After midnight

Happy Easter, y'all! Since it's a vacation weekend, I'm up late hanging out with family and happened to check for the T-D review of "Art," and sure enough it's up. Starting next weekend, this'll be another interesting situation where a show playing at Sycamore Rouge was staged somewhere else first. That's gotta be some kind of a record right, twice in one season? Anyway, can't wait to see the show once it gets to Petersburg.

Art First

The first review of "Art" came in yesterday, care of Matt Miller at GayRVA. Check it out!

Existential

I have really great memories involving “Waiting for Godot.” Decades ago when I was in college, my friends and I would get together and read from existential and absurdist plays just for entertainment. Beckett and Ionesco were our favorites. I remember us not being able to get through more than a few lines of “Godot” without cracking up. There may have been some chemical enhancement involved.

For that reason, I have been eager to see the current Henley Street production but the number of possible nights for me to see it dwindled quickly. So I was happy that the smart folks at Henley did an industry night on Tuesday. Even so, I could only manage to get there to catch the first act. I was very disappointed not to be able to see the whole thing, but I also felt that, barring a radical reinterpretation from Mr. Ricks, I wasn’t going to miss any surprise ending. I really hope no one associated with the production read any kind of affront into my early departure; my reasons for leaving had nothing to do with the quality of the show.

I enjoyed the first act but I also feel like time may have hardened my sensibilities just a bit against existentialism. Perhaps it’s having much more of a stake in the real world that makes getting into that existential space more difficult. Or maybe it’s the lack of chemical enhancement. But one thing I hope I will always appreciate is the ability of Beckett to look at even the most serious things with a skewed view, his healthy way of not taking it all (particularly himself) so damn seriously. After all, as Christine Walters recently told me, life should be fun, even the serious parts.

As my colleague Mr. Griset said, I can’t really think of a better production of the show. Bob Nelson and Bob Jones both seem like natural comedians and one great aspect of the production is the unique quality of each of their voices, which adds new and unusual comic notes to already wacky dialogue. And speaking of voice: Foster Solomon is a fantastic Pozzo, using both his size and his booming voice to bring a larger-than-life stature to that character. Jerome Weiss manages to be both heartbreaking and very funny as Lucky, also incorporating his stature – exceedingly lean and athletic into his characterization, and young Mr. Millman does a fine job in his short interlude on stage.

All of the elements are there for this production but I found myself growing a bit impatient with the course of the “action,” even during just one act. But this is Beckett and, to borrow a phrase from the show, there’s “nothing to be done” about the source material. It is brilliant and challenging and distinctive and sometimes just odd. Mr. Ricks mines it well and, particularly if you haven’t seen “Godot” before, it’s worth checking out.

USC, NEA and extreme giddiness

I found out yesterday that I am being given an all-expenses paid 11-day trip to Los Angeles in June. But that’s not all: while I’m out there, I’ll be able to see shows nearly every day, sometimes day and night, including events that are part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival, the Radar LA Festival and the Asian American Theater Festival.

And possibly best of all, I’ll be accompanied by a couple dozen other theater geeks (or journalists, if you prefer) from all around the country, working together with them and learning from them as we meet with leading theater professionals from all around the world.

Which is all a roundabout way of saying that I’ve had the extreme good fortune to be offered a fellowship for the 2011 NEA Arts Journalism Institute in Theater and Musical Theater at the University of Southern California. It’s an insanely amazing program and, with the support of Style and my lovely wife and family, I applied this year and was accepted. My heart hasn’t stopped racing since I got the email last night.

This kind of total immersion experience just sounds like a dream to me. And less than 8 weeks from now, that dream is going to come true. The logistics both job-wise and family-wise will probably be complicated but, when I am able to push those aside, I just feel extremely giddy with delight at this incredible opportunity.

As soon as I am able to focus again, I’ll be able to talk about things like Henley Street’s “Waiting for Godot,” which both Mr. Porter and Mr. Griset reviewed recently and that I caught only the first act of last night. I’m also primed to dig into Barksdale’s “Circle Mirror Transformation,” but in the meantime you can read Mr. Miller’s review at GayRVA.

But for now, my energies will mainly go into regulating my breathing and wiping this fool grin off my face.

Spring Surprises

I saw Barksdale’s “Circle Mirror Transformation” on Sunday and will hold off on any commentary at least until Wednesday because I haven’t finished writing my review yet. One thing I’ll say: given that it was a Sunday afternoon performance (i.e., an audience even older than a typical one) and given that the show has a fair amount of silence in it, I had the opportunity to hear more unfiltered thoughts from my fellow theater patrons than any other performance I’d been to in a long time. All I want to know is: At what point in an adult’s aging process does the awareness that a theater is not one’s living room break down?

One particularly entertaining neighbor of mine seemed to lose interest in the show at various points and took to making comments about other people in the audience. Now I enjoy people watching as much as the next guy but I would think that when you pay money to attend a play the people you really want to be watching are in that brightly lit place in the middle, not the dimly lit seats over to the side. But maybe I’m just weird that way.

I was surprised to check the Times-Dispatch website this morning and see that the top two “Entertainment” highlights were theater-related items, one a review of the recently opened “Wonderland” (which is not getting much love it seems, based on another review I read over the weekend) and the other a recounting of Broadway stars at the Opera Awards. Could it be that people are getting bored of movie and TV coverage and are demanding more theater news? Regardless of the reason, all I can say is: more theater coverage please!

Of course, what I was looking for were links to the review of “Circle Mirror Transformation” that was published yesterday as well as a feature on the upcoming “Art” co-pro at the VA Museum, and then moving down to Sycamore Rouge. And apparently I was asleep at the wheel and missed “The Bluest Eye” review that showed up last week. People never tell me about these things anymore…

Someone did alert me to this article in American Theatre magazine about the different theater-oriented awards shows across the country. I think it’s fascinating the variations that you can find in different cities and to read a little about the genesis of each effort. It makes me feel a little more confident that our little “Artsies” effort isn’t as misguided as I might otherwise feel.

Another item I read about this weekend that I found interesting is a recap of the star-studded concert production of “Company” out in LA a couple of weeks ago. One Richmond-related tidbit: did you know that Tony Award-winning actress Katie Finneran has a relative (I think she’s an aunt) who lives here in town? You can imagine she is one proud aunt.

And finally, Stephen King and John Mellencamp are collaborating on a musical? The mix of popular horror-esque writer and Americana pop musician is surprisingly similar to the Clay McLeod Chapman / Bruce Hornsby team-up for “SCKBSTD” that opened at Virginia Stage a couple of months ago, dontcha think? Virginia: the place where theater trends are set, right?

Why Critics Matter

The recent elimination of Pia Toscano from “American Idol” was like pop culture catnip – it gave commentators far and wide (including me) the opportunity to postulate, conjecture, hypothesize and rant, which is kind of what we like to do. But I took notice of this article by the Entertainment Weekly movie critic, Owen Gleiberman because he seemed to be making a bigger point about the value of critics and criticism. This point of view is summed up in his conclusion: “[C]riticism, when it’s offered by people who know what they’re doing, isn’t evil. It’s a force that enriches, an aesthetic helping hand, a declaration of reality that helps the best artists prevail.”

I agree with the essential point of Mr. Gleiberman’s piece. After all, isn’t that the basis for so-called “constructive criticism?” Of course, a key phrase is “offered by people who know what they’re doing.” Hm. I expect there are few people who are willing to concede that most critics know what they’re doing. Heck, after a dozen years at it myself, I’m still figuring it out. Still, I will add the concept of “an aesthetic helping hand” to my pantheon of self-justifications just the same.

In a more practical and immediate sense, critics matter because of shows like “Circle Mirror Transformation” which is opening at the Barksdale this weekend. Personally, I have only the vaguest idea what this show is about. Such was the case with Barksdale’s last offering, “Legacy of Light,” and with any number of generically or obscurely titled shows this past season – “Home” at AART or “Something Intangible” at the Firehouse, even “Arcadia” by Richmond Shakespeare.


And how do people find out what a show is about? They read a review. Even more important, what will compell a person to overcome ignorance about a title or disinterest in a summary provided in marketing blurbs about a show? A positive review by a critic that a reader likes or trusts. It is in this simple function that I think critics matter most of all, particularly when it comes to theater. Movies spend as much to market the average movie as it costs to produce it, and can pretty near overwhelm the public with coersive and seductive messages. Most theater companies don’t have that option.

Nationally, news about the Tonys is starting to percolate, starting with the announcement of who is going to announce nominees on May 3rd. I’m glad Aniki Noni Rose will get a little notoriety from this – the song “Dig a Little Deeper” is in pretty regular rotation at Kids Place Live on XM Radio and her one little solo in that song (from the movie “Princess and the Frog”) is my favorite part.

But the bigger question is: who is going to host the show? I expect there’s no chance Neil Patrick Harris would do it again, though he was so awesome. Who do you think would be a good choice?

