Asheville Performing Arts Reviews: Online and Ontarget

Hello...?

2009-08-14T09:06:00.001-04:00

Been getting a few inquiries as to whether APAR is still operational. Good question. Ever since the MX theatre blog went live, they seemed to take such the brunt of both reviews and comments that this blog seemed less useful. I got out of the habit of regular updates.
So... is anyone missing it? I'm happy to keep it going, and/or to work on restructuring it to be a better resource for everyone.
What do you, dear readers, want? Let's make it happen.
Thanks.
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Man of La Mancha

2009-06-18T22:07:00.002-04:00

From the Citizen-Times
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Check out ‘Man of La Mancha'
Flat Rock actors present classic with great zest
TIM REID • PUBLISHED JUNE 12, 2009 12:15 AM

“Magnificent” is the word brought to mind by Flat Rock Playhouse's “Man of La Mancha,” the timeless story of the 17th- century “mad knight” who jousts with windmills and pursues the impossible dream.

A play within a play, “La Mancha” tells the story of Spanish tax collector Miguel de Cervantes, who with his assistant Sancho is thrown into prison to await the judgment of the Inquisition for daring to tax a monastery.

To escape harsh treatment from fellow prisoners, Cervantes seeks to amuse them by acting out a story he has written. It tells the tale of a delusional old man who proclaims himself Don Quixote, a knight-errant who seeks to right all wrongs.

David Lutken gives an unforgettable performance as Don Quixote, whose grandiose self-deception has no limits. Not only does he imagine himself a knight 300 years after the age of knights, but he declares the lowly harlot Aldonza to be instead the high-born lady Dulcinea, the epitome of innocence and grace.

Ariela Morgenstern is delightful as saucy wench Aldonza. She jeers at Don Quixote's doting attention to her as the fair Dulcinea but slowly begins to believe she can have a better life.

Patric John Morgan gives a touching performance as Sancho, who follows Don Quixote's madcap fantasies wherever they lead, proclaiming, “I really like him.” The delusion reaches manic proportions when Don Quixote declares the brass shaving basin carried by the barber (Scott Treadway) is really the “golden helmet of Mandrino.”

Of course, noble ambitions inevitably draw opposition. Don Quixote is obsessed with an archenemy he calls “the Enchanter,” but his greatest nemesis is scheming Dr. Carrasco (Damian Duke Domingue), who seeks to shatter his grand illusions with the searing truth of reality.

“Man of La Mancha” focuses on the age-old dichotomy between man's sometimes soaring aspirations (“The Impossible Dream”) and his much baser achievement, whether it is better to reach for the unattainable or settle for what is easy and obvious.

With book by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion, it tells of Don Quixote's quest in some of the best-loved music of the American theater. To deliver the full sound required for this production, Flat Rock has assembled the largest music contingent in the theater's history, including some outstanding Hendersonville High School band members.

Director Paige Posey and a strong cast of veteran Flat Rock actors and some talented newcomers deliver a show that is among the best in recent memory. If you plan to see only one show at the Rock this summer, make this the one.

Tim Reid reviews theater for Take5. Contact him at timreid4@charter.net.

Funny Girl

2009-06-18T17:17:00.001-04:00

From the C-T
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“Funny Girl,” opening the season at Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre, is a most representative, if formulaic, example of 20th century American musical theater. It's full of New York showbiz elements: show girls, show tunes, aspects of vaudeville, a bit of Yiddish, sequins, glamour, star power, impresarios, glitz and lots of dazzling dancing. And it was well chosen for launching a rousing, upbeat, attention-getting summer of theater in the venerable Owen Theatre on the Mars Hill College campus.

Liz Aiello may have been born for the role of Fanny Brice in this slice of pseudo-history from the early life of the famed mid-century comedienne and stage maven. Barbra Streisand is forever associated with both stage and film forms of this story, and with major tunes from the score by Jule Styne. Think “People, people who love people — are the luckiest people in the world...,” and “Don't Rain on my Parade.”

Aiello competes favorably with the Streisand versions of both hits, and interprets all the subtle inflections with panache.

The show calls for a large cast and the stage is often filled with near a score of able actors, all capably coached by show director and company artistic director Bill Gregg. No way to name and comment on all the stellar talent, but some standouts amongst the cast are male lead Christopher Lynn of Asheville, who plays Brice's love interest Nick Arnstein, Peter Tamm as comic foil Eddie Ryan (and the boy can dance), and Chris Caggiano as the Ziegfeld tenor, whose soaring high register is most impressive. Tony Medlin is a mean Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr.

Choreographer Heidi Kulas has coached the dozen dancers into an ensemble of note. Amy Thrift, Amber Watson, Mary Ellen Jones, Erin McFarland, Rachel Shipley and Brittany Hazeldine are among a bevy of beauties who kick and wiggle with the best of them. Of the guy dancers Mitchel Hillburn and Mackenzie Knapp are notable magnetic movers and shakers. Some of the dance moves are quite daring and well accomplished.

Leigh Margaret Manning must have had much fun pulling together the garb with which to clothe these more-than-a-score actors.

Hats and shoes, topcoats and bags are all evocative of the roaring '20s, and add much to the visual appeal of the show. Richard Seagle gives us a deep, three-tiered set. Owen Theatre is lacking enough lighting power to fully illuminate the side areas of the broad stage, but light designer Robert Berls does the best with what he has to work with. Nice shadow effects, but brighter spots would be a positive addition.

A spirited, unseen house band is led by Paul Schierhorn, with Virginia McKnight on piano, Ben Clymer on trombone and Tim Morgan playing a mean trumpet for the “Cornet Man” tune. Bruce Lang, James Mathis and Justin Maybry round out the backstage band.

Never before have those crystal chandeliers hanging above the audience in Owen Theatre looked more appropriate than when Nick Arnstein woos Fanny Brice in various upscale locales. Those sparkling fixtures once hung in the lobby of downtown Asheville's Battery Park Hotel. A touch of Ziegfeld, way off-Broadway.

Jim Cavener reviews theater for take5.

Like Mother

2009-06-05T17:27:00.002-04:00

This is from the C-T. It is a review of two shows, but there is already a posting for I Wrote This Play..., so there you are.
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Theater review: NC Stage does two comedies in repertory
Original post.

Jim Cavener I take5 Correspondent • published June 5, 2009 12:15 am

N.C. Stage Company is trying something different with its current repertory production of the comedy “Like Mother” and “I Wrote this Play to Make You Love Me.” The company has long considered a repertory session, with two or more plays and some of the same cast in production at the same time. For the early summer, comedies seemed to be in order.

“Mother” and “Wrote” are written by women writers/actors known to NCSC's founders from their days of theater in New York City, and both of whom had come to Asheville in recent years to appear in the theater's productions.

The third play in this series, “A Beautiful View,” was also on the company's radar screen, and will join the season on June 17th.

Both current works are somewhat autobiographical and both are billed as comedies, although both have serious, meaningful overtones. “Wrote This Play” is deadly serious much of the time, and is for the most mature audiences. The material and language is rife with candid sexual situations — think “Sex and The City” with no holds barred. This is hard-core candor, tough-talking topics and graphic language.

These two vehicles have much in common: youngish women, writing from their experience in theater in Gotham, starring in their own work. In “Mother” the playwright, Shannon Polly, is the only actor on stage, although voice-overs by Willie Repoley are quite vivid, yet the father-figure they bring is heard, not seen. “Mother” is seen from the perspective of the daughter of the proverbial stage-mother-from-hell. It's intensified by her daughter's marriage, and the mother's being “mother-of-the-bride” — with all the rights and privileges appertaining thereto.

In “Wrote” Anne Thibault interprets Lysette, with local stage presence Hans Meyer playing the male figures, notably Lysette's brother Zach.

But the major work is done by the author. It is the life story of a young actress, as told from the perspective of the too oft passed-over Lysette getting the role of her dreams, that of Nora in Ibsen's “The Doll's House.” The central events of her life are all of loss rather than gain, as in being abandoned by a mother, the loss of a brother, the distance and decline of a father, and the frustration and futility of having lots of sex, but little intimacy or affection.

Polly, of “Mother,” is charming, delightful and appealing as herself and her mother. This is a ribald spoof of dominating moms, but with some tender and authentic moments of genuine emotion, which keeps the fun from being saccharine and syrupy.

Thibault's “Wrote” is much more serious, and there is much poignancy and pathos. Thibault's character study of Lysette is wise and deep beyond her years, the writing is painfully beautiful, and her performing is well done. Both writers know how to construct drama and write contemporary dialogue that rings true.

A distinguishing aspect between these two effective plays is that “Mother” incorporates six splendid songs that advance the plot, with Polly able to belt the Broadway ballad with the best of them. Although the songs are not well known, they borrow from show tune genres, and even incorporate a few bars of familiar theater tunes, to good effect.

“Wrote” has to get all its mileage simply from the power of words, and there is a lot to be gotten from this script.

Jim Cavener writes on theater for take5

I wrote this play to make you love me.

2009-06-05T17:18:00.000-04:00

This is a post from the blog Art Seen Asheville(Art Seen Asheville: I wrote this play to make you love me.)
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With a title like "I wrote this play to make you love me" how could you not go see this show which is currently running at NC Stage Company in downtown Asheville. I realized the other day that 95% of the plays I've really enjoyed or had the most interest in attending played at NC Stage Company. As far as seeing good theater in Asheville - this venue seems the most reliable.
Written by and starring Anne Thibault, IWTPTMYLM is a terrific piece of theater which literally made me laugh and cry. Thibault carries the play with her powerful presence and her timing between vignettes is dead on. Using minimal props and no scene changes, the strength of the piece lies in Thibault's uncompromising script about a struggling actress - Lysette - who is dealing with the emotional woes of her married boyfriend. Along the way, we learn about past love affairs, her emotionally torn childhood, and her Catholic upbringing via really hilarious conversations with her brother.
When I read on the website that "only adults will be admitted" of course I rolled my eyes a little. I was thinking, okay, what does "adult content" exactly refer to - how risque is this really gonna get? In retrospect I can see why you wouldn't want to bring your kids to see this but I think teenagers could appreciate most of the content - especially girls. I know I could have handled it as a teen (Just not while sitting next to my mother. OMFG.)
They say we laugh to keep from crying, and the humor of this play is born out of some intense life experiences. I'm still giggling over that scene where she's comparing the guys tongue to a minnow. I have to admit, I shed a tear (well, many tears) the second act and was holding them back in the first one.
While you're at it, check out the two other plays that are running at NC Stage this season. Bitch from Bitch and Animal was sitting next to me in the audience and she filled me in on the fact that she and Thibault will be performing in a piece together beginning June 17. Sounds like a intriguing combination to me.
www.ncstage.org for more information and schedule

THE WHO'S TOMMY

2009-06-03T17:26:00.002-04:00

If anyone was doubting Rock Eblen's ability to effectively produce, direct, and act in a Broadway style musical using only local talent, they should have seen his latest effort at Diana Wortham Theatre May 14-17. A wise collaboration with The Asheville Arts Center put Eblen at the helm for this ambitious project despite the lean economy and stiff competition with other local theaters. On opening night audience members were practically jumping out of their seats when the cast came out for curtain call.

Last year, Eblen pulled off JC SUPERSTAR in the same venue, although one writer in this blog seemed bent on attacking him for taking on the role of Jesus. The guy likes to act and he's damn good at it...so what if he also produces and directs at the same time? A true artist doesn't heed people who say "You can't do that!" So if one chooses to be so bold, he better know theater, and he better know how to cast good local talent who will do it for no pay. This is community theater we're talking about...yet I overheard tourists in the audience who thought TOMMY was a professional production. That's how good it was.

Of course it wasn't flawless. There were some problems with body mics cutting out, and a few missed light cues. The band sound levels had to be adjusted, but once the musicians got rockin', every head, even the grey heads, started bobbin' to Pete Townshend's classic rock score. Chuck Taft is a gifted musical director, able to handle anything from The Who's wild stuff to Lerner and Loewe. The music was pretty much non-stop with small bits of dialogue to elucidate Tommy's journey. Excellent choreography came from Mary Katherine Smith, and Susan Sertain of The Costume Shoppe put together delightful period costumes ranging from the 40's to the 60's.

Another fascinating aspect of this production was the staging. Eblen had the actors zipping stylish sets in and out while scenes magically blended into each other. He designed two of the set pieces from scratch, one being a flashy pinball machine Tommy could actually ride on, and the other a giant yellow slanted "T" (toppled Tommy) which took on various disguises to become by turn a Union Jack court, a purple pulpit, and even a bright red gypsy chariot.

Talk about gypsys, Margaret Evans was belting like Tina when she took little Tommy and the audience for a ear-bending ride with the Acid Queen.

Young Gabriel Gibson was perfect as the deaf, dumb, and blind kid who made many eyes moist that evening. Payton Turpin was major comic relief with his Uncle Ernie's Holiday Camp song on a giant tricycle. Newcomer Brad Pearsall was hot in black leather as he strutted and crooned the role of bully Cousin Kevin. Nicely polished duets came from Kelli Mullinix (Mrs.Walker) with Rod Leigh (Lover and The Hawker) and a new song added to the show by Townshend which she sang with Eblen as Captain Walker. The all important role of Narrator/Tommy was caked with charisma by Michael Wilson whose voice can melt your bones.

This was a terrific fundraiser for Eblen Charities and proves Bioflyer Productions is here to stay. So if you missed it, you missed it. But I dare you to find anybody WHO did see it WHO didn't love THE WHO'S TOMMY.

--Estella Banks

A Body of Water

2009-05-08T18:31:00.001-04:00

Theater review: "A Body of Water" is powerful production

Jim Cavener • published May 8, 2009 10:59 am

The term psychological drama has become a cliche, too often used. Yet, if any single phrase could describe the Immediate Theatre Project's latest show, “A Body of Water,” this might be it. This script by Lee Blessing is a doozey, and is a major mind-bender. But, that's just for starters.

With “Body of Water” we have his consummate conundrum, an enigma shrouded in a quandary. There is a chronological challenge here, but more. The major characters wake each morning with no certainty of who they are and what they have in common.

We have this undefined couple, a possible daughter, and an unseen alleged murder victim. But, could she' be simply an angry child taking it out on befuddled parents? Or not their child at all? Who's playing who for what?

The stark but dazzlingly dramatic stage is set with chic white-on-black contemporary furnishings loaned by Mobilia.

Lighting uses intensity almost as ambient visual punctuation. It's a captivating trick and one which enriches the whole. These technical theater elements are lumped together as “production design” and attributed to Immediate Theatre Project. Clearly, director and company co-founder Hans Meyer (along with other ITP principals Lauren Fortuna and Willie Repoley) are behind this brilliance.

The cast is small but stellar: company veteran and local diva Kay Galvin is the woman, Avis, who may have a husband, and may have a daughter. The man, Moss, who may be husband and/or father is given by long-time N.C. School of the Arts acting professor Marty Rader. These are mature and well-rendered roles, well carrying much weight.

Maybe the most curious of the three roles is the younger woman, not a victim of dementia or amnesia, but more scary. Katie Fuller is aptly cast as Wren or Robin, or some bird-name, and needs only to speak a tad more slowly and loudly to give us all the nuances of this critical role. Is she working on legal defense or is she a sadistic manipulator? Loving daughter or vicious con-artist?

A murder mystery with frank sexual discussions, a high-tension game of power and control, some charming comedic moments amongst the tension, and a psycho-drama of intense dimensions all combined in one two hour experience. Asheville does do theater well.

Jim Cavener writes on theater for the Citizen-Times.

Enchanted April

2009-05-05T10:37:00.001-04:00

Please click on the title above to link to the MX review. (Thanks, MX!)
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Urinetown

2009-04-26T09:49:00.002-04:00

Maybe the MX is going to keep these reviews coming, Let's hope so.
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Urinetown the Musical at Theatre UNCA
By John Crutchfield on 04/24/2009

I once cautioned a friend of mine who was coming to see me perform in a production of Twelfth Night some years ago at Appalachian State University, to keep in mind that for college theatre productions, the show’s educational value was at least as important as its aesthetic — and certainly its commercial — value. The main purpose of such productions is to provide an educational experience (however defined) for the students; and depending on the program, this is not necessarily the same thing as putting on the strongest show possible in artistic terms.

I assume this is one reason why high school and college theatre departments so often do Broadway musicals. Apart from the variety of specific skills required of the performers, such productions demand a massive coordinated effort among actors, musicians, dancers, set and costume designers, lighting and sound designers, stage hands, etc., to say nothing of the staff of directors. The musical, one might say, is another great symbol of American Democracy. But on second thought, so is The Pequod.

In any event, I have little doubt that the students involved in the current production at UNCA (and there are lots of them), are learning a tremendous amount from this experience. They obviously love doing the show, and through much of it, their enthusiasm is enough to carry the audience along.

The play, Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis’s scrappy hit, Urinetown, arose from the pungent July heat of the New York Fringe Festival in 1999 to become one of the most celebrated new musicals on Broadway in 2001. It ran continuously at the Henry Miller Theatre until June of 2004. Above all, critics praised it for its meta-theatrical wit (c.f. Officer Lockstock: “You’re too young to understand it right now, Little Sally, but nothing can kill a show like too much exposition”), and was seen to present a rather acerbic satire of American capitalism, populism, government bureaucracy and corporate greed.

It’s the satiric element, manifested in the play as irony, that is most interesting, since in its structure (the so-called “non-happy-ending” notwithstanding) the play is entirely conventional. Performing it thus presents certain challenges that go beyond those usually associated with musicals. The performers must not only sing, dance and (yes) act; they must also — and this is absolutely essential — refrain from playing the irony. Unfortunately, self-restraint is not something one expects many college actors (or actors at all, for that matter) to be good at without strong directing. The director has to help the actors see that the plot and dialogue are already doing the work of the satire. Their job, as performers, is to commit to their characters’ intentions in the scene, and play it straight.

This sounds simple enough in theory, but in practice is incredibly difficult — especially in an age (and age-group) where irony is, as it were, the default setting. Director Rob Bowen and his colleagues deserve praise for challenging their students to meet the demands of such a sophisticated play. And the result is, perhaps not surprisingly, mixed.

The play is set in a dystopian world where, in an effort to conserve water, private toilets have been banned, along with public urination, while a single mega-corporation (“Urine Good Company”) owns all public bathrooms—for the use of which a fee is charged. (According to legend, the conceit has its origins in writer Kotis’ experience traveling “on a budget” in France.) As a dramatic premise, this sounds serviceable enough. But Urinetown, despite its title, is in fact a rather antiseptic play. Its self-conscious meta-theatricality is turned up so high that all authentic emotion boils away in an instant. Hence the question of the relative “happiness” of the ending never really arises — or rather, it arises only because one of the characters raises it. Moreover, very little of the actual plot is not directly or indirectly derived (and always with a wink and a nudge) from other well-known musicals: West Side Story comes to mind, as do Les Miserables and several of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s better-known works. Even Brecht’s Threepenny Opera contributes a character or two, and Kurt Weill’s score is audible, if somewhat garbled, in Hollmann’s. One has the impression that the play consists almost entirely of quotations from other musicals; and indeed, the show’s creators make little effort to conceal these larcenies. On the contrary, they assume we recognize them, and this is what gives the play that postmodern je ne sais quoi.

In other words, the play seeks to create — and appeal to (or, to put it bluntly, exploit) — a kind of “insider”-community consciousness among people who know and love the Broadway Musical, with all its conventions, its hackneyed melodrama and endlessly re-animated tropes. Without this meta-theatrical consciousness, the play is as devoid of charm as it is of content. It’s just not that interesting to watch people pretending to have to pee really badly.

Luckily, most of the audience at UNCA’s Belk Theatre seemed to “get” it, and in fact, the night I saw the show, they forgave the under-rehearsed dance numbers, the capricious lighting and the mishandled entrances and exits, and gave the cast a standing ovation. Nevertheless, I couldn’t shake the impression that some of the actors were scarcely aware that they were performing in front of an audience at all. (I noticed several of them slouching in their tableaux, literally resting on their haunches, and one or two even mouthing speeches or songs that belonged to someone else.) For some others, their awareness of the audience seemed so palpable, and the desire to please so desperate, that they were hard to watch.

