Thursday, February 14, 2019
Review: RAGTIME Revival Couldn't Come at a Better Time
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| Bryce Charles and Clifton Duncan. Photo by Jenny Graham |
How do you scale down an epic musical like Ragtime for a smaller stage and a different time? When it opened at the Shubert Theatre in Century City in 1997, the cast numbered nearly fifty, the same as it would for its Broadway debut later that year. The stage was enormous and the production filled every inch of it. I still remember how the sheer volume of the choral numbers gave me chills.
For the revival at Pasadena Playhouse, director David Lee has a different spin. Instead of going big, he goes smaller - not tiny, but everything is scaled down by half to fit the Playhouse. Using twenty actors who cover multiple roles on a more compact, compartmentalized set, he offers us a view of early American history from the storage boxes of a museum. (Think Ben Stiller’s Night at the Museum franchise but serious.)
A miniature replica of Father and Mother’s house on the hill in New Rochelle emerges from the top of a stack of crates. Down below, a tiny model of the ship that Father and Admiral Byrd will set sail on for their adventure to the North Pole slips out. And, in between, a swing drops from the ceiling, a piano rolls on from the wings and a coffin sinks into the floor. Tom Buderwitz’s scenic design is full of smart visual shorthand that pops out of the shadows when Jared A. Sayeg hits them with light. (His transition marking Tateh’s arrival with his daughter is simple but stunning.)
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| Photo by Nick Agro |
In this semi-Vaudevillian structure, the realism of the story’s vignettes unfold. All that’s missing are the implied subtitles: Mother Finds Baby Buried in Flower Garden, Coalhouse Goes to New Rochelle, Immigrant Almost Loses Daughter in Riot. With the focus squarely on the characters, the melting pot of New York City at the turn of the twentieth century springs to life and, along with them, their hopes, heartaches and challenges.
It’s an intriguing idea to look backward from the lens of today only to realize how little we’ve actually accomplished in our progress as human beings. Immigrants are still looked down upon, racism continues to rear its ugly head, and the benefits of white privilege are still guarded by those who fear change. Terrence McNally weaves these themes together in his adaptation of E.L Doctorow’s novel for the stage, musicalized so beautifully by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. No one will argue that the score is absolutely gorgeous.
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| Photo by Jenny Graham |
Mother (Shannon Warne) quietly struggles to find purpose in her comfortable but sheltered life while Father’s (Zachary Ford) adventures and strict adherence to the way things have always been reveal he is out of step with the changing world. Younger Brother (Dylan Saunders) is desperate for something to believe in and when his obsession with the bombshell Evelyn Nesbit (Katharine McDonough) ends in rejection, it is the anarchist Emma Goldman (Valerie Perri) who replaces the fire in his belly, setting him on a collision course with Coalhouse Walker (Clifton Duncan), a smooth-talking ragtime pianist and ladies’ man.
Coalhouse doesn’t know his sweetheart Sarah (Bryce Charles) has given birth to his son, only that she has disappeared. Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Tateh (Marc Ginsburg) a Jewish widower and his Little Girl (Iara Nemirovsky) arrive fresh off the boat, clutching their dreams as tightly as each other. As their stories begin to converge, this powerhouse of a show does what musical theatre does best - move you - in outrage, in frustration, and ultimately in a joyful affirmation of the future.
Beyond looking the part (Kate Bergh’s costumes for Mother are exquisite, parasol and all) Warne anchors the show with grace and adds subtlety to a role that relies on the actress who plays it to fill in the subtext and make it sing. She does. Ginsburg’s dramatic turn as Tateh is some of the best work he’s done in Los Angeles and Dylan Saunders as Younger Brother makes his featured role one of the most memorable of the night. It’s another case of an actor getting inside the head of a character and giving the audience something they didn’t expect.
The monumental job of making the music soar goes to music director and conductor Darryl Archibald. Even though the Playhouse’s stage has been known to swallow the sound (and it does so occasionally in this production), the music still takes flight and delivers its emotional punch when it counts.
As a country, we will always be a patchwork of people coming together to make the most of our disparate parts. Even now, over a century later, we struggle to get it right. If Ragtime shows us anything about ourselves it is that there is work yet to be done. Pasadena Playhouse’s revival couldn’t come at a better time.