Shouting

Mr. Porter has put out reviews on “Something Intangible” and “Devil Boys from Beyond” this week. I still haven’t seen anything on “The Bluest Eye” and am wondering whether any of the local media outlets will be reviewing this Barksdale/VCU co-pro.

Style has Rich Griset’s take on “Quilters” this week as well as my review of “Devil Boys.” I’m sure there are aspects of this review that people won’t like, and I don’t mean the “deliriously funny” characterization. I hope I made it clear that I enjoyed this production; however, as someone once said, “I calls ‘em like I sees ‘em” and there were a couple places where I thought this romp got a little too loose. Some people may argue that the word “sloppy” doesn’t really have a place when you’re dealing with a campy “out there” piece like “Devil Boys,” but I don’t agree. Sometimes precision is exactly what makes comedy work.

As most any reader of this will know, Steve Moore is comedy royalty in this town. He’s a very funny comic and he does some very good work in “Devil Boys.” The bit with the suitcase works well once but then it becomes a joke of diminishing returns as it continues. And it characterized for me moments during the show when it seemed the players either seemed to be working too hard or were being a bit indulgent.

As far as the “shouting” comment goes, I was a little hesitant to get into this territory. This kind of criticism was the basis a couple of years ago for one of the most hot-button posts that ever ran on this blog and resurfaced recently in a review of “The BFG.” Personally, I can’t think of a time in the past where I’ve been particularly disturbed by this during a performance. However, the material in “Devil Boys” is wonderfully extreme already; I didn’t think it needed any extra volume to get the point across. In fact, some of the funniest lines are almost asides, like the particularly devilish one about Rock Hudson delivered in a perfectly soft purr by Mr. Moore.

But putting those points aside, I found a lot to enjoy at “Devil Boys” and was impressed by the ability of director James Alexander Bond to excel with this kind of campy silliness just as he has with his Shakespearean efforts. As every review has pointed out, the costumes are fabulous. I think Cairns and Hoskins could have a nicely lucrative line of fetish wear if they were inclined toward that business. Thomas Cunningham extends his streak of indelible roles with Lucinda Marsh; he has become one of those actors in town that I can’t wait to see what he will do next. I loved Timothy Goad’s “I am not insane” speech that opens the show and starts things off on the right foot. Tommy Callan made a lovely Matty and was a worthy foe for Cunningham’s Lucinda.

I left the show appreciating most the lower-key performances that made for a great counterpoint to the more flamboyant ones: Ryan Bechard’s hang-dog, hen-pecked alky who has a great moment of personal revelation and Bill Brock’s frustrated but inventive editor. “Devil Boys” may not exactly be high art, but it was certainly fun.

Best of all, it was a show that wasn’t afraid to get a little raunchy. There’s not many companies in town that can do much reveling in the raunch, which is just one of many reasons it’s always a treat to go to a Triangle Players show.

Getting Your Hopes Up

The first "Godot" review is in. Haven't seen anything on "The Bluest Eye" yet. I'm curious to read more reactions to both of these productions.

I have a lot of admiration for people who do theater. One of the reasons I enjoy writing theater criticism is because I find the talents of those involved so fascinating, particularly those of the actors. And I’m not just talking about singing, dancing and performing in general, but the whole process, from training to auditioning to rehearsing to closing.

A couple of years ago, I wrote about the emotional toll that a particular show closing had on me, a production I was only tangentially involved in. Lately, I’ve had a taste of one of the other ridiculously stressful processes that an actor goes through. My editors at Style nominated me for a Virginia Press Association award this year in the Critical Writing category. The process felt a lot like an audition. I knew that my work was being reviewed by a judge or panel of judges; that choosing my work to award could be based on all sorts of intangible factors that I couldn’t really control; and that, in the end, I’d have little real insight into why or why not I was chosen for an award.

As it turned out, I won a 3rd place recognition, which is fine. But there were many times in the past few weeks that, thinking about possibly winning the category, I had that “god, I hope I get it" feeling that must vex actors to no end. Frankly, I don’t know how they cope.

I’ve had some second-hand experience with this, too. Over the past year or two, my energetic eldest son has had dozens of auditions. He’s had a good deal of success and I can’t argue with that. But there have been a couple dozen or so movie or TV projects that he’s tried out for that, in my obviously biased eye, he seemed like he would have been perfect for. And I’ve indulged in thoughts of: imagine if he lands this one! And as the weeks went by with no follow-up from the casting folks, that little spark of hope faded. And, if I’m being honest, there were times that spark was pretty big and when it faded, it shrunk down to a bitter little pill.

Again, this was just my second-hand experience. I can’t imagine how actors themselves who do this regularly make it through it. There must be some complicated psychological coping mechanisms involved. If I personally had to go through the process more often, I think I would drink a lot more beer.

Pia, Paul and All

In case you haven’t picked up this week’s Style (which you should because it has a nice wrap-up of the VCU run to the Final Four), here’s a link to the piece I wrote on the resurrected ComedySportz company. Shows will start in their new location out by West Tower Cinemas the first weekend of May and my son is already bothering me to go out to one.

I’ve been vaguely following casting news about the movie adaptation of “Rock of Ages” but this item caught my eye because this is the role that was supposed to go to Constantine Moroulis who appeared on Broadway and, before that, on American Idol, of course. Which bring me to the pop culture tidbit that I am most focused on this morning: the elimination of Pia from American Idol last night.

I’m only moderately ashamed that I watch American Idol anymore. I started because my kids watched it and now they have moved on and I’m still stuck. I have two justifications: I DVR the show and only listen to the performances since the critiques are seriously lame and the other interviews and puff pieces that fill out the show are annoying and irrelevant. I also skip performances from people I find boring (Stefano, Scotty) meaning that I can watch a 2 hour episode of Idol in about 20 minutes.

My other justification is that so many Idol alums have gone on to Broadway that watching it seems like work-related research to me. Of course Broadway seems like a good place for these people to go because you have to actually be able to sing to perform on Broadway, a talent that seems to be lacking in many contemporary recording artists.

If you haven’t been watching Idol, Pia was one of the few contestants this year who was consistently excellent. Her song choice was a little stodgy and her personality a little plastic. But her voice was rock solid; she was one of the only performers that I always listened to while fast-forwarding through many others. And last night she left the show with 8 others still in contention, only 1 or 2 of whom have the vocal ability that she has. Randy used to be fond of saying “this is a singing competition” (maybe he still does; I’m just not listening) but it clearly is not anymore. An overwhelming number of the voters are teenage girls and they seem to be voting on the basis of cute, versus talent. That was clearly the case last season and Pia’s ouster confirms it for this season.

So, as disappointed as I am that I won’t be hearing her on the show anymore, now I can look forward to her showing up on stage in about 2 years. The question is what show will work best for her. I’ll be mulling that one over for the next few weeks.

Some people have said they think Paul on Idol looks like me, which maybe I can see but you’d have to put about 15-20 years on the guy to really see if there’s a resemblance. I haven’t really liked him as a singer until this past week, which was the first time he seemed to be singing significantly above a whisper.

Sorry to veer off into Idol country even though there’s plenty to talk about locally. “The Bluest Eye” opens at VCU this weekend, the next production in the burgeoning relationship between Barksdale and VCU. The last partnership, “Legacy of Light,” seemed to work darn well which bodes well for this one. For those who have been waiting since the Fall, “Godot” finally arrived at Henley Street last night. I’m eager to read/hear what people have to say about the production.

And if there’s a lesson to be learned from Idol, don’t stop going to productions just because you think the economy is on the mend and theater seems to be economically secure. You wouldn’t want your favorite company to go the way of Pia due to lack of support, now would you?

Op-Ed

The “Quilters” reviews started rolling in on Tuesday, again with the T-D and GayRVA leading the charge. Both Ms. Haubenstock and Mr. Miller clearly enjoyed the production. I’m planning to check out the show in a couple of weeks because, really, how can I not see a production of “Quilters” when it’s in town?

John Porter’s “Almost Maine” review is available both on his blog or, if you prefer to hear the dulcet tones of his lovely voice, you can stream it off of the WCVE site. This show closes this weekend so get out to see it while you can.

Grant Mudge of Richmond Shakespeare wrote an Op-Ed in this past weekend’s Times-Dispatch in anticipation of the opening of “Art” at the Virginia Museum. Check it out if you haven’t read it.

There are many cool things about this production being the one that re-opens the theater at the museum, the most obvious being the title and theme of the show. Director kb Saine also used to work for TheatreVirginia, if I remember correctly. Mr. Mudge uses his Op-Ed piece to talk a little bit more about the value of live theater. His sentiments are encapsulated in this passage:

You respond to a work of art with only your own senses, thoughts and emotion. In theater, the art responds back. Actors hear and are influenced by the audience. And they respond. It's vital that audiences know how much of every performance they see they are inextricably a part. This shared experience is the performing arts' chief recommending quality. The entire community, artists and audiences alike, experiences together.