But then there is Cody Magouirk. A senior theatre major who appeared memorably as “Caliban” in last year’s The Tempest Project, this young man almost succeeds in making it all okay. It would be easy to enumerate his many strengths as a performer — his physical precision and expressiveness would certainly be at the top of such a list –– but I’d like to focus on one quality I find rare indeed in young actors: the guy knows how to stay in the scene. In this, he is not alone in the cast, but he’s by far the most consistent. When Magouirk is on stage, though his performance as “Bobby Strong” (the romantic lead) is far from flawless, we know we’re in good hands: the energy picks up, the scene starts to move, the other actors come alive, things happen, we can hear what’s being said and sung. By the same token, no sooner has he made his exit than the tension starts to sag again. The latter half of Act II suffers in this respect, and it passes that suffering on.

Magouirk’s performance is funny, too, precisely because he refrains from the mugging that wreaks havoc on most of the other performances. He knows, perhaps intuitively, what most of the other performers apparently do not: that even in the hyper-stylized and artificial world of the Broadway Musical, someone trying to be funny is less amusing than someone trying to be serious and failing. Magouirk embodies his absurd, one-dimensional character with complete conviction. He plays it straight, as the play requires, and he responds with a lively spontaneity to what the other actors give him. I also liked Carly Crawford as “Little Sally” (How does such a loud voice come from such a small person?), and Skyler Goff as “Caldwell B. Cladwell” and Bridget Paterson as “Hope Cladwell” both have strong scenes. No one is seriously miscast. The costumes are well-conceived and executed, and on the whole, the singing in the show is quite impressive. The band (under Musical Director Ruth Seiber Johnson), manages admirably, despite the predictable and cliché-riddled score. I found at least something to admire in almost every scene.

I realize of course that I’m holding these students — and their teachers — to what is really a rather high professional standard. Perhaps that’s unfair. After all, a standing ovation has got to mean something, a testimony to the audience having been entertained. Shouldn’t that be enough? Besides, who’s the outsider here? I have no detailed knowledge of the specific training these students are getting, and hence can only speculate as to the pedagogical intentions behind this production. But I do know that this program has been an important part of the theatre community here in Asheville for many years now, as well as the incubator of many of our currently active theatre artists — professional and amateur alike. I would like to imagine that, were I an ambitious theatre student there, the perspective of someone outside my immediate school environment would be salutary, if for no other reason than this: after graduation, there’ll be nothing more between me and the audience but my hard-won skills and self-discipline, my intelligence and the depth of my commitment to the art of theatre. If I haven’t built up the courage necessary to stay in the scene with friends, how will I find it with people I don’t know, and in front of strangers?

Urinetown, The Musical, playing at UNCA’s Belk Theatre, through Sunday, April 26, evenings at 8 p.m., matinee at 2 p.m. Tickets: $10/$12/$15. Music: Mark Hollmann. Lyrics: Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis. Book: Greg Kotis. Director: Rob Bowen. Musical Director: Ruth Seiber Johnson. Choreography: Cherie Holmes.

Art

2009-04-26T09:44:00.001-04:00

A review from blueridgenow.com, http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20090423/NEWS/904239958/1151?Title=-Art-is-a-play-you-ll-ponder-on-the-way-home
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'Art' is a play you'll ponder on the way home
By Bill Moss
Times-News Staff Writer

A fun exercise among old friends, having seen Art, the new play at Flat Rock Playhouse, would be to uncork a favorite bottle of wine and ask:

1. Who was right? Was Serge right to follow his heart and spontaneously shell out for a painting the amount most people would spend on a house? Was best friend Marc right to be upset about this? How could Yvan, the natural diplomat who has no opinions of his own, have moderated the war better?

2. Who do you know that’s like Yvan? How about Serge? How about Marc? (Marc, definitely.)

3. Is Art more suitable for 20-somethings, 30-somethings, 40-somethings or beyond?

In other words, Art is the sort of play that we think about on the way home, and the next day.

An internationally acclaimed comedy originally in French, Art is tightly crafted and expertly acted by three Playhouse veterans — Scott Treadway (Serge), Bill Munoz (Marc) and Damian Duke Domingue (Yvan).

Longtime friends in real life, the three portray friends whose relationship is capsized by Serge’s purchase of a modern painting, the value of which only he can see.

The casting is perfect.

Serge, a dermatologist and art aficionado, starts the ruckus by buying the white-on-white painting, with faintly discernible lines signifying ... well, something, at least to him. Treadway is Treadway, rock-solid and reliably comic, marvelously quizzical in his reaction to both of his friends. As always, he is as good reacting to what’s around him as speaking.

Munoz turns in a strong performance of quiet rage, then not so quiet rage at the disintegration of the underpinning of his relationship with Serge, at least in his way of thinking.

As Yvan, Domingue delivers a hilarious story of the most mixed-up pre-wedding crisis you’ve ever heard, made even funnier by the thunderstruck reaction of his two friends.

The conflict starts at the very top, with Serge’s art purchase and Marc’s visceral negative reaction to it. The disagreement unearths an underlying hostility between the two, like pollution bubbling up from leaky barrels.

Marc cannot understand how his friend could “lose every ounce of discernment, for sheer snobbery.” Serge can’t stand Marc’s aggressive refusal to be “modern,” to “live in his time.”

Yvan finds himself in the middle, hapless and helpless. He’s got problems enough dealing with his fiancee, stepmother, mother and other wedding landmines, yet is pulled violently to and fro by Serge and Marc. It’s not enough that they’ve turned on each other; they turn on him, too.

He’s an ineffective umpire, stampeded and obliterated by a bench-clearing brawl of two. Serge and Marc in turn are catty, bull-headed and snarling as they intensify the battle.

There’s either a lot going on here, or not much, depending on your perspective. It’s "Seinfeld" if George, Kramer and Jerry had more money and better educations. And like a Seinfeld episode, it’s hard to see how the conflict can resolve at all, much less amicably.
* * *

This is all funnier than it sounds. It’s often hilarious. These three actors would excel at most anything the Playhouse could stage; the booster rocket of Art is the script, with its fast-paced repartee and truly funny lines. They don’t have to rescue weak material, as with a Norm Foster “comedy.”

Marc has become so unraveled over the art purchase that he takes to swallowing tranquilizers.

“What are you eating?” Serge asks.

“Ignatia,” Marc says.

“You believe in homeopathy now?”

“I don’t believe in anything.”

It’s a funny line but filled with meaning, too. Marc does believe strongly in friendship, and he feels that has been undercut. Eventually, we learn why he thinks Serge’s decision to spend $200,000 on a white-on-white canvas is such an affront.

Dennis Maulden’s set is spare; a script this strong does not require embellishment. Michael Mauren’s lighting is just right, not overbearing.
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Art has gotten publicity for its use of the F word. Those loaded for a big scandal I think will be disappointed.

For the historical record, the word was uttered on the Flat Rock Playhouse stage for the first time at 8:49 p.m. Wednesday, April 22, 2009 AD.

“Yvan manages to be late for everything,” Serge says. “Where in the f--- is he?”

It’s uttered several more times, including a machine-gun repetition among all three characters arguing over who “f---ed up” the evening.

If you don’t want to hear the word, don’t go. It’s not hidden.

But it’s not a major star of the script by any means. Instead of an F-bomb, it’s a series of F-spitballs. It will be jarring to delicate ears, uttered from this well-loved stage, but hardly more offensive than the sex-saturated cheating housewife dramas and double entendre-laced sitcoms that ooze through our TV sets.

Art is much more entertaining than the small-screen stuff, and less offensive than a lot of movies on the big screen.

Volumes have been devoted to the meaning of art and the meaning of friendship. Art, the play, combines that exploration in a most enjoyable and provocative way.

Eve-olution

2009-04-26T09:40:00.001-04:00

A rare review from the MX
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Eve-olution at Asheville Commmunity Theatre
By Jamie Shell on 04/16/2009

Look beyond the abominable title. ACT’s 35Below is currently presenting the North Carolina premiere of Hilary Illick and Jennifer Krier’s Eve-Olution. But the writing is better than one might think.

Eve-olution is the story of two working mothers, Alison (Susan Stanley) and Liza (Wendi Loomis). The women tell their stories of balancing career, relationship, and child-rearing via alternating monologues on separate halves of the stage, centered around their respective beds. A lot of the action happens to take place in the bedroom (not like that – okay, sometimes like that). The minimal set (designed by Jillian Summers) works well to facilitate both a basic visual for the backdrop of their vignettes, and a hiding place for the various props that enhance their speaking.

The script is, perhaps, a little chick flick-y, but I appreciated its candor, humor and vulnerability. The writing touches the difficulties of career women starting families, within the frame of Alison’s and Liza’s perceptions of their own mothers, and the influences of their mothers on their own child-rearing. (This latter point resonated with me, despite my lack of children ... well, other than the 75 teenagers whose minds I attempt to mold during the week.)

The arc of the play takes a little while to firmly differentiate between the struggles of the two characters. At first they are both just noticing that their careers and relationships are suffering—it felt a little niche and a little unnecessary to have two separate characters with the same problem. The characters do develop more distinctly, as Alison copes with the idea of abandoning her job altogether, and with the envy of her model-parent-type friends. Liza learns to juggle four small children and a laptop. Liza, with one notable exception, tends to have more cute and funny problems, while Alison’s obstacles move a bit more towards pathos, though in a real rather than melodramatic way.

Both actors deliver strong, convincing performances. Loomis lends the appropriate comic, exuberant, and, at times harried air to make Liza a very likeable though flawed persona. Stanley is exceptional, particularly in bringing out the deep insecurity and sensuality of her character. Direction by Anne Slatton is virtually invisible, in the way good direction should be. The one questionable choice—which may have been scriptural in nature—was bringing the two women together at center stage at the beginning and end of the play. Their characters aren’t written to be friends, and the lines in these scenes are still, essentially, monologues, yet they interact with each other as though they are acquainted. The effect is rather stilted and odd.

Eve-olution is a by turns honest, painful, charming and humorous take on modern motherhood. I expect mothers will particularly relate and enjoy, but offspring are not a prerequisite to being entertained by this play.

A Number

2009-04-21T21:32:00.002-04:00

From the C-T
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Review: “A Number” is dynamite drama

The small, downtown North Carolina Stage Company's house is usually configured as a thrust stage, with audience on three sides. When deciding to do Caryl Churchill's quite unusual and riveting script “A Number,” director Ron Bashford chose to reconfigure the conventional stage into theater-in-the-round by adding a row of seats at the back of the customary 'stage.'

This logistical discussion is a conscious and blatant ploy to avoid any revelation of the astonishing plot. It's all about the emergence of a longheld family secret involving a single-parent father and three - or more - sons. And, therein is the secret. Out of consideration for future audiences, we'll avoid a discussion of the startling script, thus revealing the big surprises in store for those who get to see this intriguing show.

The power of this plot is strong enough to rely on fine acting, alone. The set is simply an oval, tiled floor. No backdrop nor decoration. The scenery, as created by Don Baker, is only two stylized chairs and a patio chair-side table. No props needed. Clothing, not costumes, conceived by Deborah Austin, appears so comfortable and unconscious that it could it could be from each actors own closet, although most is not.

Even the lighting by Sarah Elliott is monochromatically off-white, and the sound design by Hans Meyer is tuneless and without melody, but effectively creates or sustains a feeling, a mood and an aural context. It's all very simple, basic, essential to the complexity of this challenging story-line.

Okay, it's the writing and the acting that carry the show – and carry it a long distance, indeed. It's performed all within an intense, condensed, concentrated and distilled hour and ten minutes, without intermission. And the acting is done by two awesome actors. Graham Smith, a mainstay of the Charlotte area stage, portrays Salter, a single father, and NCSC co-founder Charles McIver creates his several sons. The sons are identified in the program by names and ages. But that only complicates the story. Go figure.

British-Canadian playwright Churchill's “A Number” is a dynamite drama. It's not light entertainment, but solid and significant stuff that will send you away thinking about science and identity, ethics and moral inquiry. And thinking far into the night, for sure.

Jim Cavener reviews theater for take5.

Weldon Rising

2009-04-20T11:47:00.001-04:00

Another C-T review.
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Billing a tense and graphic theater experience about a gay-bashing hate crime as a comedy has inherent risks.

Scapegoat Theatre Collective's fine “Weldon Rising” is a case in point. The script does call for comedic devices, and there is ample opportunity gales of laughter.

But in the current production at downtown Asheville's BeBe Theatre, the audience is torn between responding to horror before its very eyes and enjoying the stereotypical drag queen who always refers to herself in the third person.

Directed by Taryn Strauss and written by Phyllis Nagy, “Weldon Rising” is theater that makes you work for your reward.

It's not likely many viewers will say they enjoyed the show. But sensitive and aware audience members can easily acknowledge their appreciation of the work and its execution.

Among the surrealistic elements in the show: a heat wave ravishing New York's Central Park that might suggest hell; a central character shredding paper and cloth as he falls to pieces; and a stigmata right out of pre-Enlightenment superstition.

It's set in New York City's Greenwich Village in the 1980s.

A biracial lesbian couple live across from a gay male duo, at least one of whom shares living accommodations with a tortured drag queen, Marcel, who always refers to herself in the third-person.

Stephanie Hickling and Brooke Whitcomb are the lesbian couple duo; Peter Brezny and Scott Fisher are convincing as the young, ill-fated gay males.

Marcel becomes a mantra as the towering diva expresses her displeasure by using her stage name, as in “Marcel does not approve of that.”

Actor Scott Thompson could milk the comedic moments even more, but — given the heavy-duty tragedy played out on stage — finding this balance is a tough challenge.

Jason Williams plays the only sexually undefined role, and his Boy is effective, equal to the fine acting of the others.

“Weldon Rising” asks us to consider our response to the issue of hate, still all too common, around us.

Jim Cavener writes on theater for take5

What's LYLAS Got To Do With It?

2009-03-27T15:19:00.002-04:00

Review: LYLAS bring on laughs in new show
JIM CAVENER I TAKE5 CORRESPONDENT • PUBLISHED MARCH 27, 2009 12:15 AM

Asheville's all-women's comedy sketch troupe LYLAS (Love Ya' Like a Sister) does original comedic skits better than most of our other local, slap-happy, high-energy troupes, all seemingly inspired by NBC's venerable “Saturday Night Live.” Like SNL, with LYLAS nothing is sacrosanct or immune from the LYLAS magic touch, or slash.

This high-estrogen bunch has imagination and skills galore. LYLAS' seventh original show in less than four years, “What's LYLAS Got to Do With It?” is laughs all the way.

Seven lively 30-somethings bounce about the stage and tear into all things Asheville. Jenny Bunn provides a cleverly conceived “curtain speech” adjacent to an edgy “Martini Mom” sketch. Hip haiku and fast-paced references to current events keep listeners on their toes.

Probably the most innovative and insightful skit is a tour of downtown Asheville by Segway, with the women getting a guide's narrative that is simply brilliant. Downtown's Urban Trail, BB&T building, former City Councilman Brian Freeborn, the Asiana buffet, metrosexuals, the cobblestones on Market Street and other aspects of our Mountain Metropolis all get the treatment.

Another high-point of the evening was a commentary on Roman Catholicism, Wiccans, Lutherans and Unitarians, related to tattoos, worthy of Garrison Keillor's weekly NPR show, “A Prairie Home Companion.” Some other sketches get downright randy and raunchy, and demand that this reviewer alert potential audiences that this is not a show for the kiddos.

At those points only certain oldsters and grandmas will be entertained more than offended. But, fortunately, Asheville could fill the hall every night with enough grandmas who would, totally “get it” and embrace the whole show. Maybe a few grandpas, too. Maybe....

Additional cast performers include Marissa Williams, Robin Raines, Emily Miller, Delina Hensley, Sarah Carpenter and Kerri Brantley Ostergaard. These six and Bunn are all introduced with superbly produced video snippets of each at the wheel of her respective auto. Very original and very cool. The Segway tour is also enhanced by skilled video projections.

These videos, and sound work of Peter Brezny, are an inspired contribution to the whole, with cinematography, editing and projection of the highest quality. Brezny's work, coupled with filmed cameos of Scott Bunn and David Ostergaard, show that if they are sharp enough, and marry well, there is still room for a limited number of men in the universe.

Jim Cavener reviews theater for take5.

Narnia

2009-03-27T15:16:00.001-04:00

CT again
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Review: Strong cast, music make ACT's ‘Narnia' a delight
TIM REID I TAKE 5 CORRESPONDENT • PUBLISHED MARCH 20, 2009 12:15 AM

Asheville Community Theatre presents C.S. Lewis' fantasy world for children in the enchanting musical “Narnia,” based on Lewis' “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”

A large cast and a big sound make this one of the more ambitious undertakings on the ACT stage. They troupe pulls it off with energy and enthusiasm thanks to deft directing by Cindy Baldwin and lavish costumes by Deborah Austin and Susan Dillard.

Bradshaw Call gives a commanding performance as the lion king Aslan, whose blood-curdling roar is tempered by his sacrificing spirit. Christina Johnson is mesmerizing as the White Witch, who torments the people of Narnia in a perpetual winter with no Christmas.

The story centers on four siblings who flee to a relative's huge home during World War II. While exploring a wardrobe, they step into the strange world of Narnia, where ancient prophecy says that four human children will rescue the land from the White Witch.

Edmund (Lincoln Belford) is duped by the witch into her scheme to negate the prophecy by capturing his brother Peter (Dylan Murray) and sisters Susan (Meredith Matsakis) and Lucy (Danielle Germann). Narnia's residents rejoice to see the “children of Adam” as the hoped-for relief from their suffering under the White Witch. Ryan Jevne and Katie Jevne nearly steal the show as Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, who dance and prance in delight over the prospect of an end to the White Witch.

With the children's presence, the snow begins to melt, and Father Christmas (Frank Avery) appears bearing special gifts for the human children. But the White Witch is not done yet and manages to tempt Edmund into betrayal and turns half-man/half-goat Mr. Tummus (Robert Shupe) into stone. Only Aslan can end the enslavement by the White Witch in a plot twist that seems Christ-like and reminiscent of the author's deep religious faith.

Musicians Linda Walker, Gary Mitchell, Jim Anthony, Sabrina Kumar and Kit Powell produce the sound that helps makes the land of Narnia so mysterious and yet so appealing. “Narnia” still charms more than five decades after its creation. This adaptation with book by Jules Tasca and music by Thomas Tierney is sure to please children of all ages.

Tim Reid reviews theater for the Asheville Citizen-Times.

Blog issue

2009-03-14T12:04:00.002-04:00

Hi all -- we have heard some rumors a few posts getting deleted from ARAR recently. Editorship has not deleted anything, so if you have recently tried to make a post that never showed, or disappeared, please email berngrier@gmail.com, and we'll try and figure out what the problem is.
Thanks for reading. Thanks for posting.
BG--

Stones at DW

2009-03-12T11:47:00.001-04:00

Citizen-Times...
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Theater review: North Carolina Stage strikes gold with "Stones in His Pockets"

Tony Kiss • TKiss@CITIZEN-TIMES.com • published March 12, 2009 10:39 am

ASHEVILLE “Stones in His Pockets” rocks at North Carolina Stage Company. For a second time, this Asheville theatre hits the mother lode with this comedy-drama about a little Irish village, besieged by a crew of Hollywood moviemakers who have turned the place on its ear.

The show, written by Marie Jones, again stars Charles McIver and Scott Treadway, handling a variety of roles, but mostly playing two blokes who are extras on the movie. McIver and Treadway have become Asheville’s acting dynamic duo, with a unique back-and-forth chemistry much needed for this type of show. Director Christopher Burns makes the most from this acting electricity.

“Stones” seems even timelier than its previous production three years ago, with its underlying theme of economic upheaval, and people being “dispossessed” from their homes and land. The Hollywood movie makers are pouring big bucks into this town – for now – but soon they’ll be gone, leaving the locals to again fend for themselves. And with St. Patrick’s Day just around the corner, “Stones,” well, that’s just as lucky as a four-leaf clover.

Jake (McIver) and Charlie (Treadway) meet on the set of this movie epic. The men have different stories – Charlie is a bit of a schemer, forever trying to get someone on the movie to look at his screenplay. Jake is more laid back, just back from the states and uncertain of what lies ahead. These two characters would make a fine play themselves – and as the show unfolds, we learn much more about what makes them tick.

But Treadway and McIver have much more work at hand, each transforming into different characters with just a magical spin of their bodies. Treadway has a nice bit of gender-bender performance as Caroline Giovanni, the American movie star, while McIver’s best moments come in a brief turn as cousin Sean, the ne’er-do-well extra, and also as feisty old Mickey, “one of the last surviving extras” from the John Wayne Irish movie “The Quiet Man.”

Among the best moments: the actors play boys dreaming of their lives ahead, and later, do a superb, if silly, dance routine.