RAGTIME: THE MUSICAL
February 5 - March 9, 2019
Pasadena Playhouse
39 South El Molino Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91101
Tickets: 626-356-7529 or www.pasadenaplayhouse.org
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| L-R: Candace Washington, Clifton Duncan, Cornelius Jones Jr. and Bryce Charles. Photo by Jenny Graham |
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| Bryce Charles. Photo by Jenny Graham |
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| Photo by Nick Agro |
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| Clifton Duncan, Valerie Perri, and Dylan Saunders. Photo by Nick Agro |
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| Marc Ginsburg. Photo by Jenny Graham |
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| Candance Washington, Clifton Duncan, and Cornelius Jones Jr. Photo by Jenny Graham |
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| Photo by Jenny Graham |
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Labels: pasadena playhouse
Wednesday, February 13, 2019
Review: WITNESS UGANDA, Changing the World One Life at a Time
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| The cast of Witness Uganda |
The need for human connection runs deep in Witness Uganda, a musical by Griffin Matthews and Matt Gould based on Matthews’ real-life experiences in Uganda. At its center is the idea that we are all part of a global family – one world, one heart – connected by an invisible thread that never lets go.
That may sound a bit lofty but the musical was born out of a sincere desire to make a difference by raising money for the couple’s Uganda Project, a nonprofit organization that funds education for students in one of the world’s most impoverished countries. Proof of the good they’ve done can be seen today in the youths whose lives have been changed by their efforts. According to the organization’s website, success stories include a doctor, a nurse, several computer experts, and one young man who opened his own non-profit that supports Ugandan orphans.
It all started in 2005 when Matthews, an unemployed actor, traveled to Uganda on a volunteer mission, in part, to prevent his church community from finding out he was gay. His destination wasn’t an obvious one, given that the persecution homosexuals face in Uganda can be sizable. But, when the universe delivers an opportunity, it often does so without giving you enough time to second guess yourself. All it really requires is a leap of faith, and Matthews was ready to take it. So, Witness Uganda is his story.
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| Jamar Williams and the ensemble |
Like any original musical, it has seen changes since its initial workshop. It premiered in 2014 at Harvard’s American Repertory Theater directed by Diane Paulus and, a year later, a revision opened Off -Broadway under the title Invisible Thread. The character of Ryan, Griffin’s best friend, has gone from being a woman, to his boyfriend at the time (Gould), and back to a woman (both times played by Emma Hunton). It has also returned to its first title for its run at The Wallis.
Two Richard Rodgers Awards and two ASCAP Awards show the promise in the piece. A striking cast (which includes Grammy nominated R&B artist Ledisi) and at least twelve producers (among them Leslie Odom, Jr., original cast member Nicolette Robinson, Cynthia Erivo, and Abigail Spencer) have also stacked the deck in the show’s favor.
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| Ledisi. Photo by Dan Steinberg |
Yet for all its pedigree, Witness Uganda still feels like a work in progress, albeit a well-polished and fully-committed one.
Originally, Matthews played himself in the show but, with another musical based on his and Gould’s real-life love story in the works, his character is now played by Jamar Williams (in a sweet, heartfelt performance) while Matthews has transitioned to director.
Griffin arrives in Kampala, Uganda to help build a school for local children. He befriends a young worker named Jacob (Kameron Richardson) whose life is controlled by his angry, overbearing sister, Joy (Amber Iman). A few days later, Griffin loses faith in the mission when he learns their leader, Pastor Jim, plans to sell the school for his own gain, upon its completion. At the same time, he crosses paths with a group of poor orphans who are unable to pay for school but are eager to learn. One of them steals his backpack, which forces Griffin to chase them up a hill to get it back. It is there that his mission shifts from building a school to being a teacher, and he leaves Pastor Jim’s worksite behind.
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| Jamar Williams and Kameron Richardson with the cast |
As expected, the fallout has consequences, however, not for him. And that is perhaps the biggest problem with the show. While the story is about Griffin, nothing really happens to Griffin. Jacob suffers and the children Griffin teaches will endure a huge loss but our hero’s journey has little dramatic tension or personal conflict. His internal struggle alone isn’t enough to sustain the narrative and keep the audience invested. We need higher stakes.
