Wednesday, September 11, 2019
Musical News Coming Your Way
Check out what's happening in Southern California and go see a show!
I DIG ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC
Tonight, Rubicon Theatre Company opens its updated encore run of I Dig Rock and Roll Musical, last year’s world premiere sequel to Lonesome Traveler. Directed by James O’Neil, it features an all-new cast starring Yvette Cason, Harley Jay, Beau Moore, Charlotte Morris, and Scott Anthony. The celebration of folk-rock then and now is a theatrical concert highlighting songs from 1965 through the 1970s made famous by Peter, Paul and Mary; The Mamas and the Papas; Joni Mitchell; The Association; Otis Redding; Cat Stevens; The Youngbloods; The Beatles; and many others, along with original songs of passion and protest inspired by the era written by Noel Paul Stookey (of Peter, Paul and Mary), and other members of the group. Conceived by Ovation winner and Rubicon co-founder James O’Neil, Lifetime Grammy Award-winner George Grove, and LADCC-winner/Tony nominee Dan Wheetman with musical direction by Scott Anthony, and arrangements by George Grove and the performers. You can rock out now through Sept 29th. www.rubicontheatre.org
South Coast Repertory’s 56th season opens with American Mariachi by José Cruz González. The comedy with live music follows Lucha, whose loving gesture for her dying mother becomes much more as a group of young women learns to dream big and embrace the transcendent power of music. Lucha’s ailing mother no longer responds to much—except for a mysterious old record of mariachi music that Lucha finds in the house. Yearning for a purpose and determined to give her mother something to care about, Lucha and her cousin, Boli, decide to assemble an all-female mariachi troupe. But it’s the 1970s and women can’t be mariachis...or can they? Be sure to check the website for a list of pre-show performances and post-show talkbacks. www.scr.org/AmericanMariachi
Musical Theatre Guild opens its 24th season with Cy Coleman’s Barnum on Sept. 22nd at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. Kirby Ward stars as P.T. Barnum with Tracy Lore as Charity Barnum and features MTG company members Matt Braver, Mathew Patrick Davis, Kelley Dorney, Jeffrey Scott Parsons and Glenn Shiroma and guest artists Jasime Ejan and Regina LaVert. Alan Bailey directs, musical direction is by Jan Roper, and choreography is by Cheryl Baxter. Tickets are available at www.alextheatre.org or by calling 818-243-ALEX.
Second City Hollywood is currently running a new 45-minute improvised musical production inspired by the suggestion of a historical figure. Think Drunk History meets Hamilton and you’ll get the idea. Improvisors Annie Bond, Andrew Young, Andy Apuy, Eric Pastore, Cherelle Patrice, Tess Gattuso, Mary Lou Kolbenschlag, Sara Caplan, Angela Giarratana and Scott Thiede fuse the art of long-form improv comedy with musical theater while paying homage to bio-musicals like Evita and Hamilton. Musical direction is by Tony Gonzalez. The next show is 9/18. May contain mature themes and strong language. Hey, it’s improv after all. Secondcity.com/NightBiopera
Also opening at Second City on Sept. 20th is this summer’s Fringe hit Supportive White Parents, by Joy Regullano (book & lyrics) and Sam & Tony Show (music). When an Asian girl tells her parents that she doesn’t want to be a doctor anymore, she wishes on a shooting star for supportive white parents. The cast includes Earl Baylon, Gina D’Acciaro, Kaitlyn Fae, Spencer Frankeberger, Jaq Galliano, Mary Grant, Aryiel Hartman, Marcel Licera, Mary Lou, Scott Palmason, Joy Regullano, Jim Shipley, Greg Smith, Giselle “G” Töngi, Reuben Uy, and Rob Warner, directed by Frank Caeti and featuring choreography by Ally Vega. More at www.secondcity.com/shows/hollywood
On October 19th, the Colony Theatre in Burbank will present an evening of Broadway stars singing The Music of Brian Gallagher. Scheduled to appear are Megan Hilty, Carly Hughes, Matt Cusson, and Carrie Manolakos, with more artists to be announced. The evening will feature music from Gallagher’s concept album Brownstone for the first time on the west coast. Admission is $45 with $60 VIP tickets available (includes a post-show meet and greet with the artists). Tickets are available at www.colonytheatre.org or by calling 866-811-4111.
Join International City Theatre for an intimate evening with legendary jazz songstress Billie Holiday when they present Lanie Robertson’s glorious musical portrait of one of the greatest jazz and blues vocalists of all time. Starring Karole Foreman in the title role, and with music direction by Stephan Terry and Ebony Rep founding artistic director Wren T. Brown directing, Lady Day takes the audience through what will be Holiday’s last performance in a seedy Philadelphia bar in 1959. Foreman performs more than a dozen of her best loved songs including “God Bless the Child,” “Crazy He Calls Me,” “T’ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do” and “Strange Fruit.” Oct. 18 – Nov. 3. Tickets: ICTlongbeach.org.
Adapted from Gertrude Stein’s A Circular Play, this unique musical journey is part of Odyssey Theatre Ensemble’s 50th Anniversary “Circa ’69 Season” and is directed by David Schweizer, with musical direction by Kenneth J. Grimes and choreography by Kate Coleman. In Circles takes Stein’s nonlinear prose, based solely on her pleasure at the way certain words sounded together, and sets them to a splendid musical score featuring ragtime, tango, waltz, opera, barbershop quartet, jazz and other musical styles. Odyssey’s ensemble will feature original 1968 off-Broadway cast member Jacque Lynn Colton, along with Henry Arber, Shelby Corley, Ashlee Dutson, Kyle Fuller, Chloe Haven, Aaron Jung and P.T. Mahoney. For tickets and more information go to www.odysseytheatre.com.