The ability of Treadway and McIver to pull this off is worth the price of admission alone; really, any pairing of the two would be worth the money. It is truly a testament to their superb acting abilities. Equally intriguing is the “Stones” script, which might be comedy with powerful moments, or perhaps drama with some laughs. Either way, it works.

“Stones in His Pockets” by North Carolina Stage Company

When: 8 p.m. through Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday

Where: Diana Wortham Theatre, Pack Place, Pack Square

How much: $25

Information: 257-4530

Offending the Audience

2009-03-12T11:46:00.000-04:00

This weekend, I had the extreme please to go see two excellent plays (well, sort of). Today, I will tell you about the "sort of."

On Thursday, I saw the Corpus Theatre Collective's production of "Offending the Audience." This is best described as an anti-play. There is no plot and no characters. It is simply people talking to (and offending) you, the audience. This is a very good production, as the ensemble is a well chosen group of people who are excellent public speakers (which is really all this "play" needs). The "set" is only a series of stools and barricades to hook some lamps on. The show is the ultimate in meta-theatre. It is so meta, I'm sure some would even argue that it isn't even theatre.

I had some issues with it though. My biggest issue was that the production did not seem to present the spirit of the piece as effectively as it could have. The whole point of the piece (or it least, the presented point of the piece) is to present no artifice, no symbolism, nothing but the text. Now whether or not that is possible is another matter entirely. But there were certain things present in the production that certainly symbolised something. Now, the text also states that the text will contradict itself, but I feel that it would have been more interesting to show even less and present the audience with an even more conflicting question about whether it is possible to present artifice, without tipping the scales in either direction. (Of course, given how confusing this whole play/show/idea is, I freely admit I might be missing something.)

The best part of this play (and the fact that Corpus is presenting it) is just how mind spinning it is. While it is from the 60's and does have a little dust on it, it FORCES you to think about the basic concepts of the threatre, and your view on them. Articfice, shows vs plays, actors, the fourth wall, etc. This play gets you thinking.

As a theatre person, I loved this show. I have heard that many non theatre folk also loved the show. Go see it. It's high quality, cheap, and the best theatre mind f*ck I have ever seen.

Nathan Adams

Titus

2009-03-12T11:45:00.001-04:00

C_T...
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Theater review: ‘Titus Adronicus' is wild and well-played
JIM CAVENER I TAKE5 CORRESPONDENT • PUBLISHED MARCH 6, 2009 12:15 AM

There are reasons why Shakespeare's earliest tragedy is rarely performed. “Titus Andronicus” is not a pretty play. Not that the words fail to flow smoothly, nor that the meter and cadence fail to inspire. It's that Montford Park Players' season opener is rife with violence and vengeance, murder and mayhem.

It has too much gore, including at least 14 murders, nine of them before our very eyes. We will spare you the other brutality.

The Montford Park Players has produced much of the Bard's alleged canon over its 36 seasons of outdoor summer theater. To achieve the whole body of work, “Titus” would have to be mounted sometime. This feisty company decided that the appropriate time was now.

Seeing this stylized production is not for the faint of heart. The seventy-some seats around the large thrust stage makes for an intimacy maybe more pleasing for comedic/romantic Shakespeare.

None of this is a criticism of the quality of this worthy production. The cast is large, all members competent, some inspired. Lovely young Peyton Siler Jones as Lavinia is compelling in her presence, and she's a 16 year-old sophomore at Asheville High School. David Hopes gives a powerful Marcus, the Tribune. There is no shortage of gender-bending in this cast, as many of Titus' sons are portrayed by women. One of the most impressive role switches is the ever-impressive Stephanie Hickling as Aaron, “the Moor,” lover of Tamora, queen of the Goths. Rae Cauthen is effective as that deeply detestable royal personage.

Greg Gassler as Saturninus gives a dazzling tour-de-force fling, while versatile director Jason Williams also carries the role of Demetrius. Charlotte Lawrence, recent grad of Warren Wilson College, gives us four roles, but her childlike Lucius the younger is a marvel, playing the future Roman ruler. From small to large is Lucius the elder, played by six foot-eight inch tall Travis Kelley. His is a strong portrayal. But, the scene stealer must be Jim Slautich in the title role.

There is symbolism galore: black fascist attire, color-coded armbands, mixed with contemporary threads making for rich, motley and varied costuming, attributed in the program to Rae Cauthen and Jason Williams.

Jim Cavener reviews theater for take5.

R&G

2009-03-01T20:00:00.002-05:00

I'm reprinting this C-T review to give folks another opportunity to respond to the show. Since the original posting has led to a discussion about larger review issues, it seemed reasonable to make it as easy as possible for folks to contribute to one or the other of these threads.
Hope this makes sense.
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Review: ‘Rosencrantz' is complex but entertaining

TONY KISS • TKISS@CITIZEN-TIMES.COM • PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 22, 2009 12:15 AM

There are some shows that require total concentration while watching, and even then, it's difficult to grasp just what's going on. The absurdist comedy “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” is like that, but it's well worth seeing, because of the superb acting in this cast. And as puzzling as it can be, there is a payoff.

Playwright Tom Stoppard has taken Shakespeare's “Hamlet” and given it a very odd twist, pulling two minor characters from the classic, putting them in the spotlight and dropping them into a weird “Twilight Zone” like setting. And there is no Rod Serling to step out from behind the curtain to explain what's going on.

So unless you've seen this one before, or really understand “Hamlet” or Stoppard, don't feel bad sitting there, scratching your head. It's not supposed to be easy.

Director Angie Flynn-McIver has assembled an amazing cast, fronted by two familiar faces: Hans Meyer as Rosencrantz and Willie Repoley as Guildenstern, loyal but mostly unimportant friends of Prince Hamlet (Chris Allison).

The two have been cast into an odd world that they don't understand and have no way of escaping. They while away the hours tossing coins or playing back-and-forth word games, trying to remember who they are and how they came to be there. Rosencrantz is more of a simpleton and Guildenstern poses as the more knowledgeable of the pair, but it's a sort of Laurel and Hardy set-up.

Through the course of the story, they meet a traveling band of actors led by The Player (Michael MacCauley), who comes in and out of their world but offers little help in sorting it out. Our boys sometimes find themselves where they belong — as characters in “Hamlet” — as the King and Queen (Joe Sturgeon and Lauren Fortuna) seek their help in understanding the madness of the Prince.

And so it goes. But there is a point in the show — as in its title — where it become obvious, even to non-Shakespeare readers, and to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern themselves, what lies ahead. They are on a journey to which there is no good end and no escape.

There are two intermissions here, and while they are 10 minutes each, that lengthens this evening to just short of three hours. In the second intermission, the audience must leave the theater, so that a mighty set change can be made. We won't spoil the surprise, but it is worth it, although the second intermission found much of the sold-out crowd jammed into the lobby, hands in pockets, with others puffing their cigarettes outside the theater on Stage Lane, filling the air with an unpleasant smell.

As for the performances, Repoley gives a masterful turn as the smug Guildenstern, proving again why he is among the finest actors in Asheville. There's fine chemistry with Meyer, equally impressive as the more naïve Rosencrantz. It's a rare chance to see Meyer act, as he usually directs.

Coming close to stealing the show is MacCauley as The Player, who gets some great scenes. And it is good see Allison as Hamlet, sinking into madness, although he has less to do than the others.

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern...

2009-02-24T11:48:00.002-05:00

Another CT review.
BG--

Review: ‘Rosencrantz' is complex but entertaining

TONY KISS • TKISS@CITIZEN-TIMES.COM • PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 22, 2009 12:15 AM

There are some shows that require total concentration while watching, and even then, it's difficult to grasp just what's going on. The absurdist comedy “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” is like that, but it's well worth seeing, because of the superb acting in this cast. And as puzzling as it can be, there is a payoff.

Playwright Tom Stoppard has taken Shakespeare's “Hamlet” and given it a very odd twist, pulling two minor characters from the classic, putting them in the spotlight and dropping them into a weird “Twilight Zone” like setting. And there is no Rod Serling to step out from behind the curtain to explain what's going on.

So unless you've seen this one before, or really understand “Hamlet” or Stoppard, don't feel bad sitting there, scratching your head. It's not supposed to be easy.

Director Angie Flynn-McIver has assembled an amazing cast, fronted by two familiar faces: Hans Meyer as Rosencrantz and Willie Repoley as Guildenstern, loyal but mostly unimportant friends of Prince Hamlet (Chris Allison).

The two have been cast into an odd world that they don't understand and have no way of escaping. They while away the hours tossing coins or playing back-and-forth word games, trying to remember who they are and how they came to be there. Rosencrantz is more of a simpleton and Guildenstern poses as the more knowledgeable of the pair, but it's a sort of Laurel and Hardy set-up.

Through the course of the story, they meet a traveling band of actors led by The Player (Michael MacCauley), who comes in and out of their world but offers little help in sorting it out. Our boys sometimes find themselves where they belong — as characters in “Hamlet” — as the King and Queen (Joe Sturgeon and Lauren Fortuna) seek their help in understanding the madness of the Prince.

And so it goes. But there is a point in the show — as in its title — where it become obvious, even to non-Shakespeare readers, and to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern themselves, what lies ahead. They are on a journey to which there is no good end and no escape.

There are two intermissions here, and while they are 10 minutes each, that lengthens this evening to just short of three hours. In the second intermission, the audience must leave the theater, so that a mighty set change can be made. We won't spoil the surprise, but it is worth it, although the second intermission found much of the sold-out crowd jammed into the lobby, hands in pockets, with others puffing their cigarettes outside the theater on Stage Lane, filling the air with an unpleasant smell.

As for the performances, Repoley gives a masterful turn as the smug Guildenstern, proving again why he is among the finest actors in Asheville. There's fine chemistry with Meyer, equally impressive as the more naïve Rosencrantz. It's a rare chance to see Meyer act, as he usually directs.

Coming close to stealing the show is MacCauley as The Player, who gets some great scenes. And it is good see Allison as Hamlet, sinking into madness, although he has less to do than the others.

Little Dog Laughed

2009-02-20T10:31:00.001-05:00

Another from the C-T
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Review: ‘Little Dog Laughed'' funny, powerful

Jim Cavener take5 Correspondent • published February 20, 2009 12:15 am

“The Little Dog Laughed,” now being presented at Asheville Community Theatre's 35below black-box house, is frequently funny, earnestly edgy and — often — comedic in content.

But wait, there's more: a climax that borders on Frederick Durrenmatt's classic chiller, “The Visit,” where the vicious and vindictive female lead issues a challenge that paralyzes a community and terrifies the audience.

This is high drama, not (at least entirely) to be taken lightly. Come prepared for fun and fantasy as you enter the world of “Hollywierd” — although most of the action takes place in New York. Then expect to fasten your seat belts before the show ends. This is going to be a bumpy ride, for sure.

A shrewd and aggressive talent agent has a chore trying to keep her handsome male protégé in the closet. As this conniving shrew is confronted with obstacles, she concocts a duplicitous dilly to achieve her goals. As the demanding and demeaning Diane, one of Asheville's best, Joan Atwood, turns in a chilling performance that ranks close to her pinnacle as Maria Callas in Terrence McNally's “The Master Class.” Atwood, a classically trained theater maven, is a treasure. It's hard to imagine a more effective rendering of the role.

David Ely is electric as the would-be star, Mitchell. The character is not gay, he says, but has increasingly frequent dalliances with guys. Ely holds his own against the diva, Diane, and his struggle is both touching and troubling. The immediate source of the conflict is that Mitchell is more and more involved with a young hustler, and this increasingly significant relationship provides the threat to Diane's plan for getting Mitchell onto the top rung of stardom.

Mitchell's paramour, the “rent-boy” Alex, is given life by young Waynesville actor, Adam Kampouris, known for his impressive work at Haywood Arts Regional Theatre. Adam gives Alex a winsome and winning persona the playwright would have to love. There's enough in him of the opportunistic and ambitious to make us wary of this lad's intentions.

But, he's the whore-with-the-heart-of-gold when the chips are down. It's a lovely rendering of a dicey role.

The apparent lightweight in the cast is the part of Alex's girlfriend, Ellen, as portrayed by Jamie Shell. Shell takes this pivotal role, without flash or dazzle, and gives it life. It's possibly the hardest-to-interpret role in the script, due to its ambiguity and desperation. It may only appear that little is demanded for this realization. But all that is needed is forthcoming. Nice casting, all around.

The spirited and effective direction is by newcomer to our locally heavy theater scene, Francis Cullinan, former theater professor at University of Missouri in Kansas City. For a newbie at Asheville Community Theatre, Cullinan must have had lots of good advice to locate and score the fine talent, both on- and backstage. Let's hope to see more of his fine work in coming seasons.

Jim Cavener reviews theater for take5.

Letter from the editor

2009-02-17T12:05:00.002-05:00

Hi All.

Thanks for keeping up with this blog. I’m hoping that we can have more of an impact in Asheville, and I need your help.

It is my suspicion that right now most of the people reading this blog are local actors and producers. That's wonderful, but I think this blog also has the potential to become a powerful tool for the average audience member, giving them not only a voice, but a way to think more deeply about their experience at the theatre.

Indeed, my hope for this blog was that it would be, first and foremost, a great public recourse: any potential audience member (or even someone who had already seen a particular show) would have a one-stop website where they would be able to see all the latest reviews of any show they might want to see around town. And each show would hopefully have multiple reviews with unique insights and points of view. This would allow people to get a sense of the theatrical lay of the land at a glance, and would encourage their patronage of multiple venues, while giving more thoughtful consideration to the value of their theatrical experience.

I think the “diversion” threads that have cropped up here and there are helpful to local producers, actors, etc, and I think they add depth and insight to the overall discussion, but I don’t think they serve the originally intended audience for the blog all that well. I don’t think we should discourage such spirited and frank conversation as part of this blog, but I’d like your help in also helping to increase awareness of the site among the theatre-going public.

So here is my request: don’t abandon this blog as a place for discussion, but please encourage your friends, patrons, parents, etc, to utilize the blog when they want more opinions about a particular show than any one news source can provide. Encourage them to contribute their own comments about shows they have seen. Continue to post those comments yourself, as well.

But most of all, please help spread the word. I think the potential of APAR is huge. Without losing the things that make it interesting now, I hope that together we can broaden the appeal of the blog to include the --arguably-- most powerful and important members of the theatrical community: the audience.

Thanks all. Keep writing. Keep reading.

Open for comments…

BG--

Oedipus For Kids

2009-02-11T11:29:00.001-05:00

Sorry, this is quite late. My bad.
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‘Oedipus for Kids’ a ribald sendup on classic literature

By Jim Cavener / take5 Correspondent

ASHEVILLE - Is “Oedipus for Kids!” really a comedic musical version of Sophocles’ “Oedipus”? For kids?

Comedic, yes. Slapstick, over-the-top melodrama even. Musical, yes. And with some rousing tunes.

But surely not for kids. This is a show about a fictional theater group that attempts to do “Oedipus” for young people. As the show informs us, Little Oeddy (Oedipus) is a “little boy, a lot like you, except you didn’t kill daddy and sleep with mommy.”

Although a lot of humor is adolescent and the treatment sometimes juvenile, this is adult material all the way. Staged by the Zealot theater group, the show is now running at N.C. Stage Company.

This “Oedipus” is yet another of the recently frequent ribald, raucous and riotous sendups of traditional literature, aimed at 20-somethings of all ages. If you like your theater loud, impulsive, unrestrained and undisciplined, you’ll love this show. Debauchery reigns in this totally twisted telling of a Greek myth of yore.

“Oedipus for Kids!” is a show within a show, with the fictional Fuzzy Ducks Theatre Company trying to produce the classics for children and perhaps having chosen the wrong classic this time. How do you make school kids familiar with this ancient myth of an adopted son doing in his daddy, then bedding down his mommy? Not easily. The onstage warring partners who are the Fuzzy Ducks principles didn’t get the message.

The actual audience becomes an audience of schoolchildren, called on to “quack” back and be interactive with the actors onstage. It worked with the opening night crowd.

Asheville’s Zealot actors company is a multitalented crew. Rae Cauthen as Catalina is a marvel of psychosexual energy, with a tour-de-force finale folks will not easily forget. Her ballads are quite effective as well.

Both she and Joseph Barcia (Evan, in the Fuzzy Ducks company, who portrays Oeddy/Oedipus) exhibit fine singing voices. Greg Gassler as Alistair rounds out the three-person cast. They give this material their all - and more.

The piece was created by New York and Florida writers Kimberly Patterson and Gil Varod with additional material by Robert J. Saferstein.

Producing director Meg Hale and artistic director Ryan Madden have assembled a fine offstage company, including Evan Hill as musical director, and Nancy Asch and Kathryn Allen on percussion and keyboard, respectively. Plus Jason Williams, who did the lighting design and controls the board during performances.

What can you do with lines like “Whatever Oedipus touches, Oedipus wrecks,” and “My husband is my lover is my son”?

Jim Cavener reviews theater for take5.

Review review

2009-02-10T11:05:00.003-05:00

These comments are technically outside the scope of this blog, but the editor did -arguably- open the door to this post in responding to a comment on the "Leading Ladies" post. So, it stands.
BG--

I can’t resist responding to a posting by Actress34, ostensibly in response to a review of a show at ACT, though the focus of the thread had morphed by then. Consider this, then, a review of a review?
I’ll reprint Actres34’s comments here, for the benefit of those who may have missed them:

“The sad thing is that NC Stage could be turning a profit....the problem is that most of us get sick of seeing the same 5 people on stage all the time. Or is it really wise to put the staff in every production? Isn't it called Show Business? If your show isn't turning some kind of profit than I am afraid you are missing the business part of it. I bet the Catalyst shows turn profits because they are using local people on-stage. I mean wouldn't it be nice to see a show with different people in it every now and again?”

She seems to be trying to make two points. One: NC Stage could –and, by inference at least, should-- be making money by casting “local people” and by not casting the “same 5 people … all the time. Two: Catalyst shows probably do make money because they “use local people.”

Ok, I’m long-winded so here is the condensed retort: Seriously?

If you want the full version, here goes:

First let me just say that I agree that variety in casting is usually good. I too like to see fresh faces.

But, with all due respect, Actress34, are you seriously suggesting that NCSC could be making more money by refusing to hire the people they deem best to fill a role, just because they have worked for the company before or are on staff? Seriously?

(And for now, let’s just leave the idea of “making money”… NCSC is a not-for-profit organization, after all, not to mention a small theatre—which almost by definition means not a money maker.)

Of course no theatre can make perfect casting decisions all the time, and not every audience member will agree with every choice, but every theatre in town (or anywhere else for that matter) casts both from a wide net of sought-out talent and a reliable ensemble of trusted collaborators. Without this cadre, it can be prohibitively difficult to create an environment of trust and creativity in a short rehearsal time, and each theatre in town has developed their own reliable –and necessarily fluid—talent pool (with some crossover between companies). Of course, using all the same people all the time can be tiresome, but I personally think NCSC does a pretty good job of balancing that reliable group with exciting new talent from Asheville and beyond. Personally, I regret that you are “sick of seeing” a certain “5” people at NCSC and I hope I’m not one of them, but I still gotta pay the bills, and this is my job. And I love it. And because I keep getting hired by NCSC and other challenging regional theatres, I am able to keep getting better at it, I hope.

And the second point: Catalyst shows make money? And they do so because they “use local people”? Seriously?

As a sometime Catalyst producer myself, let me say that the NCSC Catalyst model allows producers –if they are careful— to not lose their shirts. But as for “making money,” I’ve never heard of a Catalyst show actually turning a profit. In my companies, at least, any earned income goes to subsidize a meager portion of the time my actors, crew, and creative staff have dedicated to the project. A small amount is reserved as a nest egg for the next production. That’s it.

And Catalyst companies are as guilty, if not more so, as any one else in town of relying on the same people for each show. And really I don’t think there is anything wrong with that (see above).

(Also, as a side note here, I can’t help but notice your use of the word “use”, as in “use local people.” Please keep in mind that NCSC “hires” people, local and out-of-town. Which is a huge difference. Again, no use saying more here—that is a separate discussion.)

Actress34, have you by any chance seen any of NCSC’s season this year? Take their first Mainstage show, Doubt: not one familiar face in the cast of four, and not many on the creative crew, either. Take this year’s incarnation of It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play: one returning cast member from the year before, one actor who had been in a Mainstage show in 2006, and three actors brand new to NCSC. I could expand my thesis to include the rest of the season and beyond, but it’s not hard to come by season brochures or old playbills, so I’ll let you work out the rest on your own.