I’m glad that Grant took the opportunity to put that kind of endorsement of live theater out in a piece that he could have devoted solely to promoting his own company or production. After reading this op-ed, it occurs to me that there are many other interesting topics that could be explored as part of the re-opening of the Museum Theater. There are very specific ones like the economic reasons that TheatreVA closed and how theater has changed in town since. And there are also more general theater-related issues involved: what is the state of regional theater? Do local audiences care about having an Equity theater in town? Should they?

The closing and re-opening of the theater begs more general entertainment-related questions too: the rise of social media and the explosion in the popularity of video games could be construed as indicating that people – particularly young people – want interactivity to be part of the entertainment experience. How can theater capitalize on that?

Of course, I don’t have much in the way of answers. But I’m always one to jump on the opportunity to ask the questions. If you have any answers, I’d be very interested to hear them. Also, in other Richmond Shakespeare-related news, they issued an Audition Turnout Challenge on their blog recently. If you've got a hankerin' for that iambic pentameter, their audition this weekend is the place to be.

Another links-a-palooza

This past weekend was chock full of action, from the VCU game and its aftermath to the Fairy Tale Ball at the Empire to “The Laramie Project: 10 Years later” down at Sycamore Rouge. RTP opened “Devil Boys from Beyond,” which was promptly hailed as a success by both the Times-Dispatch and GayRVA. Swift Creek Mill opened “Quilters” but I have yet to see a review. Did the T-D’s review get knocked by more incessant Charlie Sheen coverage, I wonder?

Mostly this weekend, I tried to catch up on sleep. But my lovely wife and I did manage to make it out to “Devil Boys” and my review will be forthcoming in a future Style, I expect / hope. In the meantime, I will echo the other reviews out there that praise the high camp of the production but, overall, I think I was less entranced by the proceedings than my critical compatriots. Details to come.

Richmond.com’s review of “Something Intangible” hit the internets last week as well. As you may have noticed, the articulate and analytical Richmond.com reviewer Liz Jewett also maintains a blog that is linked to at the bottom of her reviews. Though she doesn’t focus on theater, it makes for some very interesting reading so I’ve put a link to it over there on the right. Check it out some time.

Online coverage really seems to be where it’s at these days. In addition to GayRVA’s quick posting of a “Devil Boys” review, they had a preview up of the show last week and were one of the only media outlets to report on Sycamore Rouge’s “Laramie: 10 years after” production. We slacker print folks just can’t keep up.

One last thing on “Spider-man:” after seeing the show, I had a great time going back and reading reviews by others. There’s a collection of links to the many reviews on the Ent Weekly site, as well as a link to a video collection of reviews. It seems that critics took the opportunity of such a colossally conflicted show to sharpen their pens to particularly pointed levels. My favorite line from any of the reviews is in the LA Times review by Charles McNulty, where he says “Nothing cures curiosity about "Spider-Man" quite like seeing it.” Indeed.

Speaking of nicely written reviews, in a review of “The Book of Mormon” last week, the critics summarizes the show in a way that also describes the exact antithesis of “Spider-man.” He says that the show’s creators “honor the traditions of great song-and-dance musical theater in all the best ways: Every detail of the production serves a purpose. Every character signifies. Every song is crafted with erudition about what a song is meant to do.” Perhaps the Spider-man producers should hire the team from “BOM?”

Oh My

I'm feeling totally disoriented today. Drove through the night to get back from NYC and am at work running on about 2 hours sleep. That doesn't explain why blogger keeps screwing up my posts -- won't put line feeds and returns in when I copy and paste text. Very frustrating. It also doesn't explain why on Wednesday I called "Something Intangible" by the name "Something to Ponder." Don't know where my head was at. Adding to the delirium are the scenes from "Spider-man: Turn off the dark" running through my head, alternating with the song "Loser Like Me" from "Glee" that I was playing on the CD during the drive home.

One reason I was playing the "Glee" songs (besides keeping me awake) was because there wasn't a single song from "Spider-man" that stuck in my head; most were significantly melody deprived. I had to fill the void with something. I'll have more to say about Spidey when I collect my thoughts but I'll give this quick capsule: The production had some of the most amazing aerial work I have ever seen and the many millions of dollars that went into the production are plain to see in the sets, lights, costumes, and general spectacle. There are about 3 scenes in the show that stick out as among the most awe-inspiring I've ever seen.

Having said that, the second act of the show is just dreadful. Weird things happen that are only vaguely explained, if at all, and the denouement is among the most disappointing ever. It certainly wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. But it was not great, and only better than good because of the eye-popping technology and design work. Off to take a nap...have a great weekend!

Quickly

Well, this day has totally gotten away from me. I wanted to delve further into “Something Intangible” but won’t have much time. So I’ll talk briefly about the negatives in my review, since those always seem to be what people want to talk about.

1. Disney specificity. So obviously the plot of the play follows the development of “Fantasia” at Disney. The brothers are surrogates for Ray and Walt. You can imagine Wistonville becoming Disneyland. “Grandioso” is the analog for “Fantasia.” Even the curly script of Disney’s autograph are mimicked on the water tower.

But this play seems to want to be more than just a pseudo-biography of the Disney brothers. The playwright talks about Theo and Vincent Van Gogh in his notes on the show. And the interplay of envy and love are wonderfully explored during the course of the show. This created a weird tension for me. After a point, every detail borrowed from the Disney’s story diluted the generalizability of the deeper themes, in my opinion. It made it easier to think, “this is just a story about the Disneys” instead of “this is a story exploring fundamental dynamics that might exist between all brothers / siblings.”

2. Creasy’s von Meyerhoff. My mention of Mr. Creasy’s performance led to a very interesting and edifying conversation between Frank and I. Among the things Frank related to me: “The stage direction for [von Meyerhoff’s] first entrance describes him as a man who is ‘theatrical even when standing still’. Clearly, he's …a man who stands out even amongst crazy artistic Hollywood types.

“…beyond that, in the context of the play, I believe (my opinion alone) that there's a reason Bruce Graham had one actor double in these supporting roles as opposed to having a sixth actor: Bartelli and Von Meyerhoff are even more extreme examples of the distinctions between Dale and Tony. Bartelli is even less attuned to creative matters than Dale, while Von Meyerhoff "out-Wistons" Tony's extreme behavior! The duality of the brothers is emphasized and underscored through the supported role doubling.”

This is all great background and perceptive analysis and I appreciate Frank sharing it with me. As I told him, the von Meyerhoff character didn't work for me because I could imagine all of the other characters as being real, even Tony (who just seems like a calmer version of Charlie Sheen, ya know?) But von Meyerhoff just seemed a bit cartoony to me; I didn’t quite believe in von Meyerhoff like I did the other characters. I don’t necessarily mean that Mr. Creasy was bad in the role; he may have been doing exactly what the playwright intended or what his director guided him toward. But because I didn’t believe in him, the scenes with von Meyerhoff took me out of me suspension of disbelief.

So that’s the quick ‘n dirty on “Something Intangible.” I could heap some more praise on Mr. Maupin or Mr. Reider but that’ll have to wait for another day. If you want another take on the show, here’s Matthew Miller’s review at GayRVA.

Did you hear that the Oscar-winning director of “The King’s Speech” is in talks to direct a musical film adaptation of “Les Mis?” I don’t know whether to be excited or scared by this.

Also, both “Quilters” and “Devil Boys from Beyond” open this weekend. Another pair perfect for a mash-up. Can you imagine “Devil Quilters from Beyond…the Prairie” or something… Could be funny.

Something Intangible

My review of "Something Intangible" is on the Style website. Some additional commentary to come tomorrow...

The “National Stage”

So how about VCU, ay? It was pretty amazing having two college basketball teams from Richmond in the Sweet Sixteen but now to have one in the Final Four is, to carry the alliteration to an absurd level, fabulously phenomenal. The buzz in town about this accomplishment is feverish and I only wish I could have gone downtown last night to join in the craziness that was going on.

The phrase “National Stage” always occurs to me at a time like this. You’ll hear commentators saying that VCU has now arrived on the national stage. But what a complex concept that one is. With the democratization of media, I think it’s harder than ever to figure out what the “national stage” is, where it is, who is on it, how you get there, etc. etc. For instance, Rebecca Black exploded on the national stage just a couple of weeks ago but I know there is a big slice of America who still doesn’t know who she is or why they should know her.

To propose another variation on the theme: as Ms. Haubenstock points out in her review of “Almost Maine,” this show that didn’t make much of an impact on the “national stage” (if you consider Broadway to be that place as far as theater goes) has obviously appealed to regional and local theater directors across the country. So the show has gone on to make a nationwide impact of sorts, but not from a position on the national stage.

