Thursday, September 8, 2016
Review: The Troubies and Getty Villa Throw a HAUNTED HOUSE PARTY
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| Beth Kennedy and Matt Walker in Haunted House Party All photos by Craig Schwartz |
Troubadour Theatre Company’s classless clowns of classical comedy go rogue in their latest adaptation at the Getty Villa. Taking generous liberties with the source material (Plautus’s Mostellaria) they reinvent the over-2000-year-old play as Haunted House Party, A Roman Comedy in their own unique style. Yes, it’s definitely “a comedy tonight.”
Directed and adapted by head clown, Matt Walker, and accompanied by a band of mostly stalwart Troubie regulars, this one certainly contains the requisite tenets of Troubie playtime: classic musical numbers refashioned with story-specific lyrics, broad characters designed to spark an immediate (usually comic) response, large doses of improvised gags, multiple jabs at newsworthy figures, and a fair amount of circus whimsy on the side.
Coincidentally, early Roman theatre – with its farcical stories, stock characters, commedia dell’arte, and burlesque influences – is a perfect fit for these modern-day troubadours. The Romans borrowed heavily from the Greeks and since the Getty Villa’s performance space is patterned after the outdoor ancient Greek amphitheatres, the environment provides one more layer of stylish authenticity.
What this Troubie production adds, however, that isn’t quite as typical of their previous work, is an abundance of explicit humor, both verbal and visual, that makes the play an adults-only affair. Plan on a bawdy night out and you won’t be disappointed, but if you lack the fortitude for indelicate humor, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
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| L-R: Rick Batalla, Misty Cotton, Matt Walker, Matthew Patrick Davis, Tyler King, Joey Keane, and Nicholas Cutro |
The story is not unlike one you’d find today, but for its period details. A young man (Nicholas Cutro) parties the days away in excess while his father (Michael Faulkner) is out of town on business. Money complications occur when he spends a great deal of dad’s funds to free a slave girl (Joey Keane) he has fallen in love with, and then dad arrives home unexpectedly. Now it’s up to the young man’s slave (Matt Walker) to figure out how to make things right and give the audience its happy ending.
A dozen or so 70’s and 80’s hits like the Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House,” Alex Call and Jim Keller’s “867-5309/Jenny” and R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It” allow the Troubies plenty of room for Molly Booth’s suitably outrageous choreography.
The Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This),” is reinvented to feature Beth Kennedy (hilarious) as a Mafioso banker, and Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” becomes a call to arms for slave-girl, Karole Foreman. Kennedy also plays a slave in the show and is equally as funny, if not more so, in that guise. Fans of Rick Batalla’s off-kilter sense of humor will love what he does here and Joey Keane finally gets to do it in drag, and bubbles, and bikinis. You’ll just have to see it.
There is no fourth wall in this production and it’s raunchy from beginning to end. Gags won’t be revealed here but I will that say that no political candidate, ethnic group, or pop culture trend goes unscathed. Some of the jokes fall flat but when they do it’s usually funnier than when they land. Troubie regulars will find that latecomers still get the song, even at the Getty Villa, and Walker has his trusty yellow flag ready to call foul on tongue-tied actors, which to delight of the opening night audience happened more than once. It’s a true ensemble effort from beginning to low blow end.
Scenic designer Christopher Scott Murillo raises stories-high fabric panels behind the troupe’s travelling wagon centerpiece that acts as a beautiful canvas for JM Montecalvo’s colorful and tile-patterned lighting effects. Musical director Eric Heinly’s 4-piece band seems less comfortable than usual with its incidental music but makes up for it during full-fledged production numbers.
This comedy outing may not be for everybody but it is still bright and bold and packed with laughs that add an entirely new color – definitely blue – to the palette that is Troubie-land.