Sure, I recognize that I’m hardly in a position to suggest that NCSC stop hiring the same actors year after year: my career would be over. But I think your assumptions about how theatre works –certainly at NCSC— are wrong. I’m not suggesting you should agree with every casting decision, or that you aren’t allowed to not like seeing people return to the theatre year after year, but I do think that tossing around uninformed statements like your original post can be damaging to all parties involved. I’d rather be a part of fostering a real discussion that can ultimately help producers and audience members alike get more out of their experiences at the theatre. Maybe this is part of that. Maybe not. But that dialogue won’t be well served by bitter, absurd accusations on this blog or elsewhere.

Here’s to varied opinions, and informed critique.
Willie Repoley

Perfect Ganesh

2009-02-10T11:01:00.001-05:00

Apologies for the delay in getting this out.
BG--

‘A Perfect Ganesh' lives up to its name
JIM CAVENER TAKE5 CORRESPONDENT • PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 6, 2009 12:15 AM

New theater companies pop up in Asheville with almost alarming frequency. Somehow, the best of these gravitate to downtown's North Carolina Stage Company where they become part of NCSC's much-lauded Catalyst Series of productions by troupes without a venue of their own. The Carolina Actor's Collective surely ranks among the best of this good crop. Their first production, “A Perfect Ganesh,” is extraordinary theater, by any standard.

It isn't surprising that quality theater ensues when you have a piece by Terrence McNally — who wrote “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” “The Ritz,” “Love! Valour! Compassion!,” “Ragtime,” “Corpus Christi,” “The Lisbon Traviata” and “The Master Class.” Once add two of Asheville's most respected actors — Kay Galvin and CJ Breland, two newer talents of high competence, with all this under the splendid direction of Leslie Muchmore, it's good stuff, indeed.

McNally's work is always complex, challenging, and most always features a heavy quotient of gay substance in the script, with one or more dramatic twists that pack an emotional wallop. “A Perfect Ganesh” is no exception. This script starts with a journey into one of the most complex and challenging cultures on our globe: India. A contradiction of opposites, based in assumptions totally foreign to Western thinking, there are so many layers of meaning in this journey of two wealthy Connecticut dowagers, beyond even their secret reasons for undertaking the trip.

Symbolism abounds with multi-level metaphysical meaning, and this is theater that has as many meanings as there are viewers. Although the basic structure of the story is linear, the side-tracks of Ganesh's making continue to keep the audience on its toes through two demanding acts. Ganesh is one of Hindu India's most loved and revered gods. His elephant snout is masterfully conceived by George Martinat and Sydney de Briel, who give all four actors the ideal costume design. The two travelers wear 1993 pants suits, before they segue into sari's and shawls and sub-continent elegance.

Ganesh, as portrayed by Zach Blew is riveting. His visage is exotic, his choreographed presence evokes the most graceful and forceful of Indian ritual dance. His body paint and costumed drama create a masterpiece of movement and meaning. This playful, threatening and nurturing diety is all things to all people and is a theatrical tour-de-force. Blew will be noticed in our theater community.

The fourth actor, Bradshaw Call, portrays “the men,” several comic and farcical caricatures. Mostly he plays English speaking Indians who the women encounter on their pilgrimage. But his ferociously fey Air India gate agent starts off the hysteria with a bang. From there it is all uphill and his various native personages are each quite masterful. With this valuable versatility, Call creates a vast array of lepers and hotel managers, condescending baggage clerks and loony native hosts.

It almost goes without saying — but let it be said — Breland and Galvin are exceptional actors and they convey the despicable desperation and pathos of the pilgrims, Margaret and Katherine, with perfect panache.

Listed staff for technical and backstage support total a daunting score of known and less familiar local theater gurus. From venerable theater mavens and well-knowns such as Frank Avery and Rob Bowen to a slew of designers and techno-nerds, this large crew produces a totally satisfying intellectual, visual, dramatic and emotional experience. The loss of a child, the tragedy of AIDS, reconciliation, renewal and rebirth, legend and myth. It's all here in spades and will prove to rank among the best of the season.

Jim Cavener reviews theater for take5.

Leading Ladies

2009-01-23T12:02:00.001-05:00

More from the C-T
BG--

Theater review: “Leading Ladies” steps up with laughs at ACT

Tim Reid • published January 23, 2009 12:15 am

Asheville Community Theatre has a real crowd pleaser with “Leading Ladies,” Ken Ludwig's irrepressible comedy about two struggling actors posing as a wealthy woman's long-lost heirs.

Second-rate thespians Jack (Brad Pearsall) and Leo (Steve Wilde) are down to their last dollar as they travel rural Pennsylvania presenting snippets of Shakespeare at Moose lodges.

Jack reads that a rich old lady in a nearby town yearns to see her long-lost relatives Max and Steve before she dies. He decides to impersonate them in order to share in her multi-million-dollar inheritance.

Leo is a bundle of nerves, but Jack pulls him into the scam anyway. Leo's reservations turn to panic when they find out that Max and Steve are short for Maxine and Stephanie – they must pretend to be women!

Residents of York seem only too trusting when Jack and Leo arrive dressed in drag proclaiming to the long-lost relatives. Shirley Cohen nearly steals the show as irascible old Florence, who takes an instant liking to them.

Florence's real niece Meg (Brooke Whitcomb) is thrilled to welcome “Max” and “Steve” although it means she will share her aunt's inheritance with them. Ditzy blonde Audrey (Zoe Renert) met the actors on the train before they concocted the scheme but believes the scam anyway.

Mike Vaniman is hilarious as Florence's inept physician Doc Myers, who is obsessed with getting his spaced-out son Butch (Drew Collins) to marry a woman with money. The only person who sees through the actors' ruse is Meg's manipulative fiancé Duncan (Chris Martin), who wants her to get all of Florence's inheritance so he can do with it as he will.

Pearsall and Wilde are masterful at keeping up the tension as nervy Jack must constantly prop up erstwhile partner Leo lest he dissolve in fright and spoil the deception.

Director Michael and a talented cast wrest every laugh out of Ken Ludwig's brilliant script. This is the perfect play to puncture the winter doldrums.

Tim Reid reviews theater for the Citizen-Times. He can be contacted at timreid4@charter.net.

Bernstein Bros.

2008-12-15T10:03:00.001-05:00

CT...
BG--

Review: "Bernstein Brothers Christmas Spectacular" not typical holiday family show

Jim Cavener

ASHEVILLE - Enthusiasm and able stagecraft are the hallmarks of "The Bernstein Brothers' Christmas Spectacular," by one of the the area's new production companies, In The Moment.

The material is all original, either for this production or by company members from earlier forays into holiday mayhem. This is not your traditional year-end entertainment, trying to please everyone with sappy and saccharine nonsense. The first act of this zany romp is equal opportunity offensive material. No one is safe or spared.

Basically a spoof of the 1950's TV 'Holiday Special' genre, the hosts, fictional Jack and Jimmy Bernstein, are in Christmas-colored tux jackets, or plaid blazers, with an ever-present martini glass in hand. Think early Rowan and Martin, Perry Como, or Dean Martin. Even Pat Boone it isn't. However, the then ubiquitous cigarettes are blessedly missing.

"Christmas Spectacular" is a refreshing take on the season, with some excess in the first act. Using actual sponsors of this stage show in "commercials" is a clever twist.There are sketches based on randy reindeer, efforts to unionize Santa's elves and a way dysfunctional family who make a landmark video greeting for their friends.

The language and situations in this act are not for youngsters, nor many oldsters. This audience is the 20-something crowd, and those wishing they were still there.

The second act's "A Twisted Carol" variant on Dickens is simply brilliant in its different perspective. Knowing the frequently performed original, or condensations thereof, will enrich appreciation of this twisted "A Christmas Carol." All the familiar cast members are here: Scrooge, Cratchit, Marley's Ghost, the Sprits of Christmas Past, Present and Future, along with a puppet Tiny Tim. It works very well this way. The skit is focused, incisive and brings this dingy Dickens within reach of the most limited literary lion.

This over-the-top send-up of holiday entertainment is the work of husband-and-wife Karen Strobbe and Mondy Carter who moved from Milwaukee to Black Mountain a couple years ago. They have teamed with Jonathan Frappier and Chall Gray to bring off this high energy romp. Carter and Frappier are the Bernstein Brothers, plus random other outrageous roles. David and Karri Ostergaard joined with equally able regional actor John Crutchfield, plus Trinity Smith and Vivian Smith (no relation), and Darren Marshall to round out the cast. Strobbe directs.

Fast-paced and loud are characteristics of the production. The effort to gross out the audience in the first act was easily accomplished. Still, with some patience even the most traditional theatergoer would be reached by the creativity of the second act's new take on the immortal Dickens' expose of greed and redemption. Authentically written and convincingly delivered, "Christmas Spectacular" is a tribute to theater skills and daring aspirations.

Jim Cavener writes on theater for The Citizen-Times.

Wonderful Life

2008-12-04T20:40:00.002-05:00

Don't know if we'll get a local review, with the show only in Asheville a few days, but here's one from Concord of NCSC/ITP's It's A Wonderful Life
BG--

‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ with a twist

November 18, 2008

By Lee Ann Sides Garrett
For the Kannapolis Citizen

George Bailey would have been proud. The story of his life, a holiday mainstay, was performed live, in a slightly different style, at the new Davis Theatre in Concord on Saturday.
The play, “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play,” delighted the audience with the story of George Bailey’s efforts to help his community and his brush with near disaster, as told in Frank Capra’s original classic movie.
The setting was WBFR in New York, where five actors played some 30 characters, depicting a live radio broadcast as it would have been performed in 1946, complete with sound effects, on air and applause lights.
Audience members were amused with the different methods and items used to make the effects and the many voices used by the actors to play so many characters.
“It was interesting to see how they did the sound effects,” said Mona Barnhardt. “They all worked together like clockwork.”
Barnhardt referred to the fact that all five actors took turns doing sound effects while the others were speaking.
“I thought it was as true to the storyline as you can get,” said Karen Elmore. “It really captured the essence of the original movie and the holidays.”
The play was produced by Asheville’s North Carolina Stage Company. The Davis Theatre performance kicked off a tour of the southeastern United States for the drama.
It is only the second event performed at the new Davis Theatre, created from a former courtroom in Cabarrus County’s historic courthouse. With room for only 227, the theatre provides an intimate setting for professional touring productions.
The theatre provides only events involving professional touring productions and plays, so it does not compete with local talent. Saturday’s play is the only such production in the theatre’s season, the rest consisting of a wide variety of musical reviews.

The Cabarrus Arts Council moved into the old courthouse in 2005, and the theatre officially opened Sept. 15. The new theatre is named for Roy and Sue Davis, the chairman emeritus of S&D Coffee and his wife, who is active in the Concord community.
The building also houses four galleries downstairs with the state-of-the-art theatre on the second floor and dressing rooms on the third.
The play included radio commercials for S& D Coffee and CESI, Concord Engineering and Surveying, who sponsored the performance, portrayed as they would have been in a 1940s radio broadcast.
“This is how it would have been listening to the radio at the time,” said Vince Brezovic. “It leaves you in the right spirit for the holidays."

Nuncrackers

2008-12-04T20:36:00.002-05:00

From the C-T, of course
BG--

Theater review: 'Nuncrackers' is heavenly fun
TIM REID • PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 21, 2008 12:15 AM

ASHEVILLE – The Little Sisters of Hoboken are back in Asheville Community Theatre's good-hearted and hilarious Christmas musical comedy, “Nuncrackers.”

Dan Goggin's sequel in the fabulously successful “Nunsense” franchise about a small convent of nuns' zany fund-raising antics is directed by Jerry Crouch, who also honchoed ACT's blockbusters “The Music Man,” “Annie” and “Fiddler on the Roof.”

This time the good nuns have gone high-tech, televising their annual Christmas concert from their new cable access studio built in the convent basement.

Reverend Mother Mary Regina (Ruth Butler) has her hands full trying to maintain the proper convent decorum while marshalling her disparate crew to put on an entertaining show.

Streetwise Sister Mary Robert Anne (Lisa J.S. Ross) is a perennial show biz wannabe, yearning for the bright lights of Carnegie Hall. Spaced-out Sister Mary Paul (Mandy Phillips) is a former country music singer, and Sister Mary Leo (Heather Taft) aspires to be the first ballerina nun.

It doesn't help that Revered Mother herself grew up in a circus family and can't resist a turn in the spotlight. The audience has assembled and the show must go on, but everything that can go wrong does.

Father Virgil (Bradshaw Call) tries to do a cooking segment but drinks too much of the recipe's rum. Sister Mary Leo gets injured just before her big dancing scene in “The Nutcracker.” Sister Mary Paul, also called Sister Amnesia, keeps teaching the children the wrong lyrics for songs such as “Here We Come-a-Waffle-ing.”

Even the convent's Christmas presents go missing. Necessity is the mother of invention, and the Little Sisters of Hoboken rise to the occasion with escalating mirth and mayhem. They are aided by five talented young cast members - Lexie Moore, Summer Nordmeyer, John Norlin, Milo Norlin and Emma Stoneberg.

It is hard to single out exceptional individual performances in a production that is full of them, but Bradshaw Call nearly steals the show in the very touching “The Christmas Box.” And Lexie Moore brings an unbelievable poise and fine singing voice that are really exceptional for a child actor.

Mandy Phillips has wonderful comic timing as the ditzy but good-hearted Sister Amnesia, and Ruth Butler is hilarious as the stodgy Reverend Mother trying to restore order amid chaos. It is worth going just to see her and Father Virgil in tutus as “dueling” Sugar Plum Fairies or she and Sister Mary Hubert (Eileen Kennedy) singing the joys of a nun's life “In the Convent.”

Musicians Chuck Taft, Jessica Miskelly, Nora Vetro and David Bruce deliver a full sound that keeps the merriment contagious.

Fans of earlier “Nunsense” productions will find this one a worthy successor, and first-time viewers will become quick converts to the charm of the Little Sisters of Hoboken.

Crouch, who is known for packing the house in some of the most successful shows in ACT's history, has apparently done it again with “Nuncrackers,” which is sure to be a big hit this holiday season. Better get your tickets early.

Tim Reid reviews theater for the Citizen-Times. He can be contacted at timreid4@charter.net.

No Shame Theatre

2008-11-17T17:27:00.002-05:00

When I first heard about No Shame Theatre at NC Stage, I was excited- 15 new plays that were rehearsed for just an hour, with only three rules (original works only, you can't break anything, and the lights will go out if you go over 5 minutes). But I've only come out for it a couple of times, because I have yet to see much that holds my attention, even for 5 minutes.
Of course you expect a mixed bag when folks have less than hour to rehearse play that itself may or may not be any good, but where I was expecting and hoping to find a forum for innovation --with a full range of bad plays and good plays, innovative and conventional plays, successful and failed attempts (all of which could be interesting)-- it seems to be pretty mediocre, smutty, and, frankly, boring across the board.
Not exclusively of course, but take this last week. It was ok. There were a few scattered kind-of-interesting pieces that I didn't really understand, but which at least seemed like a playwright working on something with actors and a director-- the first piece comes to mind (about McCain office staffers). There was a strange piece that sort of featured two typewriters (not sure it was successful, but at least it seemed like it was trying to do something). There was a monologue about taking over City Hall with monkeys, that seemed like it was building towards something, although it was too long, so we never saw the ending. There was a two-person political/poetical mumbo-jumbo piece that was of refreshingly different tone, even if it was fairly confusing. And there was... well, a lot of yelling "Vagina" and talking about sex after the prom, and sleeping with your sister, and eating babies. None of which was clever or sophisticated enough to qualify as satire or social commentary. I mean, "shock" only has "value" when used to break people out of their dreary, expected existence, right? I have no problem with smut, but when a potentially interesting and disturbing and conflicted piece about the secret urge to basically rape a friend is played for laughs because --guess what! there's a surprise ending "she's my sister!" ha ha ha!-- it just seems to me like wasting a thoughtful piece on a stupid punchline designed to undermine anything of real merit in the piece and appeal to the lowest common denominator. Were people laughing at this stuff? Yes. Did that make me want to come back? No. It made me wonder if maybe I needed to be drinking more.
I guess I'm disappointed that there is not more to it. Where is the theatricality? Where is the experimentation? I guess I'm tired of "No Shame" being so consistently interpreted to mean "No Taste." I thought it meant "dare to take risks, dare to fail." But guess what: if everybody's doing it, it's not a risk. In fact, it's not even "original."
Maybe I'm just a smart ass for suggesting that "original" should mean something other than "something you wrote yourself," and maybe I'm just not the target audience, but if No Shame ever actually becomes a forum for exploring new theatrical ideas, somebody let me know. I'd like to give it another try.

Lyman

Two Rooms

2008-11-16T21:37:00.001-05:00

"Two Rooms" Review
from http://nathanhadams.blogspot.com/

I had the pleasure of experiencing the North Carolina Stage Company Catalyst Series production of Lee Blessing's "Two Rooms". If perchance a performance is starting soon and you are sitting down to read this review, let me save you some time, go see it.

I usually hate it when a production uses the word "timely". It usually denotes the dragging of politics, like a corpse, into the middle of the stage, for the actors and audience to trip over. This play is timely in the best way. The press release describes it as thus, "The play sheds light on the anguish of a man taken hostage in Beirut, and the emotional torture and helplessness of his wife, impatient for something to be done, and government officials who must be guided by logic rather than emotion." Obviously, the place and conflict are familiar, it is timely. This play succeeds in being timely because at the center is not why or why not we should do this or that, but the simple human pain that drives what we need to do. And it is the presence of human pain, today, tomorrow, and yesterday that makes this play beautiful. It is the type of pain, and the type of human frailties that bring it, that makes this play timely.

The play is indeed, an amazing piece of writing, but this was not what I left the theatre thinking. I left simply overwhelmed.

At first, I was skeptical about seeing a show on the first night. Asheville theatre does not usually accommodate for the type of rehearsal which provides for the best opening night. My fears were completely unfounded. This production is award worthy on opening night. Never before in my time of seeing shows have I ever wanted to leap out of my seat with emotion the way I did last night. I wanted to scream, just to make sure I still could. I wanted the hug the characters, just because they needed it. What was being depicted on stage was real. I overheard one woman tell the actor playing the hostage that she wanted to "hug him and show him sunlight", because he needed it. I was completely amazed at how much the actors were able to make us care for them.

The play is carried by four amazing actors of the Asheville stage. Erik Moellering touches our hearts as the hostage husband, brilliantly pulling off monologues full of the ideas of a man who has nothing to do but think. Kelley Hinman excellently pulls off the pent up frustration of a reporter who wants to do SOMETHING, anything to help through his tool of the media. Lucia Del Vecchio portrays an agent of the State Department assigned to the case. Ms. Del Vecchio deftly handles the passionless speech of the government, adding in just enough humanity to serve the double purpose of making both the character and her unique choices at the end real. Last, but certainly not least, is Vivian Smith. Her character of Lainie practically carries the entire play on her back. If we do not believe her sorrow, her inability to cope, or rage, the play would fall apart. Ms. Smith beautifully pulls off this character, proving an excellent foil for injustices of the world, her largest scene partner.

Another word must be said for the director and producer, Callan White. In addition to applauding her hutzpah to produce such a play, or any play for that matter, we must applaud her work as a director. She is invisible as the show progresses, always the mark of a good director. It feels as if these characters just stormed on stage and told us their story with out ever knowing we were there. And thank god. That's the way it should be. But we know Ms. White has been there, by the sheer brilliance of the overall production. A show this good could not have come together without a brilliant director presiding over brilliant actors in a beautiful collaboration.

I know I'm using a lot of awfully big adjectives, but this production warrants it. It is a beautiful emotional experience. It is a real experience. You will be making a huge mistake if you don't go to NC Stage and see this show. See it, live it, and then go out and do something about it.

(In the interests of full disclosure, it should be stated that the reviewer is going to be a student under Ms. White in the coming semester.)

Yours,
Nathan H. Adams

Triple Play

2008-11-05T22:18:00.001-05:00

Two hours in a folding chair is a challenge for these old bones. I'm happy to report that, with the help of a well-placed intermission, ClapAtUs Productions' /Triple Play/ was engaging enough that the spartan seating never really bothered me. In fact I went away charmed by the little proscenium space at the Asheville Arts Center on Merrimon Avenue. But the real charming was done by the actors, each of whom took on roles in at least two of the three plays presented, and by the playwrights.