To compensate, the creative team has packed the show with powerful performances, explosive choreography, and exciting vocals that intersect with gale-force intensity. The result can feel somewhat over-produced for the size of The Wallis’ Lovelace Studio Theater but it’s a thrilling combination of elements nonetheless. It’s also a great example of how talented artists can elevate material and make it seem better than it is.
Audience members are positioned on two sides of the stage opposite each other in an effort to create an inclusive experience but instead it only limits the playing area. Technical aspects take a necessary minimalist approach. Other than a few props, a couple of platforms, black boxes that can be repositioned to create the different locales, and some good lighting effects (using LED lights for a disaster scene are a particularly smart solution), the actors and dancers tell the story.
On one of the platforms, Gould conducts the band while playing an electric keyboard housed inside a baby grand with the guts removed. Near the end of the show, the whole unit moves across the length of the stage while he bangs out a highly-charged song. The staging doesn’t have anything to do with the storytelling however it is a cool effect.
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| Dexter Darden (center) and cast |
Gould’s score is a tantalizing mix of pop rock, African rhythms, power ballads, and percussive beats, and he definitely knows how to write a memorable hook. The songs create an impact with their overall style and sound, and it’s easy for a lover of beautiful music to get swept away by their pop sensibility but for theatre that isn’t enough. They need lyrics that will advance the action or engage us in the story. Otherwise we sit back instead of lean into the show. And yet, the beating heart of the piece is never in question.
Witness Uganda may still be searching for the best way to tell its inspiring story but it is a worthy journey we do want to take. Clarity, and a stronger point of view, would make all the difference.
WITNESS UGANDA, A DOCUMENTARY MUSICAL
February 5 – March 3, 2019
Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts
Lovelace Studio Theater
9390 N. Santa Monica Boulevard
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Tickets: 310.746.4000 or www.TheWallis.org/Witness
Photo credit: Kevin Parry, except where noted.
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| Jamar Williams and Amber Iman |
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| Antwone Barnes and the cast |
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| Jamar Williams and Kameron Richardson |
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| Emma Hunton and Jamar Williams |
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Labels: the wallis
Thursday, February 7, 2019
First Look: LIZZIE The Musical at Chance Theater
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| Monika Peña as Lizzie Borden. All photos by Doug Catiller, True Image Studio |
Chance Theatre kicks off its 21st season with Lizzie, The Musical, a punk-rock opera about America’s favorite axe-wielding sweetheart-diva-heroine-psychopath, Lizzie Borden. Inspired by ‘70s iconic rockers like Patti Smith and Joan Jett, this one will get your blood pumping from its first notes. Written by Steven Cheslik-deMeyer, Tim Maner, and Alan Stevens Hewitt, directed by Jocelyn A. Brown with music direction by Robyn Manion and choreography by Hazel Clarke. It’s gonna get bloody quick! Tickets: www.chancetheater.com
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| Nicole Gentile, Monika Peña, and Jisel Soleil Ayon |
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| Monika Peña (Lizzie Borden) and Jisel Soleil Ayon (Alice Russell) |
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| Nicole Gentile, Alli Rose Schynert, Monika Peña, and Jisel Soleil Ayon |
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| Alli Rose Schynert as Emma Borden |
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| Nicole Gentile as Bridget Sullivan |
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Saturday, February 2, 2019
Review: HELLO, DOLLY! - At Long Last, It's Hello, Betty!
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| Betty Buckley in Hello, Dolly! All photos by Julieta Cervantes |
In the lexicon of American Musical Theatre, Hello, Dolly! is one of the best star vehicles ever written. And, because of the title role’s iconic nature, almost everyone can name the leading ladies who have played her. Carol Channing, Mary Martin, Pearl Bailey, Barbra Streisand, and most recently, Bette Midler, have all donned the red sequined gown and outsized personality of Dolly Levi, matchmaker extraordinaire and the original mother of invention.
But, now, to the thrill of local music theatre fans, it’s time to say, “Well, hello Betty…” Betty Buckley, that is, queen of the Broadway musical, who originated the roles of Edwin Drood, Martha Jefferson in 1776, and Grizabella in CATS (for which she won a Tony Award). She’s played some of the genre’s most tragic characters, from Norma Desmond to Margaret White in the cult musical Carrie, to Triumph of Love’s Hesione. Everything she does is a master class in excellence. To watch as she brings her signature emotional heft to composer Jerry Herman and bookwriter Michael Stewart’s enduring classic is a high audiences won’t soon forget.
