say It’s Wonderful.” Happily, by the time she stepped to the edge of the stage for “I’ve Got the Sun in the Morning,” she had found her footing. She was sunny, yes. And pretty, too. Newly returned from her European tour, hayseed Annie has been transformed into an Eliza Doolittle-style almost-princess.
Among the numerous supporting players, Geoff Uterhardt gets high marks for making Charlie Davenport such an irrepressible clown (note the red bowler), and Barbara Cole Uterhardt’s Dolly makes for a deliciously frustrated hussy. As Buffalo Bill, Anthony Rodriguez is so loud he doesn’t need a microphone, and his dancing stands out — but only because it’s not nearly as kicky as that of his more nimble ensemble members. As Sitting Bull, Spencer Stephens’ comedic timing is on, but his Native American accent is off.
Despite such minor quibbles, “Annie Get Your Gun”comes off as a high-caliber and wholly enjoyable production. Bob Hoffman’s scenery is fantastic. Amanda Sutt’s costumes are splendid. And music-director Ann-Carol Pence coaxes lovely sounds from her seven-member orchestra.
At the end of the night, what stays with you is the sheer beauty of Berlin’s score. “Annie Get Your Gun” is one of the best musicals in the American repertory, and Aurora does a bang-up job of hitting every emotional target.
‘The Persians’ @ Theatre in the Square
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. Grade: C+ 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays. 2:30 and 7 p.m. Sundays. 2:30 p.m. Sept. 19. Through Sept. 23. $18-$33. Theatre in the Square, 11 Whitlock Ave., Marietta. 770-422-8369; theatreinthesquare.com. Bottom line: A strange brew.
The young king rules the richest and most powerful nation on earth. But that is not enough. Just like his father before him, he insists on invading an enemy state, and soon “thousands upon thousands” are dead, and his own people have turned against him and his bloody war.
Uh-oh. You know what they say about history repeating itself. George W. Bush would seem to have plenty in common with Xerxes, the leader of Persia’s army, who finds himself vilified at home after failing to conquer the Greeks.
In a canny bit of programming, Theatre in the Square opens its 26th season with Aeschylus’ “The Persians,” a 2,500-year-old study of hubris, humiliation and revenge that is said to be the oldest surviving play in Western civilization.
Adapted by Ellen McLaughlin and directed by John Ammerman, “The Persians” cracks open a time capsule from an ancient culture to discover an exotic world of rituals, dreams and soothsaying. While never altogether successful, what fascinates about “The Persians” is the way the ensemble creates an eccentric vocabulary of ceremonial mannerisms, movement and speech.
As imagined here, the Persians wear exotic silks (by Joanna Schmink) and loll in vast public spaces where the sun’s glare and the desert winds are harsh. Set designer Dex Edwards creates an elemental atmosphere where time is measured from a kind of inverted hourglass of trickling, blood-red sand.
Inured to the folly of their greed and empire-building, the Persians worship a dead king (Gary Yates), a queen (Jen Harper) and the king’s heir, Xerxes (Travis Smith), as descendants of the gods. But the citizens’ self-congratulatory mood is shattered once the queen begins to have portentous dreams about their symbolic bird (an eagle, no less) and a messenger (Rich Remedios) flies in from Greece with news of the staggering defeat.
Though the acting alternates between the precious and the histrionic, some of the performers embroider golden filigree from Aeschylus’ immortal poetry.
In particular, Harper makes for a fiercly withering queen, and newcomer John Basiulis (as the general and admiral) attacks his characters with a magnificently sonorous voice. Though Ammerman smartly refrains from underlining the parallels between Persia and present-day America, it’s amusing to hear Xerxes speak in a kind of slow, Southern drawl.
Too bad, then, that “The Persians” often feels like a graduate exercise in the classics. That said, professor Ammerman and his students work at a very high level, crafting images that are as weird as they are indelible. Barren and betrayed, the grief-striken Persians express their rage by hissing and clicking at the gods — a sign, perhaps, that the day of the locusts has arrived.
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