The show begins with Rob Taylor's shortie "Honeymoon," a funny trifle about a man who wakes up the morning after his bachelor party with an unexpected party leftover -- a woman he doesn't remember meeting. Darren Marshall aptly renders the bachelor's confusion and dismay. Sonia D'Andrea's sexily cheeky Ella is perfect, and when DiAnna Ritola arrives -- that's right, she's the fiancee -- she heats things right on up, and the clever playwriting does not disappoint.

The meat of the evening is David Hopes' longer piece, /The Beautiful Johanna, /a drama set in a war-ravaged city in Ireland. Marshall, as the painter Reiner, Ritola, in the title role as Reiner's model and sometimes lover, and D'Andrea as a war orphan hiding out with friends in fear of the strife in the streets, have a chance to display their very considerable acting skills. Chris Brunton, as a street savvy survivor named Terence, very competently rounds out the cast along with playwright Nathan H. Adams who takes the role of Terence's rather hysterical lover.

Adams' short presentational piece, "The Fall of Four Men," is a contemplation on death and greatness. It gives four of the ensemble the chance to act in the presentational style, and I was glad to hear Darren Marshall give his full, booming voice some rein. I was reminded of how important the voice is to the actor, and Marshall is gifted with a good one.

I have already begun to forget that these plays were performed on-book. The plays were well rehearsed and smartly directed as staged readings. There was not too much blocking, not too little; all the production values were just about right. I'll remember seeing the plays, not readings thereof. The price of admission is a pittance. If you can catch the final performance (Sunday afternoon) and you are interested in Asheville's treasure of real live local theatre, this one will satisfy.
-- Jerry Stubblefield

Doubt

2008-10-24T09:10:00.002-04:00

Review: ‘Doubt’ is a dynamite drama at N.C. Stage

Jim Cavener • TAKE 5 CORRESPONDENT • published October 24, 2008 12:15 am

As N.C. Stage Company has established a six-year record of producing high quality theater in a variety of genres, director Hans Meyer has a track record of locating intellectually stimulating and morally challenging scripts. Now he’s come up with John Patrick Shanley’s script of “Doubt — A Parable.”

Meyer has brought in four actors virtually unknown to Asheville audiences, though two of them have appeared at nearby Flat Rock Playhouse. That relatively unknown quality will not be for long. These are splendid talents and we’ll see more of them, we hope.

The setting of “Doubt” is a Roman Catholic parish in The Bronx, New York. The year is 1964, when many Roman parishes still had their own parochial schools. The small cast is make up of the parish priest, the nun who is principal of the school, another nun who teaches in the school and the mother of one of the students — who we never see, but nevertheless figures mightily in the story line.

Father Flynn is played by Brian Robinson, a Charlotte actor who gives us intensity and credibility, just as the script calls for. Charlotte actress Rebecca Koon gives us Sister Aloysius, the school principal. She is a cold and calculating number, one stern nun in the tradition of the wrist- slapping Mother Superiors of legend. Julia VanderVeen is Sister James, the younger and more flexible nun, in a touching performance. Mrs. Muller, mother of the controversial student, is portrayed by Brandie Moore. This is a masterpiece of interpretation.

The dramatic vehicle is the conflict between doubt and certainty. Not just in the spiritual realm, but in the nitty-gritty of daily life and struggles. There are sexual issues, alcohol issues, racial issues and spiritual issues, for starters. One line helps us focus on the drama: “Doubt can be a bond as powerful as certainty.”

And a drama it is. There are no simple solutions and we leave the theater asking many questions.

The dual set: the principal’s office and a parish courtyard, is richly textured as designed by Andrew Mannion. Director Meyer is credited with sound design, which probably covers the appropriately somber and ominous music used in transitions between scenes. There is no intermission, and the show runs barely 90 minutes. But, there is enough drama in that 90 minutes to register the evening as a memorable one.

“Doubt” is surely a philosophical exercise, as well as a psychological excursion into the mental bowels of highly-charged individuals. Listen for the parable in one of Father Flynn’s homilies. It’s a zinger and a clue to the meat of the story. Clear your mind before the curtain-speech. It’s gonna be a rocky ride across the NCSC stage.

out there out here

2008-10-11T19:59:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to drop a quick line here to say that once again, John Crutchfield has created or collaborated on something that reignites my passion for the creativity and wonder of live theatre. Don't be turned off by the description of the show as "performance art." See if for yourself. You might love it, you might hate it, but it is a rare opportunity to see something like this locally, and I recommend not passing it up.

Willie Repoley

Floyd Collins

2008-10-10T17:29:00.001-04:00

Theater review: HART's “Floyd Collins” is deep and dark

Jim Cavener • published October 9, 2008 1:15 pm

- Each October the highly-successful Haywood County theatrical troupe, Haywood Arts Regional Theatre, gives us something unusual. Sometimes it's daring in concept and content and it's almost always dark and brooding. It was never more so than in the current musical enterprise “Floyd Collins.”

“Floyd Collins” is based on a real-life event from the 1920s when a young Kentucky man was trapped in a deep, dark, damp cavern and the journalism of the day made a veritable circus of his plight. The discovery and commercialization of Mammoth Cave in central Kentucky inspired many an ambitious land owner to want to capitalize on the appeal of mysterious caverns. The county fair/carnival atmosphere of the region was only exacerbated by this media attraction. The production is as deep and dark as the cavern. Not a feel-good show, for sure,

Composer Adam Guettel, is the grandson of Richard Rodgers, one of the 20th century's most prolific and successful musical theater composers. But his current work much more resembles that of Stephen Sondheim than it does those famed Rodgers and Hammerstein melodies.

From the opening tones of the pit orchestra, ably conducted by Chuck Taft, it's clear this is not typical theater music.The musical ensemble has no brass or woodwinds. It's all strings, and percussion. It is a lovely experience to hear this capable ensemble melding period Kentucky folk music with modern theater sounds. The music is demanding and the vocal demands exceed that of the instrumentalists.

Fortunately, HART was able to cast several highly trained singers in key roles. The title role of Floyd is a challenge for any singer. Much of Floyd's best singing is done while he is trapped on his back, and actor Rod Leigh sings quite effectively with limited diaphragm control. He's a treasure, for sure. His brother, Homer, is done compellingly by Mark Jones, last seen as the Emcee in last October's quite dark version of the musical “Cabaret.”

Frances Davis and Adrienne Mollette deliver the female tunes with great effectiveness. While Rick Sibley, Preston Tinsley, Roger Williams, Joanthan Milner and Cord Scott don't have to tackle the most difficult melodies, they are credible actors, as are Ricky Sanford, Strother Stingley, Andrew Greene and Roger Magendie. It's not a huge cast but director Charles Mills found some significant talent for this show.

Much of the plot line is delivered as recitative, and often the words just don't make it past the pit. It is hard to capture all the libretto, which is a pity given the nature of a complex script. Yet, much of the emotion and meaning is transparent and not dependent on spoken word. Despite the dark theme, there are moments of occasional lightness to carry us beyond the depressing dialogue between tragedy and hope.

The operatic quality of the vocal work is impressive, and the more surprising being set in such a non-traditional locale. Central Kentucky, much of it underground, dark, deep and damp. A good pre-Halloween show is this one.

Misery

2008-10-10T17:27:00.001-04:00

Theater review: ‘Misery' hits the mark at ACT's 35below

Tony Kiss • TKiss@CITIZEN-TIMES.com • published October 9, 2008 1:15 pm

Many of Stephen King's amazing stories have just not translated well to the stage or screen. But “Misery” is an exception in a production on stage at Asheville Community Theatre's tiny 35below performance space, in the lower back level of the downtown playhouse.

The tale of a romance novelist, injured in an auto accident and stranded with an increasingly psychotic fan, is made even more intense by the small confines of 35below. First-rate acting and sharp direction by Susan Dillard make this a show worth seeing.

But speaking of seeing, the only flaw is the seating arrangement for “Misery.” When the house is full (as it was last Saturday night), it was very difficult to see the stage from the back rows. Some theater-goers were constantly craning their necks or moving around trying to watch. One person even jumped up from a seat to see the dramatic finish, which was otherwise blocked from view by folks up front. This could be fixed by putting some more elevation on those last two rows – or bringing a phone book or two to sit on. The layout also puts one scene in the rear of the room, completely out of view.

The movie version of “Misery,” starring James Caan and Kathy Bates, has made the “Misery” a classic. Weary romance novelist Paul (Jonathan Ray) is badly injured in a car crash in the frozen wilderness, and then saved (by fate) by a loving fan and former nurse Annie (Cary Nichols).

What first seems to be a miracle then turns to nightmare, as Annie becomes increasingly odd and obsessed with Paul, and his decision to end his “Misery” series of novels and try something new. The writer becomes trapped and hooked on pain pills, with no choice but to go along with Annie's freaky command.

Dillard gets some good chemistry going here between Ray and Nichols in their odd on-stage relationship. Ray first plays the character as laid-back, but the performance evolves as he realizes the situation. His pain is so intense, it seems very real. Nichols gives a powerhouse turn as Annie, a troubled soul turned into something much more dangerous. At some moments, it's easy to feel sorry for her, at other times, she's absolutely frightening.

Tuesdays with Morrie

2008-10-10T17:25:00.000-04:00

Flat Rock's ‘Tuesdays with Morrie' a funny tearjerker

Tim Reid • Take 5 Correspondent • published October 3, 2008 12:15

Flat Rock Playhouse's “Tuesdays with Morrie” will make you laugh and cry through the last days of Morrie Schwartz, a beloved Brandeis University professor dying of ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease).

Based on the best-selling book by Detroit sports columnist Mitch Albom, “Tuesdays” chronicles Albom's once-a-week trips to Boston to visit his former teacher and mentor.

Michael Edwards is marvelous as Morrie, the teacher who struggles to impart his love of life while disease slowly but relentlessly takes it away. Bill Munoz gives a moving performance as Mitch, who is caught up with the cares of the world while Morrie teaches him the important things such as love and forgiveness.

Morrie keeps his wit and wisdom even as disease takes its inevitable toll. Edwards gives a magnificent performance depicting the deterioration of Morrie's body while his spirit only gets stronger. Mitch prattles on about his petty concerns of everyday life while Morrie hones in on what really matters.

Flat Rock audiences know well Edwards' comic genius through his many performances at Flat Rock, but many will be surprised at the depth and nuance he brings to the role of Morrie.Director Betsy Bisson, Edwards and Munoz deliver a show that Flat Rock audiences will be talking about for a long time.

700 Stories of Love and One Really Big Reason to Quit

2008-10-03T11:20:00.003-04:00

From the C-T, http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200881002083
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Theater review: “700 Stories of Love” is moving experience

Jim Cavener • Take5 Correspondent • published October 3, 2008 12:15 am

Theater freaks don't go to downtown Asheville's funky little North Carolina Stage Company for mindless entertainment. Often, an audience has to work for its rewards. And the current Redundant Theatre Company Theatre production of “700 Stories of Love and One Really Big Reason to Quit” perfectly fits that genre.

This small troupe (essentially four core players and a small number of hangers-on) has a great track record of finding or creating material like you've not seen or heard before. “700 Stories” is home-grown, all the way. Each actor has written her/his own parts in each of these mini-skits or episodes. But, all are based on a common source, the website or Wikipedia postings on one Dr. Robert Sternberg and his “Triangle Theory of Love” – should you want to get a leg-up on these goings-on.

A word of warning: there is no fixed-seating for this show. The usual bank of chairs on risers are gone. There are a few folding chairs scattered about, but even they must be schlepped away as the audience migrates or is herded toward the ever moving action. Some mobility is necessary to accommodate the action, with only occasional, limited seating available..

The 700 stories are carefully tabulated on a large chalk board that serves as the backdrop. While there emerge some similarities in each of these short scenes, there are various permutations in the cast and its make-up. Some scenes are with two women lovers, some with two men and others are even with (yawn) a woman and a man, in a short lapse of conventionality for this unconventional company..

And, speaking of that cast, the stalwarts of the troupe, Rain Newcomb, Willie Repoley, Rebecca Morris and Todd Weakley are their usual competent selves, and Kirsten Daniel does well in a lesser role. But, the knock-out fling is flung by Graham Hackett, who gives us a spoken word piece that will be long remembered. It is masterful in both writing and delivery, in content.and in style. Show stopping....

Scintillating choreography by Heather Maloy of Terpsicorps, and puppets by Rick Spears are among the few attributions toward the technical aspects of this production. Jason Holland is named as doing sound and light control. Someone with very good timing manages to keep all the cues on target.

The program for the show is as unconventional as is the structure and execution. Expect no cast identification or bios, not even their names in print. Nor are the curtain calls and bows what you might expect, When the silly smoke alarm goes off the final time, and stage smoke envelopes the room, you are in for a trip – of some sort, to be disclosed by attendance at the show, only Enjoy.

The Best Man

2008-09-19T09:39:00.005-04:00

From the C-T
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Theater review: Cast your ballot for ACT’s ‘The Best Man’
TIM REID | TAKE 5 CORRESPONDENT • PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 19, 2008 12:15 AM

ASHEVILLE — Political contests in America are not pitched battles between absolute good and evil but more nuanced struggles between somewhat flawed candidates who lie somewhere in between. That is the premise of Gore Vidal’s “The Best Man,” which, on the Asheville Community Theatre stage, seems as powerful and perceptive today as when it was written more than 40 years ago.

Jim Weyhenmeyer gives a delightfully convoluted performance as William Russell, an Adlai Stevenson-like character seeking the presidential nomination at the party convention in Philadelphia. Russell is an intellectual whose exemplary public service is belied by his private life — he chronically cheats on his long-suffering wife, Alice (Susan Fronsoe).

Russell’s hard-charging opponent Joseph Cantwell in contrast is ruthless as a politician but has a very close relationship with his opportunistic wife, Mabel (Lora Kole). Dan Clancy’s nitty-gritty portrayal of the Richard Nixon-like Cantwell conjures up every resentment of the “dirty politics” so prevalent in recent history.

The two politicians’ respective “handlers” Dick Jensen (Cory Boughton) and Don Blades (Zack Blew) urge their candidates to win at all costs. Injecting a delightful dose of humanity is former President Arthur Hockstader, whose endorsement of either man would carry critical weight as this contest goes down to the wire. Bob Baldridge gives a marvelous performance as the Harry Truman-like former president who measures a candidate on character and judgment more than rhetoric.

The candidates both have secrets – which would sink their campaigns. And each seems intent on stooping as low as needed in order to win, a cynical but perhaps telling commentary on today’s fractured body politic. Vidal’s resolution to this dilemma offers a little glimmer of hope that sometimes indeed the “best man” can emerge from such a sordid melee.

Director Jamie Nicholson and a strong cast have breathed life into an American classic that is still timely and still needed today.

Tim Reid reviews theater for the Citizen-Times. He can be contacted at timreid4@charter.net.

Songs of Robert

2008-09-19T09:39:00.003-04:00

From Nathan Adams' blog,
http://nathanhadams.blogspot.com/2008/09/songs-of-robert.html
(link above also takes you there)
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Corpus Theatre Collective presents "The Songs of Robert", as a part of North Carolina Stage Company's Catalyst Series. The "verse play with live music" was written by and stars John Crutchfield as a whole host of characters, including the vulnerable titular character.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself at this show, and not only that, I found it to be of an excellent quality. Unfortunately, the two do not always find each other in the same theatre. But in this (dare I make bold praise) modern American masterwork of a play, John Crutchfield deftly combines both entertainment and comedy, and deep insights and beautiful poetry.

Crutchfield lithely leaps from character to character with the grace and style of ballet dancer. That doesn't mean you don't see him work though. One of the things I noticed during the opening scene was how big his "basketballs" had to be to do this. One man, his work, alone on a stage, telling a room full of southern people that they look nice, for white people.

I really appreciated the ability to see Crutchfield work at his change of characters. To just watch him as he turned his back to the audience, and to see his body build the energy necessary to leap into the next character, was an example of why so many love theatre.

The structure of this one-act play is not what one might call conventional. We are given glimpses into the world of Robert, a senior in high school, mostly through monologues and "scenes" with other characters in his life, but also through Robert himself. These scenes provide some of the most touching moments in the play. The structure of the play actually reminds me of the landmark musical, "Company" (whose protagonist is also named, coincidentally, Robert). Like the musical, we are given glimpses into the lead character's life, all culminating in one final song.

And don't think that this is a mere vanity project by an actor who isn't really a writer. The script is beautiful, and I would love to someday have a copy in my library. Crutchfield states in his notes, "Until I find someone to do it for me, I'll be performing it myself." And while I hope he continues to do so, as to watch his perform it is a gold medal treat, I also hope that the piece continues to have a life beyond him, and I will be the first in line to buy it if it is published.

Fly, don't run down to the North Carolina Stage Company to see this show. Realize how lucky we are to have so many talented local writers producing work, and support it. This show only has three performances left, so get thee to a ticket website!

http://www.ncstage.org/pages/on-stage/catalyst-series/songs-of-robert.php

http://www.johncrutchfield.com/

Yours gushing,
Nathan H. Adams

Dr Faustus

2008-09-14T19:19:00.002-04:00

From the C-T. I'm posting the two comments from the C-Twebsite, too, because they are interesting...
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‘Dr. Faustus’ is stunning stuff from Montford Park Players

Jim Cavener • Take5 correspondent • published September 12, 2008 12:15 am

ASHEVILLE — Drawing near the close of its 36th and longest season of plays, now in the Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre behind the Montford Community Center, Montford Park Players is doing one of its occasional non-Shakespeare productions, “Doctor Faustus” by Christopher Marlowe.

It’s set in Wittenberg, Germany, and is the story of a worldly and successful scholar who sells his soul to the devil for 24 years of unlimited wealth and knowledge.

As is often the case with Elizabethan-era drama, the stilted but eloquent language creates obstacles for a full grasp of the significance of the story. Fortunately, the playbill includes a useful synopsis of scenes. It is wise to arrive early and spend some time sorting it out.

The term “cast of thousands” is overused, but in “Dr. Faustus,” there are more than half-a-hundred characters listed, and soldiers, tree demons, the Devil army, spirits and the seven deadly sins often arrive in multiples at a time. In addition, the delightful sins of sloth, lechery, pride and covetousness all are triply cast.

With so many players, it is impossible to mention most of the stellar roles. But in a very unusual bit of casting, the role of Mephistopheles is played by two quite differing local actors. One is the noted playwright, director and actor David Hopes. But on some nights, the role is portrayed by a 12-year-old girl, Amy Daugherty. Say what?

Saturday night of opening weekend Daugherty was Satan’s own agent, Mephistopheles, and the child is awesome. Hopes has some (actually very small) figuratively very large shoes to fill. A lucky viewer might see them both on successive nights. It is hard to imagine a more impressive performance than given by this sweet blond child in a white gown, ably holding forth in a role historically often cast with a tall, black-clothed man.

Faustus, himself is given by Warren Wilson College professor David Mycoff, while the Pope is Nathan Adams. Mike Vaniman is a good Emperor while Charles McKnight an impressive Wagner. The feisty Lucifer is interpreted by Nathaniel Deardoff, with Stephanie Hickling being the entire Chorus, a regular element in Elizabethan drama, part narrator, part troubadour.

Director Jason Williams has taken many risks with this production, but even the massive Cecil B. DeMille penultimate climax scene comes off with aplomb. Powerful metaphysical metaphors give this often playful romp both frivolity and sobriety. Good show.

A Midnight's Summer Dream...

2008-09-12T15:22:00.003-04:00

Those not quite getting the humor of the following review are invited to follow the link above
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A Midsummer Night’s Dream

North Carolina Stage Company’s recent production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream was a real head-scratcher. First of all, the curtain time of midnight was an extremely questionable choice. Also, not a single actor was off-book; in fact, they shamelessly carried their scripts on stage with them! Costumes ranged from poor to poorest, with little thought or continuity apparent either in aesthetic, time period, or general condition and cleanliness. The set was nothing short of appalling: arbitrarily placed music stands in the foreground, and actors awaiting their cues on beanbag chairs ON STAGE. I am all for minimalism, but this seemed much too far.

Even with lines in hand, actors still managed to flub words, lose their place, mispronounce text, and obliterate proper scansion. Were they drunk?? It was as though they’d had no rehearsal time at all! Casting choices were bizarre as well, the oddest perhaps being the diminutive Jamie Shell in a cross-gender role as Lysander, made no less strange by a moment wherein she must insult the same-height actress Charlotte Lawrence by calling her a “dwarf.” Direction seemed haphazard at best; in fact, it often appeared that people were making up blocking on the spot. Disorganization the likes of which I’ve never seen. An enormous departure from NC Stage’s general standards.