Dolly breezes into town like a breath of fresh air and Betty gives us a character full of chutzpah and heart, whose rare insight into the hilarious foibles of love endear her to everyone within reach. Before the curtain falls, she will succeed in delivering a new romance to two optimistic young men in search of a big city adventure, fulfill the dreams of a hat maker who longs for love, open the eyes of a quirky young shopgirl with her first infatuation, help a young couple convince her curmudgeonly uncle to support their engagement, and persuade said uncle that the perfect match for him is none other than Dolly herself.
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| Front left: Jess LeProtto (Barnaby) and Nic Rouleau (Cornelius) with Lewis J. Stadlen (center) and the cast of Hello, Dolly! |
Horace Vandergelder (Lewis J. Stadlen) is the well-known unmarried Yonkers half-a-millionaire whom Dolly has decided will take the place of her deceased husband, Ephraim. For ten years she has made a go of it on her own but, as she says in one of her loving asides, “I’m tired, Ephraim, tired of living from hand to mouth.” Still, she wants him to give her a sign it’s okay to move on and, when it finally arrives, it is the perfect tug-on-the-heart conclusion to this optimistic all-American musical.
Buckley and Stadlen, whose own credits include more than a dozen Broadway shows and Tony nominations for Candide and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, are a terrific pair. His chauvinism belongs to a different time and her unwavering ability to steamroll past any objection is a practice women are still having to exercise today. That their verbal volley works is a credit to director Jerry Zaks, who doesn’t try to sidestep Horace’s dated mindset but instead highlights it and then surrounds him with a theatrical reality big enough to make him grow in the process.
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| Betty Buckley and Lewis J. Stadlen |
Character bits abound and are played broadly for the sake of the comedy, particularly by the unlikely road duo of chief clerk Cornelius Hackl (Nic Rouleau) and his assistant Barnaby Tucker (Jess LeProtto) who both work for Horace. Going as big as they do within such a naïve framework makes them lovable rather than annoying and pays off beautifully as their capers spin out of control. Plus, Rouleau packs a bright classic music theatre tenor voice that rings to the back of the Pantages’ large house, and LeProtto has the moves of a modern-day Gene Kelly and an instinctive sense of comic timing.
Widow Irene Molloy (Analisa Leaming) and her assistant Minnie Fay (Kristen Hahn) are the women who catch their eye when the men accidentally duck into Irene’s hat shop. Leaming is lovely as the confident business woman who wants more from life than just selling hats, while Hahn’s eccentricities make her flirtations comedy gold. The rest of the cast members match their brio, each building on their character’s idiosyncrasies which, in this show, are plentiful.
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| Betty Buckley and the cast of Hello, Dolly! |
The touring production also benefits from the talents of the same creative team that mounted the 2017 Broadway revival. In addition to Zaks’ direction, Warren Carlyle choreographs one sensational production number after another on a set designed by Santo Loquasto that brings all the nostalgic charm of the Gay Nineties to life with extravagant detail. Its painted vintage backdrops, plush Harmonia Gardens staircase, and delightful train to New York are a fitting foundation for Loquasto’s costumes, which come in a blissful array of candy shop colors.
Musical direction is by Robert Billig, music supervision by Andy Einhorn, orchestrations by Larry Hochman, vocal arrangements by Don Pippin, and dance arrangements are by David Chase. What they are presenting is quite an accomplishment.
This national tour of Hello, Dolly! boasts so many outstanding elements that the only real response is for me to say, go see it. Those of you who are aspiring actors, dancers, designers, and musical theatre writers, this is your homework. To know where we’re going, we need to know where we’ve come from, and this American classic is an important part of our legacy. Everything about the show is infectious, from its non-stop energy to its heightened style. And with Betty Buckley at the center of it all, it is a musical theatre geek’s dream come true.
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| Betty Buckley and the ensemble of Hello, Dolly! |
HELLO, DOLLY!
January 29 - February 17 2019
Hollywood Pantages Theatre
6233 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028
Tickets and info: www.hollywoodpantages.com
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Labels: hollywood pantages