Anyway, there’s a long rant on perception, reality, quantity vs. quality and the LA/NYC arbiters of “what is important” encapsulated in there but I don’t want to get too deep with it. Too much esoteric thinking is bound to make my head hurt on a Monday. So, instead, I’ll mention that in addition to “Almost Maine,” “Something Intangible” opened this past weekend. I went to opening night, thoroughly enjoyed the show and will post some additional comments about it when my review comes out, which with any luck will be this Wednesday.

In the meantime, have you read any of the reviews of “How to Succeed in Business…” with Daniel Radcliffe? I’ve made it through a few. One thing I think is interesting is how one critic’s reaction can be so much different than another’s even though they both seem to have seen the exact same thing. And by that, I don’t mean just that they saw the same performance but that they picked up something specific about a production but each put a completely different spin on it. For instance, the enthusiastic Entertainment Weekly reviewer says that you could see Radcliffe working hard in his role (“he always lets you see him sweat”) and that this part of the production added to its charm. The grumpy NYTimes review points out the same thing: “You can almost hear an unseen coach’s voice whispering to Mr. Radcliffe, telling him when to do what. [Y]ou… feel the effort and eagerness with which Mr. Radcliffe responds to that voice.” But instead of praising that behavior, condemns it. You can say Brantley is just a curmudgeon and EW is just a frothy entertainment mag and that accounts for the different conclusions. I’d say they were both astute reviewers, just with distinctly different attutudes about what makes a quality production or effective performance. What would you say?

Finally, thanks to everyone who made suggestions for what show I should see on Thursday. After caucusing with my companion for the trip, we have concluded to give Spidey a try. I'm almost embarrassed to have picked morbid curiosity over interest in quality but I do feel like there is some value to have seen the "bad Spidey" if and when a "good Spidey" ever emerges. Of course, I may feel differently around 11pm on Thursday night...

A Question

I was saddened to read yesterday about the death of Lanford Wilson, one of the true playwrighting legends. Though I’ve seen “Fifth of July” and “Burn This,” I’m hopeful to someday see a production of “Hot L Baltimore,” the play that really put him on the map as I remember it. Though I think my review at the time was a little harsh, I have fond memories of Barksdale’s production of “Fifth” five or six years ago. It starred some of my favorite Richmond actors, including Chris Evans as the lead character’s lover. Not the Captain America Chris Evans though, just so there’s no confusion.

It’s been hard to get conversation rolling here on the blog as of late. Beyond the general down-turn in blog interest -- or some particularly boring posts from me -- I’m thinking it may be because I’m too often asking “big questions” about the nature of theater and the purpose of criticism and such. So, in an effort to get comments – any comment! – I’m going to try a simple question. I’m going to be taking a quick jaunt to NYC next Thursday and I want to see a show. As I do every time I’m planning a trip to Manhattan, I’m struggling with the choices. Should I get a nose-bleed seat to “Spiderman” just to see exactly how awful it is? Should I see something fresh and new that most people haven’t seen yet (“Priscilla”)? Or how about an old classic that I'm embarrased to say I've never seen (“Phantom”) or a newer not-quite-classic that I might be able to get great seats for (“Adams Family”)? Then there’s the possibility to see an awesome actor starring in a smallish vehicle off-Broadway (Andre Braugher in “The Whipping Man”).

What would YOU do if you were popping up to New York just for a day at this specific moment in time? What show are you itching to see and why? I’m interested in your thoughts, of course, but also, I need your help!

The One That Got Away

In the absence of other shows opening, reviews of “A Thousand Clowns” continue to trickle in with Mr. Griset’s take on the show in this week’s Style. The opening drought ends tomorrow with “Something Intangible” raising the curtain at the Firehouse.

Speaking of openings, it is with a slight feeling of sadness that I read about the musical adaptation of “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” opening on Broadway this past weekend. The sadness doesn’t come from the decidedly mixed reviews (an overview of the reviews can be found here; the NY Times calls the show “…monotonous and mechanical” in its review). It doesn’t come from the fact that “Priscilla” essentially kicked “West Side Story” off Broadway, a production I wouldn’t have minded seeing again (OK, that’s a simplification but still…). No, this particular opening causes a little pang in my heart because only once in a while do I look at the pictures of celebs like Christie Brinkley and Bette Midler attending an opening and realistically imagine that I could have been there.

The story behind it is a little long and it’s not worth going through every detail but my son was up for a role in “Priscilla.” If you remember the movie at all, the main character, Tick, has a son named Benji who is supposed to be around 10 years old. In fact, the whole trip across the desert is spurred by Benji’s mom booking Tick in her theater.

As anyone who has been through the casting process for a big production knows, it can be a little grueling and, for us, “Priscilla” may have been the hardest ever. The casting directors had seen Cooper a couple of times but had still not made a decision last fall when a “Press Event” had been planned. Basically, the producers wanted to alert the media to “Priscilla’s” eminent Broadway opening before the production had a try-out run in Toronto. But they didn’t have a Benji yet so they asked us if Cooper could be a Benji stand-in for the event. We thought this was an encouraging sign about his chances to land the role.

So, back in September, Cooper actually appeared on a Broadway stage opposite Will Swenson (still a hot name from “Hair”). He didn’t get to sing but still, he got his own dressing room, he met a lot of cool Broadway folks, and he performed in a packed New York theater. Not bad for a kid from Richmond.

Unfortunately, very soon thereafter, the casting folks said they were looking at kids in Toronto for the role. The boy they eventually cast, Luke Mannikus, seems like a cute kid. And while a role in a Broadway show could have been life-changing for all of us Tlines, there is a certain sense of weird relief in seeing that the young Master Mannikus isn’t named in the Times review and his one big scene is written off as “ludicrous.” Perhaps it’s just as well the way things worked out.

My lovely wife and I were talking about “Priscilla’s” mixed reviews over dinner last night and my never-shy son chimed in, between bites of pasta, “It would have been better with me in it.” Hmmm... Maybe. But I’m not convinced our lives would have been better…even if I had met Christie Brinkley.

Teach Your Children Well

In case you missed him on the radio, check out Mr. Porter's blog to read about the love he gave to "A Thousand Clowns" in his latest review.

That performance arts training hotspot, SPARC, had another boffo event this past weekend. The faculty banded together to produce a cabaret spotlighting the significant talents of the staff. It was a great idea and made for a very entertaining show. In talking to some of the performers afterwards, some of them took the opportunity to do a piece they would never actually be appropriate for on stage, a good indication to me that the staff at SPARC aren’t just talented teachers, actors, dancers, and singers but also students of their respective genres. They could have phoned it in, just doing one of their usual audition pieces. But instead, they gave it their all, stretching themselves and providing a delightful show for everyone who attended.

The highlights from the show are really too numerous to single out. But it was a real treat to see Erin Foley in three monologues sprinkled throughout the evening and to learn that she’ll be in “Circle Mirror Transformation” at the Barksdale soon. Matt Polson was both tuneful and hilarious with his “I am Adolfo” and I liked that Ali Thibodeau and Robin Harris both got a chance to belt out a solo. The performance of “Without Love” begged the earnest entreaty: will someone do “Hairspray” here sometime soon? Please? And there was a dance/art/poetry piece that ended up being pretty entrancing. Given that it involved people getting paint all over their feet, it looked like a lot of fun too!

A real surprise to me was hearing such a big beautiful voice from Deb Clinton having only seen her on stage in straight plays. And finally, the whole evening was hosted by a coterie of SPARC’s most charming and talented students – Meg Carnahan, Allison Gilman, Jessie Jennison and Michael Thibodeau – who make me wish I was back in high school every time I see them together. When did theater kids get so cool?

Speaking of young Ms. Gilman, she is one of the kids featured in the cover story of the latest Richmond Family magazine that talks about SPARC quite a bit as part of talking about young performers in general. The issue has been out for a while so you may have seen it. Pick it up to read about Allison as well as Eric Pastore and Ellie Wilson (who played Gretl in “Sound of Music” not Liesl as mentioned in the article. Kinda funny though that the actress who played Liesl – Ali Thibodeau – is a teacher at SPARC). The article also features a somewhat hilarious juxtaposition, mentioning a certain Timberline kid and then following it by listing former SPARC student Jason Mraz and Tony-nominated actress Emily Skinner. Hmmm. Not exactly parallel in terms of their acclaim and accomplishments. Well, at least not yet…

One last SPARC-related tidbit: I just read today that Henley Street Theatre Company will be using SPARC’s black box space as their performance venue next season. Given the challenges of Pine Camp, I expect this will be a boon to Henley Street and probably not a bad thing for SPARC either. I love a win-win situation.

Spring Awakening

People are probably sick of me pimping for Entertainment Weekly but last week’s issue included not just one but TWO articles focused on Broadway. A preview of Daniel Radcliffe’s opening in “How to Succeed in Business in Without Really Trying” might be expected (there’s an excerpt online here) but there is also a fairly thoughtful piece on Jason Patric appearing in “That Championship Season,” a play written by his father (an interview available online). I mostly mention things like this because all EW cares about is what’s stirring at the top of the entertainment stew and when that something is theater-related, I think it’s a good indication of the enduring popularity of live theater. It also gives me something to write about.