~Shamie Jell

Chesapeake

2008-08-26T10:07:00.002-04:00

CT (again), of course. Click on the title above for an unprecedented opportunity to compare the styles of two CT reporters reviewing (arguably) the same play.
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At first glance it would appear that "Chesapeake," is a one-man show featuring North Carolina company co-founder and artistic director Charlie Flynn-McIver in the demanding role of Kerr, the only character seen on stage.

But, a second thought reveals that this riveting production — in its third incarnation by NCSC — is a collaborative effort by more than half-dozen competent theater professionals.

The term “ensemble” usually refers to a group of actors. In the case of "Chesapeake," the term applies to the technical staff. Company co-founder and producing director Angie Flynn-McIver has assembled an ensemble of technical theater artists who are truly up to the challenge. And a challenge it is.

Charlie McIver is awesome in a complex and multi-layered role, an intense exploration of the life of a Southern, bisexual performance artist who starts this telling of his journey with a trip to a major art gallery with his distant father. And from there it is all up hill.

With the help of NCSC's team of theater technicians, we get a trip that is memorable and rewarding, with no small amount of effort demanded from the attentive audience.

The stage is a stark, uncluttered, basic black performing area adorned only with two large, light-colored blocks that accentuate the starkness and blackness of the story. On the back wall hangs a massive, gilt-framed expanse that later provides stunning projected visuals provided by the skilled technology of Craig Hobbs, a local video artist who was trained by the Disney-founded California Institute of the Arts.

These intermittent and provocative projections enhance the storyline and embellish a strange journey through art and politics and the improbable importance of a dog — a large, black Chesapeake Bay Lab called both Lucky and Rats. The dazzling images would, alone, be impressive, but combined with the sound design and original bass compositions of Mike Ponder, the technical feats equal that of the lone actor on stage.

Not only are the sounds impressive, but the cues for both sound and visuals are impeccable. Barbara Taggart is credited with the soundboard operation. Casey Morris cues the visuals, and both deserve kudos for their technical timing and virtuosity. Lighting by Leigh Spencer Brown is less noticeable, but hardly insignificant. Only Kerr/McIver's ratty rags were no-brainer decisions by Shelley Porter, whose chores as costumer were hardly demanding.

The play is a romp through the woods and into Chesapeake Bay, with senatorial elements of Strom Thurman and Jesse Helms mixed in. It's a portrait of a disturbed and unstable performance artist who does a stunning second-act reincarnation.

by Jim Cavener

And Then There Were None

2008-08-26T09:57:00.002-04:00

From BlueRidgeNow.com (the Hendersonville Times-News)

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Agatha Christie mystery at Flat Rock Playhouse is a workout for the mind

By Kitty Turner
Special to the Times-News

Eight guests arrive at a lonely house on an island off the coast of Devon, England, only to be told that their host and hostess will not arrive until the following day.

The butler and housekeeper show the disparate group to their rooms and before dinner they gather for drinks in the lounge. Just as everyone is beginning to relax, a voice rings out and Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Was None” is off and running.

The Flat Rock Playhouse production features Damian Duke Domingue and Neela Munoz as the butler and housekeeper, Mr. and Mrs. Rogers. Lisa K. Bryant as the mysterious Mrs. Owen’s secretary Vera Claythorne, Willie V.R. Repoley as Philip Lombard, Ben Hope as Anthony Marston, Brian Robinson as William Blore, Stewart Gregory as General MacKenzie, Paige Posey as Emily Brent, Ralph Redpath as Sir Lawrence Wargrove and Peter Thomasson as Dr. Armstrong.

Christie, one of the most prolific mystery writers of the 20th century, wrote 66 detective stories in 56 years. Well known for her Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple detectives, she also wrote a number of books that didn’t feature one of her signature sleuths. “And Then There Were None,” also known as “10 Little Indians,” was one of the public’s favorites. It was reworked as a play and as a film, being produced at least three different times.

The set for the Flat Rock production is beautiful, like a room borrowed from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Head-high paneled walls line two sides of the room, while stained glass windows and doors make up the back wall. Stenciled at ceiling height are nursery rhymes, while in pride of place over the fireplace mantel is the poem “10 Little Indians:”

Ten little Indian boys went out to dine;
One choked himself and his little self and then there were nine.

Nine little Indian boys sat up very late;
One overslept himself and then there were eight.

Eight little Indian boys traveling in Devon;
One said he’d stay there and then there were seven.

Seven little Indian boys chopping up sticks;
One chopped himself in halves and then there were six.

Six little Indian boys playing with a hive;
A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.

Five little Indian boys going in for law;
One got in Chancery and then there were four.

Four little Indian boys going out to sea;
A red herring swallowed one and then there were three.

Three little Indian boys walking in the Zoo;
A big bear hugged one and then there were two.

Two little Indian boys sitting in the sun;
One got frizzled up and then there was one.

One little Indian boy left all alone;
He went and hanged himself and then there were none.

Back to that voice that suddenly was heard. It makes certain accusations against all those present, including the butler and housekeeper, Mr. and Mrs. Rogers. The participants discover that the voice is on a record that Rogers was instructed to play by the absent Mr. Owen.

Sir Lawrence Wargrave calls for calm and asks each person how they know their hosts. As the mystery deepens each character is exposed and explored, with the acting becoming more intense. All the actors did an outstanding job, but the slow disintegration of Thomasson’s Dr. Armstrong, and Redpath’s dominance as Judge Wargrave were outstanding.

Audiences should pay particular attention to all the clues, since during intermission a vote will be taken on who-dun-it and a winner drawn from the correct answer for two tickets to “Dear Santa,” the playhouse’s holiday show.

“And Then There Were None” is an enjoyable evening of theater and a workout for the mind.

On the Verge & Below the Belt

2008-08-01T12:46:00.005-04:00

from the C-T...
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immediate theatre project shines twice

by Tony Kiss

On a pretty summer day, a passionate baseball fan might exclaim “Let’s play two!” Asheville’s immediate theatre project is now doing just that, performing a pair of shows, one after another, at the cozy N.C. Stage Company space downtown.

And these aren’t quick, connected one-acts. “On the Verge or the Geography of Yearning” and “Below the Belt” are not linked in any particular way, except sharing the same director (Hans Meyer) and some offstage crew. The cast, playwrights and stories are different. Audiences can watch one, or both, or come to see the plays on different nights.

It’s a lot of work for this little acting company, which has established itself as one of the city’s best. And it’s a lot of theater to absorb in one evening (or matinee, as the case may be). On opening night, “Verge” began at 7:30 p.m. and “Belt” ended around 12:30 a.m., which included intermissions in both programs, and a break between the two.

But again, it’s not necessary to catch them both in one sitting, though it makes for an interesting and entertaining experience.

“Verge” centers on three women explorers in the late 19th century, making a bizarre jungle journey. “Belt” follows three guys toiling in a prisonlike manufacturing plant, two of them constantly snapping at the third.

‘On the Verge’

“On the Verge or The Geography of Yearning” by Eric Overmyer has three Victorian-era women in some thick jungle to explore a land they call Terra Ingognita. Fanny (Katie Langwell) is the conservative housewife, Mary (Vivian Smith) the no-nonsense traveler who usually goes solo, and Alexandra (Trinity Smith) the youngest and the dreamer in this bunch.

Quickly, it’s obvious they’ve slipped into a time warp, and the further they go, the more they travel to the future, and the stranger the tale becomes. Erik Moellering plays a handful of supporting male characters. By the year 1955, they have come so far from their own time that some personal decisions need to be made.

‘Below the Belt’

“Below the Belt” is plenty quirky as well. In an industrial plant, eager new arrival Dobbitt (Chris Allison) finds himself in workplace hell, toiling alongside the fidgety, hair-triggered Hanrahan (Darren Marshall in the strongest performance in either show) and their nasty boss, Merkin (Strother Stingley). While Dobbitt only wants to please, the others torment and turn against him at every turn. Here, too, a choice must be made, with Merkin pulling Dobbitt into a plot that’s totally against his nature.

This one is a bit like The Three Stooges meet “Seinfeld” – and it’s a howler that leaves you buzzing at the end. With the shows running through Aug. 17, make a point to catch this engaging “experiment in theater.”

Ruthie

2008-08-01T12:43:00.001-04:00

from the C-T
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Review: SART’s ‘Ruthie’ is rewarding theater

Jim Cavener • take5 Correspondent

A biblical tale gets a Western North Carolina twist in “Ruthie,” a world premiere production at Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre in Mars Hill.

Written by David Anthony Wright, now managing director of the Paramount Theater in Burlington, “Ruthie,” is a worthy effort and a rewarding theater experience.

It takes place in the Asheville area, just after World War II. Local residents and those familiar with the region are going to find the show most appealing. But, anyone seeing this well-crafted work will enjoy a feel-good evening with moments of high drama. Mostly, this is a warm and fuzzy story with a crew of well-written, classic Southern characters.

Ruthie McInnes (Ashley Manning) and her mother-in-law, Naomi (Kay Galvin), return from Charleston to Naomi’s modest home in the mountains of WNC after the wartime death of Ruthie’s young husband (and Naomi’s son), Martin. They are welcomed by a range of regional denizens from Naomi’s past, all new and unfamiliar to Ruthie, who comes from a more urbane and sophisticated past. The plays on Baptist vs. Episcopal and Presbyterian values and practices afford a knowing and entertaining portrayal.

Among the classic characters entwined in Ruthie’s saga are two town matrons who open the show with a farcelike display of rapid entrances and exits through the six doors on the set, designed by Richard Seagle. These two, Thelma Whitesell (Dianne Chapman) and Alma Clayton (Elaine Blanton), provide ongoing comic foil and are well worth the trip. They keep the guffaws authentic and frequent.

Julius Kingsford (Michael Mattison) runs the town’s dry cleaners and laundry with his sleazy son, Junior (Anthony Giordano), with help from the wholesome boy-next-door, Beau Stroud (Bradshaw Call). Julius hires Ruthie, who is the object of attraction of both Junior and Beau. Therein lies the romantic, as well as dramatic, story line. Tony Medlin as Coot Cameron provides further light moments with a twist of Jubilation T. Cornpone. Robert McDaniel offers two lesser roles.

There are a few rough edges in this new script. The last scene needs to be more clearly identified as occurring a considerable time later. A lot has happened since the previous scene, and the audience is left guessing. Yet, the easy, linear story line lets us enjoy this unfolding tale of virtue winning out and everyone getting where they need to be with a totally sweet denouement. “Ruthie” is to theater what comfort food is to dinner. A nice time is virtually guaranteed.

Director John Moon gives us additional post-WWII touches in musical themes and period references, as well as the right balance between frenzied flourishes of comedy and subdued interpretations. Galvin, Mattison, Chapman, Blanton and Manning all shine. Giordano’s evil and Call’s virtue are both well wrought. Medlin is a hoot.

Elvis and Other Men

2008-07-26T11:09:00.001-04:00

As I’ve said before, because I am a working producer and actor in town, I have given up writing reviews of local shows. However, no one else is contributing very much just now, and I feel I would be remiss if I did not at least mention the superb work being done by Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance.

I saw “Elvis and Other Men” earlier this summer, and was once again delighted that one of the (thankfully) few $30 tickets in town was absolutely, completely worth it.

Just the opening image got me all giddy about live performance all over again. The stage was dimly lit, and completely bare, save a gentle, vibrant, deep red scrim behind the vast expanse of the DW. Then, a single male dancer –in leggings and not much more—walked across, in a straight line, from one side to the other. And then another followed. And more and more, at different speeds, each just moving from one side of the stage to the other, back and forth, but always exiting completely before turning around and changing speeds. They were not lit from the front, so it was just these very masculine profiles darting about, and it seem eventually like there must be dozens of them. I was reminded, actually, of watching birds. I have said before that I don’t know much about dance, and tend to look for a literal story where there none, at least not a literal or maybe chronological one, but I didn’t mind in the slightest not knowing what the “story: of these dancers was. Like birds, each had their own random individual beauty, and all together they were clearly part of something larger that was not a story so much as the experience of being alive and experiencing something of great natural beauty, that I was somehow a part of as well. Like if you really notice birds engaged in a simple task, say eating, you start to notice how, yeah sure, they are all the same sort of creature, but simultaneously they are also individual animals, and something about that duality and simplicity fascinates and inspires, and you could just sit there watching them for a surprisingly long time.

At any rate the entire, long first piece was amazing—even once all the lights were turned on.

There were several shorter pieces, also for men, mostly choreographed by Heather Malloy, which for me ranged from satisfyingly amusing to very cool, if not quite as perspective-changing as that first piece. I especially liked the solo piece for dancer and train.

The finale was another great Malloy dance featuring Holiday Childress and Ménage upon a hastily constructed platform up right, from which they switched on their electric guitars and played music by the Violent Femmes, while the dancers turned the DW into a giant club, stormed the stage, and danced the night away in a series of solo and group dances that effectively told multiple stories, established multiple distinct characters, and used a very traditional art form to tap into very modern struggles, triumphs, and rhythms. It’s hard to know if the performers of the audience were having a better time, and that is a great thing.

Staging an entire evening of all male ballet must surly have sounded like an unusual and possibly even absurd idea, but Terpsicorps pulled it off with that same sense of play, of wonder, of absolute joy that they bring to everything they do. It was hugely refreshing to experience as a human being, and as an artist. I don’t think I’ve been that excited to be a part of Asheville’s performing arts community since maybe NCSC’s “Chesapeake.”

Now that’s what I call a reason to go see theatre.

--Willie Repoley

Noises Off

2008-07-26T10:26:00.001-04:00

Anothe C-T review
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‘Noises Off’ funny stuff at Parkway Playhouse

Jim Cavener • take5 Correspondent • published July 25, 2008 12:15 am

BURNSVILLE – The field of farce is loaded with land mines, a dangerous one for any theater company. Yet with Michael Frayn’s “Noises Off,” Parkway Playhouse has a 2 3/4-hour, three-act hit on its hands. This midseason silliness is top-notch material, supported by able talent and directed to near-perfection.

Using the classic “play-within-a-play” context, “Noises Off” is exposure to an English troupe mounting a contrived bedroom or sex farce called “Nothing On.” All the requisite elements of farce are present in spades. There are naughty ladies in skimpy undergarments, randy men whose trousers are often down about their ankles and lots of slamming doors.

An awesome stage set is impressive even in the first act. Between acts this behemoth of backdrops is turned on a Lazy-Susan-like platform, so that in the second act of “Noises Off” the audience is backstage during a performance of “Nothing On.” Designers/builders of this masterpiece of stage structure are John David Stallings and Bruce Chuvala, assisted by William Ritter.

The Brit-speak is ever so well-done. Director Peter Carver is likely to be praised for the convincing speech, as well as the fully fascinating cast gleaned from old-timers at Parkway, with several new players.

Remember the play-within-a-play- everyone is an English actor playing a role in “Nothing On.”

Jennifer Short does the dumb-blonde “Brooke Ashton,” playing Vicki (on a secret mission), in the best of air-head Judy Holliday form. This is a stellar turn for a talented young woman. Her foil in this bit of whimsey is the suave and seductive Jordan Danz being “Gary Lejune” doing Roger Tramplemain. Danz’s charm radiates throughout the house.

Veteran area actor/director Jeff Messer is Phillip Brent, the owner of the country estate where all the lunacy is transpiring. One part slapstick, one part stuffy landed gentry, this is a juicy role, and Messer has it under control. His stately wife, Flavia, is being interpreted by “Belinda Blair,” really Kelly Leah Christianson who is regularly seen at ACT, SART and other regional theaters.

Andrew Gall, for five years at the helm of Parkway Playhouse, gets his chance on stage as Lloyd Dallas, the erstwhile director of this batty troupe of thespians.

Costuming by Asheville’s Deborah Austin is great fun: Note the double-breasted blazers, fancy frocks and dark gray dress shirts with gray neckties, for a veddy, veddy British sense of style.

Jim Cavener reviews theater for take5.

I Hate Hamlet

2008-07-12T10:40:00.001-04:00

C-T...
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Asheville Community Theatre serves up a lighthearted spoof of artistic temperament excesses in Paul Rudnick’s “I Hate Hamlet.”

Young television actor Andrew (Cody Magouirk) has just finished a hit series “L.A. Medical” and agrees to a dramatic change of pace — the title role in a Central Park production of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.”

In an ironic twist of fate, Andrew rents the Gothic-style apartment once occupied by John Barrymore, the legendary actor who also played Hamlet.

Andrew initially resists such antiquated quarters but is persuaded when his stage-struck girlfriend Deirdre (Anna Booraem) gushes on about its connection with the famed actor.

Leslie Clement Bonner is hilarious as real estate agent Felicia, who obviously doesn’t know anything about theater but shamelessly uses Barrymore as a marketing tool, even holding a séance to dredge up the dead actor’s ghost.

Felicia is more successful than she realizes as the long-deceased actor does appear, played delightfully by Waylon Wood, who artfully conveys Barrymore’s legendary self-indulgence with women and drink.

Andrew’s agent Lillian (RoseLynn Katz) urges him to do “Hamlet” to add to his stature as an actor, but cynical TV producer Gary (Jeff Corpening) tries to lure him away with a lucrative deal in California, dismissing Shakespeare as “algebra on stage.”

Andrew has just one problem in taking on what is for many the most hallowed role in theater — he hates “Hamlet” and is terrified at the prospect of failing in such a high-profile venture.

Andrew sorely needs the late great Barrymore’s reckless courage and talent, but in the end he must turn to himself to find out what kind of actor — and person — he really is.

Director Michael Lilly and a talented cast have taken a silly, one-dimensional story and nevertheless made it interesting. They are having a good time on stage, and it shows.

E-mail Reid at timreid4@charter.net.

plays from the li'l nashville

2008-07-11T16:38:00.000-04:00

‘plays from the li’l nashville’ shines

Jim Cavener

Local playwright Waylon Wood has a splendid script in his “plays from the li’l nashville,” now in performance by Run Amok Productions at N.C. Stage Company. It’s an incisive and well-crafted bit of writing, and the production excels in most every way.

This is not theater for wimps. But folks who want their theater challenging should see it.

But leave the children at home. And only very worldly grandmas will likely appreciate the earthy and often sexual nature in this trip to Florida’s underbelly.

Dope, drinking, drugs, debauchery and dirty-talk are the nature of the beast.

“plays from the li’l nashville” was written as a set of five short one-acts, all taking place in a backwoods roadhouse bar (the Li’l Nashville), patronized by the rural culture of far northwest Florida.

Playwright Wood later created a patchwork, full-length script by merging these various tales of pathos and poignancy to the tunes of Patsy Cline.

This is truly a motley crew, with a couple of singles and random clusters of pairs and threesomes from the local scene, all hooking up in strange configurations.

There’s lots of carnality, cussin’ and drinkin’ and searching for “good times.” Wood knows the language and the issues that permeate this culture. And a sad lot of circumstances they are.

Director Betsy Puckett creates an ensemble tribe of 13 able actors.

To name and describe all the colorful characters is impossible.

But there are stellar roles by Carla Pridgen, Zach Blew, Delina Hensley, Peter Brezny, Sarah Carpenter and David Ely. Anthony Abraira and Cory Boughton have lesser, but effective roles.

Scott Bunn has compiled a fine musical score of country classics, which belt from the jukebox in this honky-tonk setting.

Jim Cavener reviews theater for take5.

Should criticism include an assessment of whether a piece of theatre is actually any good?

2008-07-04T10:30:00.002-04:00

If you have a chance, please check out this pieces from our friends at the Guardian. It's pretty fascinating stuff, if one is interested in the role of a reviewer in a community.
I'll post the article by Andrew Haydon below, but follow the link above for the complete dialog.
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In Britain, we all know that a theatre review will tell you if something is worth seeing. There will usually be a star rating - marks out of five for at-a-glance dismissal or praise. In mainland Europe, however, the situation can be very different. Last week, I attended a series of seminars on criticism in Helsinki alongside the Baltic Circle festival. In our group there quickly emerged a real schism between critics who felt that an actual judgment of a play's success or failure was not the aim of theatre criticism, and those - including myself - who couldn't quite sign up for such a radical departure.

It seemed perverse to me for a critic to have an opinion on whether something was good or not and to withhold that information. Furthermore, I couldn't quite see what could replace such information. Then I had one of those moments where you suddenly completely understand the other side's point of view. The seminar group was discussing a piece we had seen at the festival with which none of us had been especially impressed. Once we had moved past registering our myriad grumbles, we started discussing what it might have meant.