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Labels: colony theatre, international city theatre, musical theatre guild, odyssey theatre, rubicon theatre, second city hollywood, south coast repertory
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Review: Sondheim's SWEENEY TODD, A Slasher Musical To Die For
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| Jamey Hood and David St. Louis. All photos by Jordan Kubat/SCR |
Done right, the first notes of a musical will tell you exactly what kind of world you’re stepping into. When it comes to the masters, Stephen Sondheim does it better than just about anyone.
The haunting, discordant opening of Company layers repetitive multiple voices as if they are vying for attention inside one’s head, and the sparkling arpeggios and spoken text that begin Sunday in the Park with George blend musical colors like an artist’s sound palette. Both are skillful examples of his economical precision.
For Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, all it takes is one crashing dissonant organ chord spitting hellfire and damnation, followed by another, and then another, to let the audience know this is not a musical about redemption. It’s about revenge.
The South Coast Repertory production of Sweeney Todd led by director Kent Nicholson and musical director David O. shrewdly hits its marks by reveling in both the sensationalism of its Penny Dreadful-inspired story and the warped charm of its irresistibly gruesome humor. Nicholson allows his actors the freedom to play the broad music hall style of comedy to its fullest yet never loses sight of its darker undercurrents.
Scenic designer John Iacovelli adds weight to the Victorian theatricality with a carnival-like curtain announcing the show about to be presented, storybook black and white backdrops, and a vintage proscenium with twin balconies that double as an orchestra pit on one side and the judge’s house/asylum on the other. Lighting (Lap Chi Chu), costumes (Melanie Watnick) and sound (Cricket Myers) all function in tandem to complete the melodramatic (in a good way) feel of the work.
Musically, the score is a dream. You’ve got the luscious long lines and emotional tenderness of “Johanna,” and “My Friends,” the lively, off-kilter syncopations of “The Worst Pies in London,” and the operatic richness of “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” all twisted together with a multitude of other themes and surprises that create an incredibly fulfilling musical experience. There’s a lot going on and, happily, this is one musical director who knows how to tease out all its secrets.
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| The Company of Sweeney Todd |
Set in the grimy underbelly of 19th century London, a traveling troupe of actors tell the tale of a wronged barber hell-bent on reclaiming what he’s lost. The former Benjamin Barker, now known as Sweeney Todd (David St. Louis) has spent the last fifteen years in exile after a salacious Judge Turpin (Robert Mamana), aided by his accomplice Beadle Bamford (Nicholas Mongiardo-Cooper), conspired to get rid of him in order to have his way with Barker’s wife, before tossing her aside and taking in their daughter to raise as his own.
The wife escaped her humiliation by drinking poison, while the daughter has been shuttered away like a bird in a gilded cage. Now grown, Turpin intends to marry the 15-year-old innocent in an attempt to satisfy his carnal interests and absolve himself of his moral deficiencies. But Todd has returned to make the judge pay and nothing short of murder will satisfy his appetite for blood.
St. Louis is frightening as the title character. His dramatic bass-baritone voice bursts with venom – particularly in his lower tessitura – and his eyes are cold and unforgiving. He is not a man to toy with, nor one you’d want to meet in a dark alley at night. His contained fury is only a hiccup away from exploding but, in the final plot revelation, the actor does an about-face as his rage turns to heartbreaking regret in the face of a tragic loss.
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| David St. Louis and Jamey Hood |
Jamey Hood is the deliciously zealous meat pie maker who has long harbored an affection for Sweeney, so much so that she saved the tools of his trade, two beautiful silver razors, on the chance he would someday return. The Barkers used to live above her pie shop and now that he is back she seizes the opportunity to help him accomplish his task, while also boosting her business and jockeying for romance in the process.
She punctuates musical phrases with her fists, merrily pounding dough to make her “worst pies in London” when we first meet her and every time she has a new thought it is a delight. This is a Mrs. Lovett an audience can love and Hood takes full advantage of the spotlight. By design, she and Sweeney are an odd pair, and Hood and St. Louis make the most of their individual styles. It’s part of what makes this Sweeney Todd so powerful.
The nine actors who fill out the rest of the cast are game for the proceedings so it’s easy to forgive one or two whose passion pushes notes sharp at times or who may step a little hesitantly into the full blush of their characters.
Juliana Hansen is lovely and a bit shrill as Johanna, which is in direct contrast to Archer’s smooth light tenor. It works, given the birdlike references to her character, but it also means their blend doesn’t quite gel when they sing together. Still, the earnestness of their young love is never in question.
Erica Hanrahan-Ball’s defiant Beggar Woman is sadly comical, and as much a commentary on the clash between the social classes as she is a thorn in Sweeney’s side. Roland Rusinek (whom I understand has played Pirelli eight times) takes every opportunity to wring humor out of his pompous portrayal of a con man trying to out-con everyone in the room.
Sweeney Todd exists somewhere in the gray area between opera, operetta, and musical theatre. Despite its comic surface, a sense of unease must be sustained throughout the piece for it to be truly successful. South Coast Rep’s revival of Sondheim’s 40-year-old slasher musical is, and it does it with a one-two punch; by keeping you laughing while making your skin crawl. You could say, it’s a musical to die for.
SWEENEY TODD
January 19 - February 16, 2019
South Coast Repertory
655 Town Center Drive
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Tickets and info: www.scr.org
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| Devin Archer and Juliana Hansen |
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| Jamey Hood and David St. Louis |
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| Roland Rusinek |
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| Conlan Ledwith and Jamey Hood |
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| Devin Archer, Erica Hanrahan-Ball and David St. Louis |
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| Jamey Hood (center) with Robert Mammana, Katy Tang, Juliana Hansen and Roland Rusinek |
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Labels: south coast repertory