But while I’m promoting other media outlets, let me make a push for the soon-to-be unfunded NPR which regularly has new content under it’s Performing Arts section. It’s the kind of place you can find an alternative take on “Spider-Man” (the article entitled “Don’t be so quick to write off the dark”), not to mention coverage of the “Arcadia” revival and Chris Rock’s new Broadway show. Now THAT is fair and balanced.

And I’m making a preliminary request from both of you readers for help with a possible intervention. As if falling under some seasonal spell, my wife has become obsessed with the current national tour of “Spring Awakening.” She already traveled to North Carolina last weekend to see the show and is now talking about heading to either Pennsylvania or New Jersey to see it again. The only show I’ve been similarly smitten by is “Les Miz” which I have not only seen in NYC a couple of times but traveled to DC (twice) and Kentucky to see on tour. Do you have any show obsessions you’d like to share?

Spring is the season for obsessions, after all, so enjoy the turn of the seasons this weekend (and Purim, too) and prepare to be obsessed with a new flock of local openings starting next weekend!

On Judas

I packed quite a few adjectives into my review of “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot” but one thing that I didn’t say specifically was that it was relevant. That seems like a pretty tepid adjective but it’s a pretty powerful endorsement in my book. Unfortunately, it’s not a word that I am frequently inspired to use in reference to a show. “Relevance” initially occurred to me during the testimony of Mother Theresa, the first scene that made me really sit up and take notice during the show. Here was a still-beloved contemporary figure being called to task for her less-than-spotless moral rectitude, a scene brought to vivid life thanks to performances by Jennie Meharg and Kristen Swanson. Certainly relevant as you consider that Pope John Paul II is set to be beatified in another couple of months. Kinda makes you wonder whether that whole sainthood thing is a little more complicated than you were taught in Sunday school, if not an outright farce.

Later on, we realize that there are compelling existential questions underlying Jennie Meharg’s character’s investment in Judas’s trial. And really, they are the kind of questions that we all face at different times in our lives. As the tragedy in Japan continues to unfold, how can we not wonder about the nature of God? Given the overwhelming scale of big tragedies and the prevalence of little daily tragedies, how do we find solace and/or hope? Simple honest people seem to be punished by fate when real modern-day villains (hello, Wall Street billionaires! And hey there, Khadafi!) wallow in their riches. How can you not wonder whether God really cares, perhaps whether he really exists?

Of course, the play does a great job of bringing it all down to a humanist level with the scene between Jesus and Judas and then Jonathan Conyer’s character’s coda. Whether we go to a physical hell or not, there is unquestionably an emotional hell and some people are living it every day.

I could talk about the content of this play for hours, making it a perfect “Acts of Faith” entry in my humble opinion, but it must be mentioned that Bo Wilson got some incredible performances out of his cast. I’ve slathered praise on David Clark and Ronnie Brown already but they deserve at least one more layer. Mr. Clark is a delight throughout the show and Mr. Brown is riveting as Pilate. Other stand-outs to me were Vinnie Gonzalez as Satan and Jill Bari Steinberg as Judas’s mother. And while Diana Carver was indeed hilariously profane as Saint Monica, I was pretty sure she was going wonky on some lines on opening night. Call me a stickler but I’m a firm believer that, before anything else, you have to know the lines.

This collaboration between Henley and RTP has certainly proven a winner and hopefully will lead to additional similarly exceptional co-pros in the future. This is the last weekend to see it and they’ve added a show on Sunday so there’s no excuse to miss it.

Last Weekends

I’m mostly trafficking in old news today, playing catch up after several days being fairly staggered throughout the weekend by events in Japan. But the T-D review of “A Thousand Clowns” came out this weekend and Mr. Porter posted a review of “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot,” so there are plenty of other theater opinions to read out there.

For a myriad of reasons, I’ve seen several recent productions on their final weekend of performances. It has me pondering the tradition of critics going to a show’s opening night. There’s no denying the excitement and energy of opening night. But I’ve also seen productions gel as they go along, getting more relaxed and/or natural and/or fun from week to week (that was my impression of “BFG”). Of course, others get a little too loose as a run proceeds past its third or fourth week (I wondered if the “Jitney” cast was feeling a little fatigue going into their sixth week of performances this past weekend).

If a critics is supposed to give a sense of what the average patron will see, maybe the first Sunday matinee would be the best performance to see. Or maybe, since part of the joy of live theater is that every performance is a little different, it doesn’t really matter what show a critic sees?

Anyway, lest anyone think my question about “Jitney” is meant as a slight, it certainly is not. The production I saw at Sycamore Rouge last Friday was top-notch, great performances all around, and an entertaining night of theater. Toney Cobb is always solid, and his portrayal of Becker was spot-on, a real lived-in characterization of a proud man facing some hard life challenges. J. Ron Fleming was a hoot as Fielding and Delvin Young did amazing things with the smallish but pivotal part of Booster. I always love to see young talent like Justin Delaney (who was Youngblood) emerge. I only vaguely remember him from “Charcoal Street” and “Black Nativity” but he made a real impression with “Jitney.”

But my real favorite of the production was Ray Taalib-Deen and not just because his customer-service-pleasant refrain of “Car Service” always got a laugh. Turnbo is a character who somehow means well, even though his meddling in everyone’s business is the main source of dramatic tension during the play. Taalib-Deen’s soft voice lent a “gentle giant” vibe to the character and was a great asset when risen in outrage against Youngblood.

The show was a long one and there was a few spots that dragged. But in general Derome Scott Smith did an exceptional job of pacing the drama to balance the alternating ensemble scenes with the more syllologuy-like scenes. It’s definitely the best work I’ve seen from AART.

At this point, “Once on this Island” seems like really old news having closed two weekends ago, but my experience at the closing night performance was the best time I’ve had at a musical so far this year. Even with its tragic elements, it is such an exuberant show and, like the best of musicals, leaves you with several strong melodies that echo in your mind for weeks (“Waiting for Life” is playing in my head even as I write this).

There are numerous aspects of the Mill’s production that deserve recognition. Most all of the acting and singing was very strong, with particular kudos to Kris Roberts as TiMoune and Durron Tyre as Daniel. Both the lighting by Joe Doran and Leslie Owens-Harrington’s choreography were exceptional and director Tom Width brought it all together with flare. But the real, perhaps unappreciated star of this production was musical director Paul Deiss who led a rock-solid orchestra in keeping that lively, infectious Caribbean-tinged music flowing throughout the show. If there was a moment without music or sound of some sort I don’t remember it, so infused with melody is my memory of the show.

For those who are still following the ongoing saga of “Spider-man” on Broadway, there’s an interesting perspective offered by one journalist in Newsweek this week in response to Julie Taymor’s dismissal and the push of an official opening to the summer. I don’t know the show’s score but if it’s the antithesis of something like “Once on this Island” – that is, free of memorable melodies and engaging songs – then placing at a hearty chunk of blame for this massive fail in the laps of Bono and the Edge certainly seems warranted.

Sneaking one in

My review of "Last Days of Judas Iscariot" just showed up on the Style website. Supplemental commentary to come...

“J” names

There’s a line in the musical “Quilters” (now in rehearsal down at Swift Creek Mill and, based on what I’ve heard, peopled by a cast of awesome actresses) about the popularity of giving children names that start with ‘J.’ There’s also a great kid’s song -- a Timberline family favorite -- called “Favorite Names” all about ‘J’ names.

Two productions in town generating a lot of buzz are ‘J’ shows: “Judas Iscariot” and “Jitney.” This is the last weekend, you can catch the latter, so don’t hesitate to take the trip southward to Sycamore Rouge to check it out. “Judas” has been featured in a nice piece in Style this week and WCVE broadcast Joan Tupponce’s review of the show recently. I’m hoping my review will show up soon online and then I’ll expand on it.

I’m also collecting my thoughts on “Once on this Island,” which I saw the closing performance of last weekend. What a great production! More detailed thoughts to come…

Times Gone By

Joan Tupponce hasn’t been updating her blog recently but WCVE has been getting better (IMHO) at posting her audio reviews on their website. You can go to this link for a listing of all the recent ones they’ve broadcast, including her take on the still-running “Legacy of Light.”

I’ve had a few occasions to talk about “Godspell” since it closed two weekends ago and I’ve been intrigued at people’s impressions. On one extreme, one particularly harsh friend called the show “dated and dumb.” On the other, someone commenting on the post below said Nick Shackleford portrayal of Jesus was “one of the best performances I've seen in Richmond in a long time.” Among my critical pals, the response was also varied with even the most positive voicing some reservations, even the most negative admitting to some nice aspects of the Cadence production.