Our tutor, the Slovenian critic, editor and all-round great guy Rok Vevar launched into a startlingly intelligent, eloquent explanation of the piece, interpreting the meanings of various movements and sequences, deftly invoking Lacan and Zizek, the history of dance notation, and ideas of the self-narrating subject whose present and future are defined by their past. In short, Rok made the piece fascinating. Even though he hadn't liked it at all, he offered an analysis of the piece that was far more interesting than watching it had been.

This raised a question: if we had read Rok's analysis before we had watched the piece, would we have enjoyed it more? I would still argue not. Certainly there would have been more to think about, but Rok hadn't particularly liked the piece as he watched it either. My concern remained that if one simply presents a beautiful interpretation of the piece without any mention of the fact that it isn't much fun to watch, one isn't doing one's readership any favours.

At the same time I was aware that perhaps British criticism had been way too co-opted into the PR industry. Have British theatre critics, along with pretty much every other branch of journalism, been tricked into moving away from serious analysis into giving things the thumbs up (where possible) in order to sell tickets? As far as theatre PRs go, aren't the occasional raft of poor reviews worth taking on the chin so that the raves can be harnessed? While some shows might take a pasting, there are plenty of others that can be bolstered by quotations plastered over every available bit of space in front of house. This would be harder if the reviews in question were lengthy interpretations invoking Zizek and Lacan.

Similarly, when compared with a rigorous, extensive and articulate interpretation of a play, the way that some British critics simply shut down and refuse to engage with writing or direction starts to look like the height of ignorance; they don't understand, moreover they don't care that they don't understand - parading their ignorance as if it were a gold standard in taste and judgment.

On the other hand, this interpretative school of criticism can fall prey to finding meaning where there is none - dignifying work of little or no intellectual merit with critiques so intelligent and eloquent that the work seems praised when it would benefit more from someone pointing out that it wasn't any good.

I am interested to see if there is a synthesis possible. Is it possible to involve more intelligent, creative interpretation in reviews while at the same time still letting readers know whether the damn thing is actually worth seeing or not?

Smoke...

2008-07-04T10:20:00.003-04:00

Nice that the C-T was able to review three shows all opening at once (this one's from Tony Kiss). May this trend continue.
But where have all of our "citizen reviewers" gone...?
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MARS HILL — The Sanders family of Siler City is back for more good old gospel music in the warm musical comedy “Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming,” now playing at Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre at Owen Theatre.

This third chapter in the Sanders series closely follows the path of the first two shows. The clan heads to the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church to perform, but of course, things don’t go exactly right. Still, there’s plenty of good singing, some heart-touching moments and lots of laughs. It’s a perfect fit for historic Owen Theatre, once a church itself.

This production, directed by Paul Schierhorn, benefits greatly from the strong musical contributions of Brad Curtioff, and local music legends Bucky Hanks and Bruce Lang (who also portrays ne’er-do-well brother Stanley Sanders). Give them major props for making this homecoming a joyous occasion.

It’s just after World War II, and the Sanderses are reunited in Mountain Pleasant to bid farewell to bubbly Rev. Oglethorpe (Bradshaw Call). The pastor has married June Sanders (Katie Keiley), who is now expecting, and they’re all headed to a new ministry in Texas.

The play’s premise is that each member of the Sanders clan “witnesses” their love of the Lord, often with daffy but heartfelt results.

Company veteran Tony Medlin settles nicely into the role of daddy Burl, with Mandy Sayles as his Bible verse-spouting wife, Vera. Ashley Manning is daughter Denise (forever trying to settle down her unseen youngsters outside the church) and Daniel Hensley as her brother Dennis, just back from the war, and ready to take over the Mount Pleasant church. June stands to the side, “signing” each song with crazy movements. Halfway through, there’s a crisis, but things always work out with the Sanders family.

It seems that in every production of “Smoke on the Mountain” or its sequels, one member of the ensemble breaks out to shine, and in this cast, it’s Hensley as the forever-smiling Dennis. He’s got a fine singing voice, some sharp acting skills, and with other members of this crew, makes this an entertaining evening.

Sound of Music

2008-07-04T10:17:00.001-04:00

C-T again..
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BURNSVILLE — While not among the greatest shows of American musical theater, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music” ranks among the most popular, and Parkway Playhouse’s current mounting of this workhorse will please the aficionados of the venerable property. And they are many.

OK, “The Sound of Music” is hokey, saccharine, cloying and based on a whitewashed, self-aggrandizing rewriting of history by a stepmother of seven children of a widowed Austrian sea captain. Guilty as charged. But, its adaptation to the stage by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, with all the wonderful, if formulaic, music/lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, makes for terrific theater.

Those who’ve known Parkway Playhouse for many of its 62 seasons will rejoice at the comfort of updated theater seating, effective air conditioning and more adequate technical equipment, none of which compromises the charm of the old barn with bead-board walls and rustic demeanor. Further, the quality of theater performance has vastly improved over earlier years, as well.

Producing artistic director Andrew Gall has tightened up the company, raised the standards of both show selection and production quality, while building a loyal audience core that supports the new-and-improved components of one of the oldest theater companies in North Carolina.

“The Sound of Music” is a large show, with somewhat more than 30 roles in the cast. Coordinating that many actors, with most of the children double-cast, is a daunting task, alone. The show’s director, Christopher Dwyer, has melded this crowd into a cohesive whole, with minimal opening night faux pas.

There was one “costume malfunction,” a missing mirror in a valise, and a hard-to-tame Act II overture, which reminded the opening night audience that theater is hard work, and the perfection of edited work is hard to achieve in live theater. It’s nothing a few more performances won’t cure.

The cast is competent, with several fine voices.

The role of the renegade postulant in a religious order, Maria Rainer, is appealingly played by Lindsay Day Henry, with a strong, sweet voice and winsome charm. Her romantic lead, Herr Captain Georg von Trapp is strongly played by Rob Storrs. Her competition for his hand is Elsa Shrader, interpreted by Jennifer Short.

A dozen talented children take the roles of the seven motherless kids, and the young telegraph delivery boy, who is smitten by the eldest von Trapp daughter. There are too many names to list.

Nine nuns range from compassionate and human to rigid and authoritarian. Jordan Danz gives us the comic foil of Franz the butler. Austrian aristocracy, nasty Nazis and charming children fill the stage, and the cute, competent kids carry a lot of the load. A seven-person pit orchestra conducted by musical director Michael Kiedrowski is spunky. The use of a tuba gives much of the music an oom-pah feel that is highly appropriate to the locale of the story.

The versatile set-design of mottled granite serves to host scenes in the abbey, the von Trapp living room and garden, a mountain top and a concert hall in Salzburg. It was designed by Christopher Dwyer and Bruce Chuvala. Deborah Austin’s costumes are effectively evocative and atmospheric.

Jim Cavener reviews theater for take5. E-mail him at JimCavener@aya.Yale.edu.

Alone Together Again

2008-07-04T10:14:00.001-04:00

Courtesy the Avle C-T, of course...
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FLAT ROCK — Flat Rock Playhouse’s “Alone Together Again” features several of the theater’s most popular older actors in a sweet story that has the ring of truth.

The comedy starts off almost like a Viagra commercial with Helena (Kate Konigisor) and her husband, George (Stewart Gregory), relishing their newfound status as “empty nesters.” The couple’s grown sons have finally left home, so Helena and George are intent on enjoying their time together free from constant attention to child rearing.

This burgeoning midlife bliss is punctured suddenly by the unexpected arrival of Helena’s curmudgeonly father, “Pop” (Ralph Redpath), who announces he is taking a “trial separation” from his wife of more than 50 years. Then comes Helena’s mother, Ruth (Barbara Bradshaw), with a big bag of his medications and instructions on how to administer them.

Finally, George’s mother, Grace (Jane Bushway), announces she’s going to stay a few days while her house is being fumigated.

George and Helena suddenly feel they are indeed the “sandwich generation” squeezed between the needs of their children and their parents.

Lawrence Roman’s script starts off slowly, but the second half resolves everything in a way that is quite satisfying and strikes a chord with almost anyone who has dealt with family responsibilities.

Any production that has veteran actors like Redpath, Bradshaw and Bushway is bound to be a crowd-pleaser, and Konigisor and Gregory are charming as the middle-age couple wanting to cut loose and enjoy life at last.

“Alone Together” is a change of pace from the big musicals that preceded and follow it at Flat Rock, but this little gem is worth a look.

Tim Reid review theater for the Citizen-Times. He can be contacted at timreid4@charter.net.

Ivory

2008-06-26T15:25:00.002-04:00

Ivory, written by local playwright John Crutchfield and produced by Corpus Theatre Collective, recently debuted at the BeBe Theatre. In his director’s notes, Crutchfield states, “Though the characters are not based on real people, they are meant to seem realistic. In other words, it is important to believe that such people and situations could exist, and somewhere in some permutation they certainly do.” I believe Crutchfield achieves this goal in the creation of his characters, but I question the uniqueness of this goal. Isn’t virtually all realistic fiction intended to seem... realistic? That aside, there are a lot of very good things happening in this work, and a few things that didn’t quite hit for me.

Crutchfield has a tremendous ear and talent for crafting dialogue and giving life to three-dimensional characters. I also find that he can write extraordinary scenes, though I’m not sure the scenes are sewn together into a progression of events quite perfectly. I almost wanted this to be a television series rather than a play, as some occurrences felt a little rushed, and the passage of time wasn’t always terribly clear. I understand that this sort of thing can just be the nature of the beast of theatre in general; it wasn't really a staggering issue in this case, but it was something I noticed a few times. (One thing I did like very much about the pacing, though, was the seamless transition from scene to scene, as actors literally walk out of one scene immediately into the next with a brief lighting shift at most to indicate the new place and time.) The second act in particular was very short and felt truncated, and I desperately wanted to rework the structure of the last couple of scenes to give the ending the oomph I think it needed/wanted. I also didn’t quite get the feel for the high stakes that Crutchfield seems to be aiming for according to the Mountain Xpress article about the play by Aiyanna Sezak-Blatt (http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2008/060408the_high_cost_of_morality). I think the microcosm of graduate school maybe doesn’t have quite enough universality to translate to crises the general audience will be able to find as important as do the characters of this play. That could well be intentional in the effort to affect verisimilitude in the characters and their concerns, and on that level it does work.

The performances are excellent across the board. Vivian Smith stood out to me the most, in an exceptional, somewhat Bancroft-ian performance of the “predatory and unscrupulous” (to quote the aforementioned MX article) professor, Barbara. To this end, I started to have a little difficulty with some of the casting, not because of quality of acting, but purely because of appearance. The first small trouble I had was casting Jonathan Frappier as her protégé. Again, please don’t mistake me: I thought he, too, gave a great performance. However, with this sort of The Graduate dynamic present, it was a little odd for him to clearly be around the same age as her. I don’t mean to suggest that the same age difference as the film would be necessary here, but with lines such as, “I was just remembering how young you are,” (I am paraphrasing), the balance was thrown a little. The other strange casting, age-wise, was Anne-Marie Welty as nervous new grad student Ellen. The fact that she seemed a little too old in the role is, in large part, a testament to both Crutchfield’s writing and, perhaps ironically, her strong acting ability. Her character, to me, had a very clear voice based on her cadence of speech, emotional life, word choices, and general demeanor, and that voice hit me at around age 25. Of course anyone could be that nervous and insecure about school and somewhat awkward in relationships at any age, but then that to me becomes another issue that would need to be addressed as part of the story, and it seems to me more natural for her to be a little more freshly out of undergrad. To compound the (perceived) issue, there seemed to be a choice to dress her “younger” as well, as though the director (James Ostholthoff) perhaps agreed with a lot of what I’ve just said and cast against type anyway. Yet again, absolutely no complaints from me about the performances, and if I have to suspend my disbelief a hair to have this caliber of acting, I’ll take it.

--Jamie Shell

Driving Miss Daisy

2008-06-13T11:20:00.001-04:00

more from the C-T
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"Driving Miss Daisy" a warm, sweet trip at North Carolina Stage Company

Tony Kiss • TKiss@CITIZEN-TIMES.com • published June 12, 2008 11:24 am

ASHEVILLE – “Driving Miss Daisy” is a tricky show to maneuver. Most everyone knows the 1989 Oscar-winning movie, with those memorable performances by Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman and Dan Aykroyd.

N.C. Stage Co. is closing its 2007-08 main stage season with the original theater masterpiece (which itself won a Pulitzer Prize). Because the show and movie performances are so familiar, any stage production really requires tremendous acting and directing to make its own mark.

But N.C. Stage delivers, with a touching, sweet, funny performance that connects on many levels.

Almost anyone with an aging relative can relate to this tale of feisty Daisy Worthan and her unusual, long friendship with faithful driver Hoke. Rounding out the trio is Daisy’s caring, concerned son, Boolie. The setting is Atlanta, from the late 1940s through the early 1970s.

Playwright Alfred Uhry crafted these multi-dimensional characters, and N.C. Stage director Angie Flynn-McIver brings them to life through a tremendous cast: Jane Bushway as Daisy, Paul Garrett as Hoke, and Joe Sturgeon as Boolie. All three evoke much humanity.

Bushway, well known for her many performances at Flat Rock Playhouse, shows major acting chops as Daisy, reluctant to give up an ounce of independence, but forced by the passing years to accept a driver. Bushway’s final scene is a tearjerker.

Garrett, making his N.C. Stage debut as Hoke, plays that role with true heart and skill. His best moment could be where he tells Daisy of a synagogue bombing – and his own long-ago tragedy.

Providing proper balance is Sturgeon, in the role of Daisy’s son, Boolie, nervous to rock the boat too much. It, too, is a nice bit of acting.

Uhry’s story conjures up an old, lost Atlanta, swept away by big-money development. It hits home in Asheville, where precious downtown landmarks are always endangered in the same manner.

Meet Me in St. Louis

2008-06-13T11:15:00.001-04:00

From the C-T, another by Tim Reid
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FLAT ROCK - Fans of the old-fashioned musical are in for a treat with Flat Rock Playhouse’s sentimental extravaganza “Meet Me in St. Louis.”

Lavish costumes, exquisite sets and a large cast recreate the excitement of a St. Louis family leading up to the 1904 World’s Fair. Based on the 1944 movie that starred Judy Garland, the stage version by Hugh Wheeler includes some of the best-loved songs of the American theater.

The story centers on the exuberant Smith family as they joyfully anticipate the St. Louis World’s Fair while the two oldest daughters are caught up in their own drama of finding a beau.

Rose Smith (Lesley Marie Collins) has been corresponding with wealthy suitor Warren Sheffield (Christopher Staskel) for months but is frustrated that he has not asked her to marry him.

Rose’s sister Esther (Kelly Rypkema) is in love with next-door neighbor John Truitt (Mike Frankey), but he doesn’t seem to know she’s alive.

When Warren writes that he will call Rose that evening, housekeeper Katie (Barbara Bradshaw) tries to move up the dinner hour so Rose can be ready for his call – and hopefully a proposal.

But their father Alonso (Brendan Powers) comes home stressed out from work and determined that nothing shall change their routine.

The Smith household seems to stay in a state of happy upheaval with the antics of younger daughters Tootie (Casey Walz) and Agnes (Heather L. Pynne) and their brother Lon (Teddy Eck) preparing to go to college.

The family is thrown into turmoil when Mr. Smith announces they will move to New York after Christmas. Mrs. Smith (Marcy McGuigan) tries to reassure the children, who hate leaving their happy life in St. Louis.

Ralph Redpath is delightful as Grandpa Prophater, who understands the hearts of his grandchildren and strives to soften life’s disappointments.

The play is worth seeing just to enjoy warm-hearted songs like “The Boy Next Door,” “The Trolley Song” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

Musicians Paul Babelay, Charles Holland and George Wilkins Jr. produce a big sound to recreate the excitement of this fabled era at the start of the 20th century.

Director Paige Posey and a talented cast sing and dance their way into your heart with this sentimental tribute to the innocence and wholesomeness of a bygone era – gone but thankfully not forgotten.

Tim Reid reviews theater for the Citizen-Times. He can be contacted at timreid4@charter.net.

The Philadelphia Story

2008-05-17T15:24:00.001-04:00

ACT's "PHILADELPHIA STORY " is not to be missed! Bernie's direction is spot on, the set by Jack Lindsay and Adam Cohen is elegance itself and the performance is simply superb. Nothing is out of place in this late 1930's silly saga on the manners and mores of the inhabitants of the "Philadelphia Main Line". Kelly Christianson's "Tracy Lord" exemplifies the "golden goddess girl" to a "T". The trio of Wilde, Clancy and Wood as "C. K. Dexter Haven", "Mike Connor" and "George Kittridge" respectively, are as goofy a bunch of hormone driven rich guys as can be found anywhere. Their nutty machinations are aptly supported by a cast of lovely characters. Linda Underwood's costumes are a gorgeous revival of early 20th Century elegance. God, we really used to dress in a grand but casual manner..ahh, the flow of pleated, expensive fabrics on beautiful women... but I digress. Jason Williams' lights are right on the money. Really, as well as being a piece of great entertainment, this production is a nostalgic voyage through a long gone (with no little regret) era.

Thankyou ACT. By the way, some of the younger generation may have confused "THE PHILADELPHIA STORY" with "PHILADELPHIA", a somewhat dark and dismal cinema epic starring Tom Hanks as a lawyer dying of AIDs. Believe me, ACT's offering is nothing like it!!

With kindest regards,

Mike Vaniman

The Only Thing Worse You Could Have Told Me...

2008-05-02T13:13:00.000-04:00

from the C-T...
http://www.take5online.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880501100
--BG

‘The Only Thing Worse’ is powerful look at gay life
by Jim Cavener, Take5 correspondent
published May 2, 2008 12:15 am

It’s rare that a show can mix comedy and serious drama with equal effectiveness. But the one-man piece “The Only Thing Worse You Could Have Told Me ...” by the Immediate Theatre Project does both with smashing success.

Dan Butler’s skits about being gay in an often-hostile society resonate with authenticity and reality. Some are simply wise and insightful. Others are painful and poignant. Some are filled with laughter, others provoke tears. There is much to learn from this well-crafted script, and almost anyone will be touched with this insider’s view of being gay in late 20th century America.

Director Hans Meyer found the right actor to star in this multi-faceted journey. The bouncy, boyish Francis Kelly is endearing and a moving actor. His ability to communicate varied emotions is impressive. Anyone with a strong aversion to profanity may wish to tune out on the first episode, or wear earplugs. Kelly calms down and delivers some heavy material in a few of the later skits. His dialect work is commendable.

Meyer not only cast and directed the show, he did the sound design. Stage manager Jamie Nicholson runs the board and doubles as the DJ who spins and mixes the tunes with a professional’s skill. The music selections and cues are masterful.

The varied roles portrayed by Kelly are aided by the use of minimal costume changes. Company co-founder Lauren Fortuna is the costume designer who gets much mileage out of a few rags.

Dames at Sea

2008-05-02T13:10:00.001-04:00

From the C-T...
--BG

‘Dames at Sea’ features super singing and dancing at Flat Rock
by Tim Reid, Take5 correspondent
published May 2, 2008 12:15 am

A small cast produces a large sound in Flat Rock Playhouse’s charming musical “Dames at Sea” about the proverbial small-town girl making it big in the Big Apple.

Director Amy Elizabeth Jones has assembled a powerhouse cast of talented actors who sing and dance their way through high-energy tunes that stir the emotions as well as adrenaline.

Lisa K. Bryant is marvelous as Ruby, a naive ingénue from a small town in Utah who arrives in New York in the 1930s with dreams of becoming a Broadway star.

When Ruby turns up at a rehearsal for a new musical, a tender-hearted cast member Joan (Wendy Hayes) wrangles her a spot in the chorus line while coaching her new friend on how hard life is in the big city.

Ruby gets a taste of that when the show’s star, temperamental diva Mona Kent (Marcy McGuigan), takes an instant dislike to her.

But Ruby also makes a new friend in a young sailor Dick (Freddie Kimmel), an aspiring songwriter who coincidentally is from the small town in Utah where Ruby grew up.

When the new musical’s opening is suddenly disrupted by news that the theater is to be torn down, Dick and his fellow sailor Lucky (Matthew Schneider) propose that the musical open on the deck of their nearby battleship.

The only obstacle is convincing the captain (Carl J. Danielsen) to let the ship be used for such a purpose.