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| L-R: Misty Cotton, Suzanne Jolie Narbonne, Joey Keane, Leah Sprecher, and Karole Foreman |
HAUNTED HOUSE PARTY, A Roman Comedy
September 9 – October 1, 2016 (8pm)
Getty Villa, co-produced by Troubadour Theater Company
The Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman Theater
17985 Pacific Coast Highway
Pacific Palisades, CA 90272
Running time: Approximately 90 minutes, no intermission
Tickets: www.getty.edu/museum/programs
Not recommended for anyone under 12
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| L-R: Michael Faulkner and Matt Walker |
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| L-R: Michael Faulkner, Rick Batalla, Leah Sprecher, Matt Walker, and Nicholas Cutro |
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| Beth Kennedy (center) with (L-R) Leah Sprecher, Misty Cotton, Karole Foreman, Michael Faulkner, Matt Walker, Rick Batalla, Suzanne Jolie Narbonne, Nicholas Cutro, and Joey Keane |
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| Matt Walker |
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| Misty Cotton, Joey Keane, Nicholas Cutro, Matthew Patrick Davis, and Leah Sprecher |
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| The company of Haunted House Party |
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Labels: getty villa, troubies
Friday, September 7, 2012
The Golden Age of Hollywood Meets a Golden HELEN at the Getty Villa
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| Maxwell Caulfield (Menelaos) and Rachel Sorsa (Helen) © 2012 J. Paul Getty Trust, All photos: Craig Schwartz |
Gentlemen, if anyone ever asks you to choose which of three women is the most beautiful, I have one word for you….decline. Paris didn’t, and instead allowed himself to be bribed by the goddess, Aphrodite, into choosing her over Hera and Athena. Paris may have won the most beautiful woman in the world (Helen of Troy) as his reward, but in the process he pissed off two very powerful goddesses who retaliated by switching his beauty for a phantom. Imagine fighting an entire war over a woman who was an imposter. It boggles the mind.
So where was the real Helen during the Trojan War? In this alternate version of the story written by Euripides in 412 BC, she’s whisked away to the Egyptian island of Pharos where she remains in exile waiting for her husband, Menelaos, to rescue her. For 17 years she’s been waiting in isolation while dodging the advances of King Proteus’ son, Theoclymenus, who is determined to make her his wife. And that’s where the story picks up…only now Proteus is dead and the island is under the authority of Theoclymenus and his sister Theonoe. What’s a fading femme fatale to do?
If it all sounds Greek to you, don’t worry. Director Jon Lawrence Rivera and playwright Nick Salamone have taken Euripides’ tale and turned it into the stuff of Hollywood fairytales, complete with a sweeping David O. movie musical ending, and made it accessible for a contemporary Los Angeles audience. Salamone’s adaptation reimagines the ancient characters as classic screen legends with Helen (Rachel Sorsa) and Menelaos (Maxwell Caulfield) reminiscent of Gable and Lombard, Hepburn and Tracy, and at their sexiest, Bogie and Bacall.
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| Maxwell Caulfield |
Sorsa is a liquid gold vision who could have easily
stepped off a pedestal from inside the Getty’s walls. Dramatic, emphatic, and with
a sultry singing voice that wraps itself around the composer’s jazzy
arrangements in honey-filled waves, she is every bit the feisty goddess.
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| L to R: Jayme Lake, Arsene Delay, Rachel Sorsa, and Melody Butiu |
Her angels of fortitude, and companions of the mind, are
three misunderstood movie legends whose presence serves as comfort and strength
within her withering solitude; Arséne
DeLay as Elizabeth Taylor’s seductress, Cleopatra, Melody Butiu as Vivien
Leigh’s Blanche DuBois from A Streetcar
Named Desire, and Jayme Lake as Marilyn Monroe’s character, Cherie, in Bus Stop. They function as a Hollywood
Greek chorus/jazz trio singing back-up on many of the original compositions with
a blend that is satisfyingly smooth.
The expressive ability of jazz as a musical art form
makes it an inspired stylistic choice by composer David O. Five original compositions and
five more adapted songs, all with new lyrics by Salamone have been added,
ranging from a plaintive familiar spiritual that opens the play, to a sexy,
jazz-influenced sea shanty that accompanies the climatic moments of the escape.
Rich, subtle, and carefully crafted to invoke your emotional connection to the
story, they allow the subtext of the characters to play out at an even deeper
level.
One example is the use of “When Johnny Comes Marching
Home (& When Teucer Comes Marching Home)” for Salamone’s ode to Teucer
(Christopher Rivas), a double amputee who has seen the worst of the Trojan War battlefield.
Rivas gives a compelling performance as the embittered soldier and the
accompanying soulful adaptation of the song points up the irony of a senseless
war.