“Godspell” will always be a show I have a hard time being thoroughly objective about. It was the first musical I remember seeing as a kid and was really my entrée into any interest in theater. My high school’s production when I was a sophmore will in many ways remain the gold standard against which I compare all productions I’ve seen since, a now gauzy euphoric memory infused with the joy of discovery. This poses both positive and negative challenges for me when considering any production: I automatically react with excitement when I hear that fabulous music but I also instinctively know nothing will measure up to my memory.

But even carrying that baggage into the Cadence production, I left having really enjoyed it. I loved the 60s-era vibe that director Anna Johnson gave the production, the overall sense of freshness and innocense that emanated from the performances (this vibe was one some of my pals specifically did not enjoy). She also made good use of what was undoubtedly a challenging performance space. The choreography by Leslie Owens-Harrington was fantastic, skillfully keeping the players in compelling motion throughout a somewhat cramped space. Kim Fox’s music direction was strong and assured.

There weren’t any weak spots in the cast, a real testament to Ms. Johnson’s ability to lure top-notch talent to her projects. It’s always a joy to see new talent seize the opportunity a production like this provides and the unbelievably young T’arah Craig was a revelation: agile in her movement, sincere in her performance and amazing in her voice, partnering with Aly Wepplo to perform the sweetest version of “By My Side” I’ve ever heard. Daniel Cimo is someone who seems born to act, his emotions coming across so clearly from the stage, and it was impossible not to get caught up in Chris Hester’s antic energy. Carolyn Meade’s “Turn Back Old Man” was a distinct highlight and Wepplo seemed to be genuinely choked up at the show’s end, adding a real poignance to the finale.

But while both Shackleford and Russell Rowland did fine jobs, I think there was something of an inbalance in their relationship. Basically, I think Rowland is such a forcefull presence, particularly with that voice, that it was hard for Shackleford to be more compelling. And I wanted Jesus to be more compelling than Judas.

Another issue for me just has to do with the actual story of “Godspell,” which I was much more willing to let flow over me when I was younger. I’ve read a fair amount on the historical Jesus and the history of Christianity in the past decade. I’ve also had a touchy ideological relationship with the faith over the years, particularly with guidance offered by its more fundamental adherents. So its hard for me to put that stuff out of my head and just take in the dramatization of the history of Jesus as a nice little story (one of the reasons I appreciated the “free love” era vibe of the production was it helped me put all of that out of my mind as much as possible.)

So, in the final analysis, I thought it was quite a fine production, another feather in the cap of Cadence’s still-young cap. I was particularly glad that my sons got to see it because it’s a show I’ve wanted them to see and I’m happy they saw an excellent production instead of a marginal one. But seeing it also has had the lingering effect of making me wonder how anxious I’ll be to run out and catch the next production of “Godspell” that shows up on the radar (a Broadway production is being planned for this summer).

Speaking of Broadway, a new production I think people in regional theaters across the country will be checking out with interest is “Good People,” starring the always-intriguing Frances McDormand. David Lindsay-Abaire’s work has been a favorite of local theaters for years – Firehouse has done great productions of “Fuddy Mears” and “Rabbit Hole,” just to name a couple – so I would expect “Good People” to show up on a local stage as soon as the rights are available.

Still

My little finger’s still in a cast and typing is still a pain in the butt. So this will have to be short and sweet. My review of “Legacy of Light” was in Style this week. I’ve got a link up to the T-D review of “Judas” over to the right there but there is also a wonderfully written Richmond.com review by Ms. Jewett that was posted yesterday. My review of the production should show up online soon.

The same week I mention EW’s stage coverage they do a big spread in the magazine on “Broadway’s Craziest Season!” but, in a classic ‘dis to stage fans, the article is nowhere to be found on their website. Anyway, the article includes this interesting assertion: “Spiderman has arguably done s much as – if not more than – the TV show “Glee” to raise theater’s profile as a popular art form in the past few months.” Would you agree? Is this in line with the ‘there’s no such thing as bad publicity’ ethos we hear so much about?

No openings this week but plenty of closings (“BFG,” “Once on this Island,” JCC’s “Kindertransport,” etc.). Just because a couple of shows are getting summer revivals – congrats to “Nunsense” and “Dog Sees God” – doesn’t mean anyone should get complacent about getting out there to see shows while they can!

Briefly

The Oscars are sometimes called the gay Super Bowl so in honor of last night's telecast you may want to go over to GayRVA and check out the review of "BFG" and what I think is a review of "Last Days of Judas Iscariot." The latter is kinda short and not written by the usual Mr. Miller so I don't know if he'll be weighing in as well. The T-D has not, as far as I can tell.

I've got much to say about this past weekend but I'm going under the knife in about an hour so it'll have to wait. What a lovely day for surgery, n'est pas?

Whiplash

As a pop culture junkie, I’ve been reading Entertainment Weekly as a wonderful guilty pleasure for years now. But it was only this week that I realized that the magazine’s website does a regular “This Week in Stage” column. This week’s column starts out with “Spiderman,” of course, but also goes gives a few quick hits on other happenings. It’s not Playbill.com, but it’s not bad for a quick review. Also, EW has a regular online “channel” for their theater coverage that you can get to here.

Speaking of the wall-crawler of the Great White Way, I enjoyed this review of the production in this week’s New Yorker. The concept of “musical of human sacrifice,” however, seems like just another flavor of things dreamt up in everything from “The Hunger Games” to “The Lottery” to Nascar. Are people going to Spiderman expecting / hoping to see an accident? Of course they are.

I’m eagerly anticipating the kind of theatrical whiplash one finds during the Acts of Faith festival in my theater patronage this weekend. I’ll enjoy the generally respectful, if rocked out, staging of things Christian and revelatory at “Godspell” after taking in the irreverent, imaginative musings on things Christian and punitive in “Last Days of Judas Iscariot.” While I don’t expect my belief system to be altered in any significant way, I do expect it’ll be an affirmation of the value of this festival: big issues make good theater.

Now you see ‘em, now you don’t

No, the title isn’t referring to what regular readers may think it’s referring to. Don’t know the whole story, am not expecting to find it out either.

Just as the air is full of anticipation early in January as a flock of new productions is getting set to fly, there is a wee bit of sadness in the air as a bunch of productions are now finishing up. Kudos to those long-running nuns out in Hanover – what an impressive ride it’s been for them. I’m happy that I’m squeezing in a visit to St. Mary’s to see “Godspell;” it would’ve seemed like a sin to miss it.

I hope and expect to see “The BFG” at least once more before it closes. There are a few truly delightful things worth highlighting about this show. First off, this is a show where the direction (by Chase Kniffen) is clearly and enjoyably evident. The affectations of everyone in the Queen’s court, particularly the hilarious interplay between the Queen and her maid, seem a clear translation of a director’s vision. Then there are the eye-popping technical elements – the fabulous giant heads, the luminous lighting, and the impressive rotating set. Even someone who didn’t like the story would have to be a little awed by the stagecraft.

Finally, there are the performances. David Bridgewater makes an absolutely wopsy giant, fleshing out an extreme character who could too easily be turned into a cartoon by a lesser actor. Susan Sanford reaffirms why Richmond is so lucky to have her back with her highly entertaining turn as the Queen. And little Ms. Wilson is just wonderful as Sophie. To see someone so little command the stage so effortlessly is quite amazing.

There are some real challenges to staging a show like BFG. One is competing with the source material because the book is really great. Convincingly evoking giant country – a landscape vividly described in the book – is a real challenge on stage as is projecting any real sense of gigantism. The mangled giant dialogue is also easy to lose track of if you aren’t familiar with it.

But IMHO the Theatre IV production does as good a job as can be expected surmounting these challenges and more than pays them back with the scenes in the Queen’s court that are my favorite. If you go to the show, try and go on a weekend where you can see Sarah Grady’s incredible costumes during the meet-n-greet. As extreme as they may seem on stage, they are even more so when seen up close in the Empire lobby.

One day until “Judas” and then a little hiatus until shows start opening again in mid-to-late March. So go see ‘em while you can!

Racism, God and Giants

It always surprises me what gets people’s dander up. But even more surprising is when the response to an angry tirade is well-mannered, articulate and effective. The esteemed Mr. Miller provides a model for such a response in his latest blog post where he takes on an expatriate Richmond actor and his accusations of racism. There’s just a wee undercurrent of something like sarcasm in Mr. Miller’s post but, for the most part (and IMHO), it provides more than sufficient rebuttal to any charges leveled against his company.

I know there are people in town who look at Theatre IV as something like the evil empire simply because they are the biggest company in town. But in terms of diversity of programming and hiring, I think they do pretty darn well. Maybe they could do better but I think there are probably a half-dozen other organizations I’d target for their lack of diversity before I’d take aim at Theatre IV.

But perhaps most mystifying to me is why the specific production (“BFG”) prompted this kind of charge. Is it just because it opened in February? That seems pretty arbitrary to me.