And that spiritual that opens the play – “Sometimes I
Feel Like a Motherless Child” – finds its way home in the original song, “I’m
Gonna Fly,” as the arc of the play traverses its final scene. Both are sung by a
scene-stealing Hattie (Carlease Burke), the embodiment of Hattie McDaniel from Gone With the Wind.
Chil Kong’s tongue-in-cheek portrayal of Theoclymenus as
an overgrown boy/man who pouts to the point of jumping up and down when he
doesn’t get his way is two parts Charlie Chan and one part Jackie Chan. In
contrast, Natsuko Ohama grounds Theonoe with a reverential calm that befits a priestess
of Artemis, though one that rules with a steely dragon lady’s hand. Ohama makes
one of the most memorable choices of the night with a simple gesture that
reveals her true feeling for Helen. The open-hearted vulnerability of the
moment is deeply affecting and completely unexpected. Robert Almodovar also
delivers as an old soldier who recognizes Helen and assists with her flight to
freedom.
Rivera fashions a dramatic playing area in the Villa’s
courtyard arena with the addition of massive columns designed by John H. Binkley. The visual is
breathtaking against the museum’s ancient Roman facades illuminated by R.
Christopher Stokes and graced by a natural star-filled canopy overhead. Stokes not
only lights the actors, but creates effects that sweep across the Getty’s
second story balcony that surprise and delight. Adam Flemming’s accompanying
B&W film sequences also unfold above the action like a movie theatre in the
sky.
This Playwrights’ Arena production of Euripides’ HELEN is
the Getty Villa’s seventh annual outdoor classical production. Performances
continue Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays through September 29 at 8:00 pm.
Tickets are $42 ($38 for students and seniors). For more information call (310)
440-7300 or go to www.getty.edu.
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Labels: getty villa
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Maxwell Caulfield To Co-Star in Euripides' HELEN
The Getty Museum and Playwrights’ Arena in Los Angeles is pleased to offer Euripides’ HELEN, in the Getty Villa’s outdoor Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman Theater. Presenting a surprising twist on the legend of Helen of Troy, the rarely performed play will feature a cast of thirteen led by distinguished actor Maxwell Caulfield as Menelaos, King of Sparta, and Rachel Sorsa as Helen. Directed by Jon Lawrence Rivera, artistic director of Los Angeles-based Playwrights’ Arena, this production debuts a new adaptation by playwright Nick Salamone and a score by composer and musical director David O.
In Euripides' alternative history of Helen of Troy, his heroine is no wanton seductress, but rather a pious, faithful wife and a hapless victim of Olympian plots who struggles to make the best of a very bad situation. By a trick of the gods, this Helen never travels to Troy at all, but is replaced by a phantom replica on the eve of her kidnapping by Paris. The real Queen Helen is magically transported by Hermes to the far off island of Pharos in a cloud for safekeeping, where she waits out the Trojan War in an ironic celibacy.
HELEN picks up the story 17 years later, as the abandoned, middle-aged queen remains stranded on the island, oblivious to her infamy and ignorant of the war's outcome. As the play opens, the once-famous beauty wonders whether the gods, her husband, and the world have forgotten her forever. Needless to say, they have not, and Euripides' inventive fantasy of mistaken identities and impossible coincidences ensues.
The Getty Villa's annual outdoor theater production is part of a year-round innovative theater program that enhances the museum visitor's experience of the ancient world. Live performances of classical drama offer insight into the social, cultural, and political realities of life in ancient Greece and Rome. In the galleries, the works of art serve to deepen the connection between modern audiences and the mythical stories underlying the tragedies and comedies on stage.
Performances of Euripides’ HELEN will be held Thursday through Saturday, September 6 - 29, at 8:00 p.m., with previews August 30 - September 1. Click Here for tickets and more information.
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About the Getty Villa
The Getty Villa is open Wednesday through Monday, 10 am to 5 pm. It is closed Tuesday and major holidays. Admission to the Getty Villa is always free. A ticket is required for admission. Tickets can be ordered in advance, or on the day of your visit, at www.getty.edu/visit or at (310) 440-7300. Parking is $15 per car. Groups of 15 or more must make reservations by phone. For more information, call (310) 440-7300 (English or Spanish); (310) 440-7305 (TTY line for the deaf or hearing impaired). The Getty Villa is at 17985 Pacific Coast Highway, Pacific Palisades, California.
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