Style's issue this week has a double-shot from Mr. Griset, with his reviews of "Once on this Island" and "Romeo & Juliet" both available online. Style also slipped another review in last week, posting this “Godspell” review online on Friday. Check it out if you haven’t – both the review and the show! “BFG” continues to garner some coverage, with this review at Richmondmom.com and this little featurette in Style.

If you need your appetite whetted for “Judas Iscariot” opening this weekend, check out this preview in the T-D. Though you can’t find the cast list online very easily, rest assured that some of the finest talent in town is going to be part of this production. It may get crowded on the RTP stage but, in this case (as it was with “Take Me Out” last season), this kind of crowd is a good thing.

digital divide

so i busted up my pinkie finger over the weekend which is annoying in all sorts of ways, among them being that capitalization is kind of a bitch. typing in general isn't really a party either because unless i'm careful the splint on my left hand hits extra keys on the keyboard. ex: here12 is what happens`1 when i'm not32 care1ful.

so i'm not going to write out all of my impressions of BFG (thank you caps lock) right now. but here's a link to ms. haubenstock's review. this afternoon i go to the orthopedic specialist so by tomorrow i'll either be able to type better or won't be able to type at all. updates to come!

Nuts, bolts, etc.

With the Picasso exhibit opening at VMFA, I have been remembering a conversation I had a few years ago with an art curator in town. Until then, I really had no idea what he did. He was in the midst of hanging a contemporary art show and was talking about the challenges of lighting and position and location he was facing. As only a very casual visual arts patron, I thought you just slapped the stuff on the wall and were done with it. Hearing about this fellow’s long nights working with a somewhat temperamental artist on a very tight timeline gave me a whole new appreciation of that particular behind-the-scenes aspect of his job.

I wonder about the transfer coming up of “Jitney” from Pine Camp down to Sycamore Rouge and what the behind-the-scenes challenges are associated with that. Given that this was a move planned well in advance, I expect (hope) some consideration of what moving to a new space would entail. Twenty-five years ago I was a small and tangential part of a couple of moves of “Quilters” (yes, that one again…) from one venue to another and then to another space within the Empire. Each move required a little reworking of set and blocking and props and, as I remember it, the rustic set that perfectly filled up Shafer Street stage seemed a little lost and spread out on the main Empire stage.

One of my favorite productions of all time was “The Syringa Tree” which I saw in its original configuration on the Little Theatre stage in the Empire and always wondered how the staging on the Willow Lawn stage changed / enhanced / inhibited the show. As a reviewer, I often think it’d be cool to do a dual review of a show that’s moved – one venue versus another, one installation versus another, as it were. Of course, I’m lucky to get to any production in any space these days, let alone one production in two. Still, a boy can dream.

Speaking of more nuts and bolts matters, “The BFG”’s opening tonight has me appreciative (again) of the key role of stage manager in the smooth operation of any production. Wendy Vandergrift is stage-managing “BFG” and she is awesome. The energy, focus and good-humor she brings to the job makes everything (at least from the outside) seem like a party, even though I’m sure she’s just as tired and cranky as everyone else as the crush of tech week comes to a close. As a stage parent, no one is more important to me than the stage manager and yet, as a theater critic, I never mention the stage manager. (And probably never would – how can an audience member tell whether a show is well stage-managed?) That’s a weird little piece of cognitive dissonance I’m feeling right now.

There’s still lots of theater to see out there but make a space for “BFG” in your plans, if for nothing else to see the adorable Ellie Wilson (Gretel in “Sound of Music”) being, well, adorable again!

Facebook Frustration

I can’t access Facebook at work so I can’t include the links that I want to below. But if you are lucky enough to be able to get to Facebook, they should be easy enough to find.

First, Theatre IV’s next show, “The BFG (Big Friendly Giant)” is opening on Friday. This will mark the (possibly welcome) return of a certain pint-sized Timberline to the stage after his adventures out west. It also marks the (definitely welcome) return of David Janeski to the video production realm and he’s posted at least one (maybe more) behind-the-scenes video about the production on Facebook that is quite witty and entertaining, as they always are. I can’t find a link on the Theatre IV site but you can search FB for it.

Update: Here's a link to Theatre IV's page.

Second, last night I stumbled upon the Best Dates series that Richmond Shakespeare has been doing as part of its promotion of “Romeo and Juliet” and it’s a lot of fun. Liz Blake White and Jeff Cole are cute as a pair of buttons and the captions to some of the pics are drolly hilarious. Again, I can’t offer a direct link but you can go to the Richmond Shakespeare site on FB and find it.

Update: Here's a link to Richmond Shakespeare's page.

Speaking of R&J, the RVANews review by Susan Howson showed up yesterday. It’s worth a read. And speaking of reviews, Style has Mr. Griset’s take on “Dog Sees God” in this week’s issue.

As I hope you’ve noticed, the links to other blogs and websites are starting to appear over on the right side of the page. I still haven’t rebuilt the links to individual actors, including the “expatriates” section. But I’ll give a quick shout-out to one ex-pat who has a new show that was recently reviewed on the NY Theatre site. As per usual, former Richmonder Chris Harcum is wowing audiences with his one-man bravura performances. Way to go Chris!

Have a happy “hump day” and look for my guaranteed-to-be-biased review of “BFG” coming this weekend!

Where Art Thou

When I was in high school, my friends complained about studying Shakespeare. Even today many people who I talk to who love theater in general have no great affection for Shakespeare. But to me, Shakespeare has always been a rich mix of investigative discovery (specifically around the language) and hard-core stage theatrics. The language holds so many weird and wonderful gifts that pop up at unexpected times.

The most famous passage from “Romeo and Juliet” – Juliet’s balcony scene that includes the line “Wherfore Art Thou Romeo?” as well as the “rose by any other word would smell as sweet” assertion – may be familiar to even the most casual theater lover but still has surprises. For instance, for many years I thought the first line was Juliet pining for Romeo and essentially asking “where are you, Romeo?” in fancy Elizabethan speak.

It wasn’t until well after my college years that I picked up an annotated Shakespeare that explained that “wherefore” in the specific context of that scene is asking “for what purpose are you Romeo?” Once I knew that, the whole scene makes a whole lot more sense. For you hardcore Bard fans out there, this is old news. What’s unfortunate (IMHO) is that I’m sure that there are scads of people that have let that line go past them for years without giving it a second thought. I’m sure of that because I was one of them.

Anyway, if you were wondering where the Times-Dispatch review of “R&J” was, it’s in today’s paper. As I was perusing the T-D online, I also saw this picture apparently taken from a rehearsal for “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot,” the show that will close out this flurry of openings next week.

The T-D also offers a feed from the Associate Press so at the bottom of the “R&J” review you’ll see links to various national theater stories, including this one that recaps the latest on Broadway’s Spiderman. If you’d rather say “Turn off the Noise” to “Turn off the Dark” and are sick of that story, perhaps you’d like to read about fanboy conversation that’s springing up around the new Spiderman movie, specifically the organic/mechanical web spinner debate. Not to get all pedantic or anything but sometimes its kind of amazing to me that, with democracy seeming to be catching fire across the Middle East, these are the things people talk about. Oh well, as my hero Kurt Vonnegut famously wrote, so it goes.

Speaking of Envy…

Thanks to my anonymous pals out there who alerted me to the reviews of “Godspell” and “Romeo and Juliet” that are available online at some of the alternative media outlets in town (GayRVA and Richmond.com, respectively).

I really enjoyed reading both of these reviews. A well-written rave is always fun to read but I also have a tinge of envy with space that online writers have at their disposal. Not being constricted to a set number of words (me and Rich at Style) or column inches (the T-D reviewers) or minutes of airtime (WCVE folks) allows Ms. Jewett to write with enthusiasm and insight on “R&J” and for Mr. Mitchell to bring some historical / critical background to bear in his discussion of “Godspell.” They are lucky to have the space and we readers are lucky (IMHO) to have writers who care enough to use that space to enhance their reviews. Brava!

Keeping it fresh and friends

A couple of people have asked me about the new look for the blog. Two reasons for the change: I was really getting sick of looking at that old design. And also, I wanted to take advantage of all of the cute new widgets that the blogging programmers have come up with. I’m still figuring most of them out so some of the categories of listings that were on the old blog haven’t transferred over yet. But they will resurface as soon as I figure out how to incorporate them all. Honest.

One of the widgets is the “Followers” option. If you want to get notification when I post, it’s a handy little feature. I noticed that John Porter has more than 25 followers (oh, and his rave about “Legacy of Light” was posted recently). Do I have follower envy? Yes, I believe I do.

I don’t know why exactly, but I’ve seen a lot more sensitivity in the press and in marketing about how Valentine’s Day isn’t such a great celebration for some folks. At least one site I’ve seen suggests we remember the importance of friends at Valentine’s Day as well as loading up our sweethearts with gifts. I think this is a great idea. In fact, I was going to relate it to some recently opened theater productions. Sure, “Romeo and Juliet” is more famous for the titular love story but isn’t the friendship between Romeo and Mercutio also a pivotal and near-equally heartbreaking aspect of the play?

There isn’t an exact female equivalent in "R&J" but in “West Side Story” I think one of the most affecting and in some ways disturbing scenes is when Anita, still freshly grieving over the death of Bernardo, goes to the diner to tell Tony what’s going on only to be taunted and nearly raped by Tony’s pals. That’s some kind of strong bond that makes Anita willing to do that for Maria (that her lie about Maria’s death in response to the abuse ultimately leads to Tony’s death just makes it all the more tragic).

If you are looking for something to do with a friend to celebrate Valentine’s Day, you could always rent a classic old MGM musical to watch and bond over. Here’s a pretty amazingly comprehensive review of the best of all those old musicals that I came across recently.

The struggles of “Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark” have reached a new level of recognition in the cultural zeitgeist: if you happened to check out Saturday Night Live this past weekend, there was a moderately entertaining faux-commercial with a personal injury lawyer handling grievances from those injured by the production (he won awards all consisting of...wait for it...tickets to see the show). I’m still wondering whether all of this attention is a good thing or a bad thing; there is, after all, no such thing as bad publicity right?

I haven’t seen reviews of “Godspell” and “R&J” yet; I guess other things (the Grammies?) pushed them off the pages of the T-D. If anyone sees them before me, please let me know. I mean, that’s what friends are for, right?

Love!

The run-up to the massive love-a-palooza that is Valentine’s Day started for me on Tuesday. First, there was the romance-centric episode of “Glee,” where the unlikely Puck-Lauren wooing allowed for performance of one of my favorite songs of all-time (“Fat Bottomed Girls”).

Then, of course, there was the “Celebrity Sonnets” reading that Richmond Shakespeare held that evening. The range of talent on display was impressive, from the schmoes who barely got their iambs to pentameterize (yours truly) to real pros like Jacquie O’Connor who showed what a real actor can do with 14 short little lines. It was great fun watching Deb Clinton, Alan Sader, Matt Hackman, and Emma Mason play out the various mixings and matchings of love, using the Bard’s complex verse as a vehicle. Frankly, Mr. Hackman and Ms. Mason could have been reading random Facebook statuses – the electricity between those attractive young actors is palpable.

One perspective that I came out of the experience with was the concept of an actor’s instrument and the importance of keeping it tuned and exercised. There is a whole litany of tools that I did not have at my disposal because I don’t act or perform on a regular basis. What was so clear from comparing amateurs to pros that night is that there are subtleties involving tone of voice, changes of expression, simple gestures, rhythm and pacing that you only master with practice (or some really amazing innate talent). Even though there were things that I wanted to communicate that I could discuss or contemplate intellectually, my instrument was not adequately tuned to actually get them across. I think I did OK but I was fascinated by the thought of what a real actor could do with my sonnet employing the skills that I don’t have.

On Wednesday, Ms. Jewett on Richmond.com gave a little love to “Legacy of Light” with her review. I found out that day that my review of the show won’t come out until Feb. 23. Since it’ll be a while, I’ll offer this capsule, which is not quite as admiring as Ms. Jewett’s: I found the historical half of the story very engaging, anchored by great performances by Tamara Johnson as Emilie, Larry Cook as Voltaire and a heart-breaking, delicate and beautiful Maggie Horan as Pauline. However, I never warmed to the contemporary story and found some aspects of it downright annoying (to paraphrase the show, “annoyingly annoying”). But Mr. Miller did a particularly fine job when the past and present story lines mixed and technically, the show was wonderful, Ms. Hartman’s lighting being a real stand-out. More detail in print in 10 days or so...

I read on Thursday that Stephen Colbert will appear in a production of “Company” later this year. I love both Colbert and Sondheim but I’m a little wary of what will happen when the two come together.

And finally, love will definitely be in the air on stages this weekend, with the openings of “Romeo and Juliet” and “Godspell,” two shows I happen to love. So whether you celebrate love that is carnal, romantic or spiritual this weekend, have a lovely time!

Recovery

I’ve spent as much of the past 5 days as possible studying the inside of my eyelids, trying to recover from a lingering illness. I’ve emerged relatively successfully, though I am fearful of the potential for addiction to Nyquil. Dang, that stuff makes you sleep hard.

I was able to drag myself out of bed to take part in the wonderful evening that was Richmond Shakespeare's "Celebrity Sonnets" as part of its Second Tuesdays readers theater series. I'll write more on that soon. Anyway, I’ve got much to catch up on so here are scads of links:

This week’s Style is a definite picker-upper because it’s the mid-season Arts issue. Theatre-related articles in this one include Mary Burruss’s piece on “Romeo and Juliet” and my piece on Sycamore Rouge and upcoming co-productions. I’d also strongly recommend my colleague Rich Griset’s well-researched explication of the recent Virginia Opera kerfuffle.

The T-D has reviewed "Legacy of Light," "Dog Sees God" and "Jitney." Of these three, I’ve only seen “Legacy” so far and will put my two cents out there about it soon.

Mr. Porter has posted his review of “Once on this Island.” Raves all around for this one so far.

Also, one of the newer critics on the local scene – and the newest official member of the Richmond Theatre Critics Circle – is Liz Jewett who has been penning articles for Richmond.com lately. In case you missed them, here are links to her preview of “The Color Purple” and her review of “This Beautiful City.” I’ll be trying to link to her more often as I find her stuff.

The hits continue as “Romeo and Juliet” and “Godspell” open this weekend. Phew! Hardly enough time to take a breath around here!

Oh also, I snuck into rehearsal for Theatre IV’s upcoming “The BFG (Big Friendly Giant)” last night and saw the set that’s under construction. It looks like it’s going to be pretty cool. Watch for that one opening just around the corner…

Oh, and of course, the theater world has been abuzz about the reviews of the Spiderman musical hitting the papers even though the show hasn’t officially opened yet. You probably won’t be too surprised to learn that most critics have hated it. Here’s a link to a nice summary of the reviews. I especially like the cited recommendation from New York magazine’s reviewer that the show never open and just continue to be retooled forever. Intriguing idea…

UPDATE: Here's another summary that includes a link to the producers' response to the critical drubbing the show is receiving...

Triple Play

There are three plays opening this weekend and they may be among the most curiosity-spurring shows of the young year, each for a different reason. How does Bert Royal bring the Peanuts gang into their teenage years for “Dog Sees God?” How will Sycamore Rouge and AART blend together for “Jitney?” And what the heck is “Legacy of Light” even about?

I am cautiously hopeful about each of these productions. As the father of two teenagers, I’m kind of sick of shows that treat adolescents as joke fodder and little else (one of my very few beefs with “This Beautiful City”). Teenagers may be maddening, confused and even ridiculous but they are also struggling with one of the toughest transitions that people have to make. Based on what little I know about it, I can see the potential for “Dog Sees God” to be a two-hour long joke at teenagers’ expense. But I’m hopeful Mr. Maupin will encourage more shades and nuance in his production.

Preliminary reports I’ve heard (from biased sources, granted) suggest that “Jitney” is going to be great. This is a very eloquent play in its own street-wise way, and if the right actors are guided well, it can have the snap and pop of a great jazz performance. But it’s also thin on plot and relatively lengthy so the potential for drag is definitely there. My hope is that the influence of Sycamore Rouge – which has done an exceptional job at staging classics like “Streetcar” and “The Crucible” – will be seen in an AART production that hits all of the right notes.

I think “Legacy of Light” faces some of the same challenges Richmond Shakespeare’s “Arcadia” did last year. It’s a show with two plotlines set in different centuries and apparently employs some rich language. It’s female-centric and deals with real and relatively complicated issues. But I expect, like “Arcadia,” it is also funny and engaging. It seems like “Arcadia” found its audience; I’m hopeful audiences will be able to get over the vagueness and unfamiliarity of the title and give “Legacy” a fair shot as well.

An interim post

I’ve been trying to keep to a schedule of Mon-Wed-Fri blog posts but had to break that pattern today. I just found out yesterday that my review of “The Fiddler’s House” won’t be appearing in print but Style has posted it online. You can check it out here.

I’m not sure what else to say about this production. I went in really wanting to like it. I’ve heard great things about CAT’s productions over the past year or two. But the basic plotline of “Fiddler’s” was not only derivative of “Driving Miss Daisy,” which I highlight in my review, but of a half-dozen sitcom scenarios dating back at least as far as “All in the Family.” And the journey the characters take involves huge cultural and interpersonal shifts and the cast, as stalwart as they were, did not convince me that those shifts had taken place.

I remained intrigued by CAT’s “all Richmond premieres” season and will look forward to their next show – “Almost Maine” directed by Amy Berlin – in March. It’s a show that sounds like a real actors’ challenge, based on what I’ve heard, and should dovetail nicely with the sense of spring fever that we’ll hopefully be enjoying by that time.