It turns out that’s not a problem as the captain is a former boyfriend of Mona Kent. The diva only has to remind him of their past passions and he is willing and eager.

In true storybook fashion the temperamental diva gets her comeuppance and Ruby gets her chance at stardom. And, of course, love triumphs.

George Wilkins Jr., Paul Babelay and Charles Holland perform Jim Wise’s unforgettable music that propels this simple story into a perennial favorite.

“Dames” made Bernadette Peters a star when it debuted Off-Broadway in 1966 and has been delighting audiences ever since. Flat Rock’s production will please those who like a sweet story coupled with endearing tunes.

Tim Reid reviews theater for the Citizen-Times.

Equus

2008-04-28T09:56:00.001-04:00

One of life's unexpected delicacies is that you drive up into the hills of Waynesville to see a play, and sit down and listen to the chit-chat around you--everybody seems to know everybody-- and then the play begins, and within five minutes you realize it will be one of the most remarkable evenings you've ever experienced.

HART's production of Peter Schafer's Equus is memorable for a couple of things, and one is the thrift of the set, which might come out of some larger theater's safety pin account. Another thing is the superb direction, which is superb partially by virtue of being invisible. Everything is right, simply, and THAT seems to be the interpretation, rather than those interpretations which are sometimes grafted on or imposed. Yet another thing is the breath-taking virtuosity of acting. I have seen Equus three of four times, including productions in London and New York. Steven Lloyd is by far the best Dysart in my experience, subtle and believable and never once reaching for an unearned dramatic moment. The horses are sexy and wide-eyed, horse-like and god-like in one moment. As for Adam Kampouris' Allen Strang, I'm having a hard time finding the words to praise enough. "Perfect" comes to mind, but the currency of even that absolute word is debased a little by misuse. There was not a wrong gesture, not a line that was not loaded with new and larger meaning than one had suspected. The character wept; the actor didn't. I want to say it is the best performance by anyone of anything I have seen locally-- at least I'd put it on the same shelf as Charlie Flynn-McIver's Hamlet-- but I am not sure it is not among the best performances I have seen anywhere in a lifetime given over, to some degree, to watching theater. Jesus, is this kid good!.

The whole evening was, in the old sense, sublime. A play I thought I didn't like so much is suddenly once again vital and luminous in my mind, and I want to thank HART with all of mine--

Crow

Bent

2008-04-25T10:31:00.002-04:00

BETTERDAYS PRODUCTIONS Presentation of Martin Sherman’s “Bent” under the direction of Trevor Gouge was haunting, deeply moving and crisply directed with beautiful set graphics by Dan Pruitt. Bent is a tough play to mount for both the audience and the actors. The Be-Be theatre has neither wing space nor affective side space, but despite these handicaps Gouge used what he had to the fullest making disadvantages into advantages by cleverly staging this production to maximize and heighten the drama with a minimum of swift blackouts and stylized vignettes. Sherman’s “Bent” is not a play without flaws however. Set in Nazi Germany in the underground world of the gay culture. This lifestyle is sharply portrayed by Mr. Sherman, allowing the young men to be somewhat immune to the horror of the evil that is building around them letting them live in a world of alcohol, drugs, and sex in an almost “Cabaret” atmosphere, where the outside world rarely affects them, but it gradually begins to seep into the lives of the characters with sudden SS arrests, beatings, and murders. For the audience it is the realization that the Holocaust included not only the Jews, but Gypsies, Priests, the infirm, and homosexuals. It really is an Irony since many of Hitler’s closest associates were known homosexuals.

Bent originally had its debut on the West End in London, and later opened on Broadway with Richard Gere for a long run. The structure of the play is simple, the first half is devoted to the relationship of Max played by Adam Arthur, and his lover Rudy, played by Zack Rains, and takes place in Max’s apartment in Berlin following a heavy night of drinking. Max can’t seem to remember his behavior from the night before and is rudely reminded by a walk on by a very nude Wolf, played by Robbie Sherill on his way to the bathroom. This is followed by a heated argument between Max and Rudy, which is interrupted by the SS breaking down the door and murdering Wolf. Though they are threatened by the SS, they are left alone, but terrified to remain in the apartment and try to borrow enough money to escape into a neutral country. They first go too their employer Greta a female impersonator played by Michael Sheldon who is married with kids and denies being a homosexual, Greta runs a bar/cabaret and employs gay young as Bartenders and waiters. Greta gives the two money and a dire warning to try and get out of Germany. Then Max secretly meets his Uncle Freddie, played by Michael Pruitt, as an old homosexual, but still much in the closet, he begs Uncle Freddie to help him and Rudy escape from Germany, Freddie representing Max’s family, agrees to give him the money and forged documents but refuses to help Rudy in any way. Max takes the money and he and Rudy take refuge in shacks in the woods filled with other people trying to escape the SS. The camp is suddenly raided and Max and Rudy are arrested as homosexuals, Max denies he is a homosexual, but says he is a Jew, in order for him to prove it the SS force him to assist in beating Rudy to death.

The second Act takes place in a concentration camp yard consisting of a huge pile of stones. There is also an electric fence preventing them from escaping. There job is too move the stones to one side of the yard then start all over and move them back to the other. Max wears a Star of David on his prison shirt, and he meets Horst played by Ryan Travers who wears a pink triangle, signifying he is a homosexual. They are forbidden to speak to each other during this back breaking ritual, bit are allowed a five minute break every hour, its during this break that Horst and Max build a relationship the leads to love and finally sacrifice. Horst gradually becomes ill from pneumonia and they both know if the guards find out they will kill Horst. Ultimately Horst collapses and guards come to kill him, but before they can he throws himself onto the electric fence. Max is ordered to throw is body in the ditch dug for the dead. Max does and returns to moving the rocks realizing the thing the made his life bearable was the love of Horst, he runs gets Horst’s jacket puts it on and runs to the fence taking his own life.

Bernie Hauserman

There are many wonderful performances in this production but there are four outstanding portrayals, Ryan Travers is brilliant as Horst, bringing a gaunt believability to the role that simply shines.
Michael Pruitt as the closeted but visually very active, Uncle Freddie has all the fussy, nervousness his character needs, Michael Sheldon, who plays the part of Greta, is wonderfully cold but sympathetic in a very unforgiving part, Adam Arthur, is excellent as Max, but could have gone further to look a little more un-kept and well fed in the prison yard scene. Kudu’s also to Zack Rains as Rudy, a wonderfully honest performance.

Your Input Needed!

2008-04-14T08:32:00.005-04:00

This post is not a review of a show (sorry), but a review of policy.
Professor Scott Walters wrote the following as part of a very compelling and considered comment to the review of "The Tempest Project" posted on APAR: "I question the ethics of anonymous reviews on this site, and I call for a change of policy."
While this isn't, perhaps, his primary concern in the review (all of which bears reading), Dr. Walters certainly has a point, and indeed the editors have struggled with the issue of anonymity from time to time. Since this is a public blog and a public resource, we would like to make this a public discussion.
What do you think? What are the advantages of allowing or encouraging or prohibiting anonymous postings? Where do we go from here? What will most benefit our theatrical community?
I suspect this may not be a "yes or no" kind of answer.
Thanks for your continuing input!
--Bernhard Grier

The Tempest Project

2008-04-10T10:42:00.002-04:00

The Tempest Project
Theater UNCA at the Diana Worthan Theater.

It is possible for a brilliant and insightful director to face off against a great play and a great playwright, and, by opposing, find fresh nuance and unsuspected relevance in old and familiar words. This is not what happens in Theater UNCA’s The Tempest Project. Directors Laura Facciponti and Pamella O’Connor have, instead, devised a sort of bizarro-Tempest which, aside from being bad on its own account, violates the play at just about every point, apparently wilfully, blithe in its disregard for scholarship, reading skills, and even correct pronunciation. It was as if these two women had looked the Bard in the eye, without knowing precisely who he was, and snarled “I’ll show you how it really should be done.”

Actually, for the first few minutes, I thought The Tempest Project was going to be wonderful. Katie Fuller’s costumes were brilliant, the set beautiful and almost functional, and the opening dance magical and evocative. Then the actors opened their mouths. Poking up under a big cloth like bubbling oatmeal, they chanted “What kind of play is this? What kind of play is this?” The question was not rhetorical. They had no idea.

The big cloth was part of the “Object Theater” concept, in which certain objects are used repeatedly to unify action and to provide visual novelty. The cloth was great to watch, sometimes Prospero’s robe and sometimes a ship at sea. But how this differs from the innovative utilization of materials at hand that is the mark of much good theater is difficult to see, how it warrants re-naming as a whole type of theater. In the UNCA production it was employed to camouflage the lack of directorial insight. “We don’t know nuthin’ ‘bout no Shakespeare, but we can make sensational balloon animals.”

The production is billed as theater for young people, but one hardly sees how that can be. Having cut Shakespeare’s masterpiece to an hour, the production still manages to be boring. And, if I were an eight year old I would find it frightening and confusing. No shred of context or motivation remains after the script butchery. Prospero is an insane magician whose main occupation is the idle torture of those around him. He’s an evil wizard out of a video game, and his sidekick Ariel is a mincing fop, the kind that would sneak up behind you on a desert island and stab you with a golden quill from its unaccountable head. The island is ruled by two perverts and invaded by a bunch of grievance-gnawing stuffed shirts; Miranda and Ferdinand are so bland and diffuse that one forgets they were ever on stage. The only character with whom one can have the slightest sympathy is Caliban, and that is because Cody Magourik, the actor who portrays him, has gone of campus and learned how to act, and manages to infuse stubborn insight around the edges of very bad direction.

Plus–teachers beware-- one would learn very little of Shakespeare. The first quarter of the play has no Shakespeare at all, but rather excerpts from Auden’s “The Sea and the Mirror.” Why? I have no idea. My guess it was something that popped into one of the directors’ heads, and, once there, seemed as sacred as every other misstep and misinterpretation. Then Ms Facciponti and Ms O’Connor commit the cardinal sin of Shakespeare production. They change the words. And not for any good purpose. Their changes do not simplify or clarify; they are merely ignorant and wilful. For “We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded by a sleep” we get, “We are the fabric dreams are made of, and our life ends with a dream far away.” When Miranda says her iconic line, “O brave new world that has such men in it,” she is meant to be answered by Prospero’s’ earth-shattering “‘Tis new to thee.” When she utters it on this stage, there is silence. Children can handle complication. Children know when you are lying to them, when you are patronizing them, when you are “serving their needs” without any more understanding of their needs than, say, of Shakespeare.

The Tempest Project is billed as “experimental.” I suppose it might be if it were 1970.

This was a production marked by arrogance, disrespect, and incompetence, and all those qualities must be laid directly at the door of the directors. Ms Facciponti [should]... learn how to ...understand a play, before she “experiments” with even so much as the intermission munchies[.]

--Crow
[The editor apologizes for, but stands behind, slight content deletions. --BG]

Underneath the Lintel

2008-04-09T18:48:00.001-04:00

From the C-T,
BG--

by Jim Cavener, take5 correspondent

ASHEVILLE – The title is odd enough. But it’s all explained in “Under the Lintel: The Mystery of the Abandoned Trousers,” centered around a long-missing library book, and now playing at N.C. Stage Company.

Written by Glen Berger, it was very well received by the audience at Wednesday night’s opening. It’s not just the compelling script, but a true tour-de-force performance by one actor, Terry Weber, who teaches theater at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. The rapidity, the intensity and the integrity of the role are riveting.

The concept and writing are exemplary. Teasing and tricky, the context is a one-night show in a shabby rented theater in the Netherlands, wherein a lonely local library clerk presents to a measly audience the results of his obsessive/compulsive global journey to find out who had returned to “his” library a book, 113 years overdue. It’s no big thing, except for the fussy, prissy clerk who turns it into a memorable ideological odyssey and extraordinary spiritual journey.

Themes that are broached are free will vs. Hobson’s choice, the true plight of human existence, meaning and meaninglessness, myth, legend and the existence of a deity. The technique has been likened to “The DaVinci Code,” while Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes are not far afield.

The whole show is essentially an import from the theater program of University of Tennessee, with which N.C. Stage Company has long had a relationship. Weber and director Casey Sams are from UT, as are other members of the crew.

There are in-the-script projections and audio recordings, a sparsely decorated set with five large objects across the back of the stage, plus three pods of other random furnishings, each accented by books.

Images from London, China, the U.S. and Australia with references to “Les Miserables” (in three languages!), the Book of Job, Wales and Kilroy enrich the mix and are further ‘lovely evidences’ in this enigma hiding in a conundrum.

Cavener writes on theater for the Citizen-Times. E-mail JimCavener@aya.Yale.edu.

Kimberly Akimbo

2008-04-09T18:45:00.002-04:00

From wnctheatre, http://wnctheatre.livejournal.com/
BG--

Kimberly Akimbo, written by David Lindsay-Abaire and directed by Jason Williams, is currently running at ACT’s 35 Below. The script is a bit like a MadTV sketch run amok, with a little Lifetime Original Movie thrown in for good measure, but the production manages to elevate it at least to entertaining, if not to some of the emotional depth perhaps the playwright hoped for.

Briefly, Kimberly is a 16-year-old girl with a rare condition where she ages four times faster than normal. Add some dysfunctional parents, her ex-con vagrant aunt, and her Dungeon Master anagram-loving uberdork of a potential boyfriend, and you have Kimberly Akimbo. Joyce Wood convincingly plays the title character, aptly embodying the physical and emotional life of a teenage girl without falling into a lot of easy clichés one might expect from an older person trying to behave as an adolescent. The rest of the cast is equally adept at handling and often making better their material, with a particularly stand-out funny first scene from Rebecca Morris as the aforementioned aunt.

Direction from Jason Williams is sharp and attentive, and music choices throughout the play are spot-on. The set is simple and charming, suited perfectly to the space, and is about what I’d expect to see if, say, Napoleon Dynamite were adapted into a stage show. The only small production element that I think could have been a little better was Kimberly’s wardrobe; they got close, but I think a little more time could have been spent observing outside of Hot Topic to get the look just right, which I feel is important given the unusual nature of the character.

I don’t know that this is a must-see, but I’m glad I gave it a chance.

JC Superstar

2008-03-27T12:03:00.002-04:00

from Meg Hale
BG--

The Gospel According to Rock

Last week, BioFlyer Productions put on Andrew Lloyd Webber's immortal classic "Jesus Christ Superstar" at Diana Wortham Theater. I'm told that I saw the best of the performances, the one on Good Friday, it's closing night. This means that I did not witness (but did hear about) the performance where Jesus freed his hand from the cross it was nailed to, to adjust the crown of thorns atop his head, before reattaching it to the cross. Of course, it only made matters worse when the crown fell around his neck like Prince John's crown in Disney's "Robin Hood." Okay, so I didn't see it happen, but you have to pass a story like that along.

BioFlyer is the production company owned and operated by Paul 'Rock' Eblen. For "Jesus Christ Superstar," Eblen served as the show's producer, director, and... yes, you guessed it - Jesus.

It takes a certain amount of ego to think yourself qualified to direct an Andrew Lloyd Webber piece; it is flat out disillusioned to think that you can keep up with Jesus' character's vocal range for this show, when you can barely hit anything above Middle C.

Every singer knows the fun role in "Jesus Christ Superstar" is Judas. He gets all the big numbers that open and close the show, all the pieces with the good beats and opportunities to wail. And let's face it, we're all looking for an excuse to wear leather or tassles. Steven Brooks kicks serious biblical butt in this role. He has a great belt-voice, a range that goes on for days and has a lot of fun with the part.

Mary Kathryn Lyerly also rocked supremely in the role of Mary Magdalene. She has this very sweet, demure voice and then, really blasts it out during her solo, “I Don’t Know How to Love Him.”

This makes it all the more frustrating to see Eblen, stepping down an octave, mid-song, because he simply cannot hit the high notes. The high-notes, incidentally, are the only fun things about the Jesus role. Whenever he has a solo, the generally rocking nature of the play stops and takes on an introspective, more ballad-type tone. If you’re not (as an audience) being impressed by the range of the actor playing Jesus, there isn’t a whole lot else to pay attention to.

Honestly, this is the first production of “Jesus Christ Superstar” I’ve seen where I found Jesus to be whiny. It was like watching Eeyore get crucified. That would make Tigger Judas, Rabbit would be Pontius Pilate… but I digress.

My point is that I know that the Jesus part in this play is hard as hell to sing. Most singers can’t do it. Though Eblen has a passable voice, he could not pull it off.

The rest of the cast is a group of very talented actors and singers. Tristan Tagar as Pilot and Ricky Webb as Simon also were able to show off their voices. Paul Trani as King Herod got a great response from the audience, though his costume was Dr. Frankenfurter from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” I like seeing random men in thigh-highs too, but let’s call it what it is - unoriginal

A lot of the vocal abilities of the cast were played down by microphone difficulties. Only a few times did the soloists mic come on for the first word of their solo, instead of 2 lines into it. Some singers in the chorus had microphones and some didn’t, which is never wise.

The multimedia was just a bad idea all around. Shots of gargoyles and demons, with a claw coming across the screen during Judas’ songs, paintings of Jesus next to photos of Martin Luther King during the crucifixion… the whole thing was one big head-tilt for me.

In short, I felt that the show was good, but that all decisions made were ultimately wrong.

Lonesome West

2008-03-27T11:59:00.001-04:00

from wnctheatre,
http://wnctheatre.livejournal.com/
BG--

The Lonesome West is the final play in the Connemara Trilogy by Martin McDonagh, and was directed by Lloyd Kay at the Studio Theater at HART. Kay has directed the other two plays of the trilogy as well over the past several years.

Overall I found the play to be quite entertaining and engaging, but there is something a little off. I am inclined to think the problem is scriptural in nature, but I am not sure if these problems could have been fixed, or at least ameliorated, by different direction. (One thing that most definitely could have helped pacing would have been to tighten the unbearably long [and often silent] scene changes. There were mercifully few of them, but each lasted close to a full minute.) The two main characters, brothers Valene (Rick Sibley) and Coleman Connor (Steve Crider), have a quarrelsome relationship to say the very least. Constantly bickering, with the bickering often escalating into physical fights, a good 50-60% of the play is sort of like an Irish episode of Jerry Springer with significantly better written dialogue and many more teeth. They definitely have some hilarious zingers, but after a while, I was wanting and waiting for a point or a purpose, and couldn’t quite find one. They have a slight redemption arc towards the end of the play, but, all told, they end up right where they started for all I can tell. In something like No Country for Old Men, for example, the character’s lack of redemption was a vehicle for social commentary, so it had a larger purpose. It is possible that the same sort of thing was the goal here; I’m not certain. Perhaps the whole play is meant as a Great Gatsby-esque setting snapshot more than as a strict narrative. Perhaps it fits better if you've seen the other two plays of the trilogy, which I've not.

Performances were all solid, stand-outs probably being Crider as Coleman and Trinity Smith as Girleen. I thought the male roles were cast a bit too old, mainly because Coleman brags about an imaginary tryst with Girleen, who is supposed to be seventeen years old. Maybe I'm being stodgy but I found it a little odd, and it took me out of the moment. Maybe it would have helped if they hadn't also put Girleen in pigtails, thereby making her look even more childlike. Michael Boulos as Father Welsh definitely would have been a little more believable as a younger man, as - among other reasons - Girleen comes to have romantic feelings for him. I'm not saying it's out of the realm of possibility for it to have happened, but the tone of their relationship suggested that the role was meant to be played by someone closer to her age. Father Welsh and Girleen do have a rather sweet, poignant scene together at the top of Act 2, though, which was much needed in the midst of all the fighting and “feck”ing. In fact, generally speaking, I found their secondary storyline and characters quite a bit more intriguing than the primary thrust of the play.

From the editor...

2008-03-02T19:31:00.003-05:00

Hi all-- Just a quick "thank you" to our recent/new contributers, as well as a friendly reminder to everyone to please continue to sign your posts. Anonymous postings are less helpful in establishing a community of different-minded individuals: without a "handle" we won't be able to get to know individual reviewers' tastes and styles. It is our hope that "APAR: Online and Ontarget" will keep growing, and these small steps to help make and keep it a valuable resource are much appreciated.
Thank you!
-keep reading; keep posting-
Bernhard Grier--

Moonlight and Magnolias

2008-02-21T12:33:00.002-05:00

From the C-T
BG--

Theater Review: "Moonlight and Magnolias" fast and frantic fun
by Tony Kiss
published February 21, 2008 10:00 am

By Tony Kiss

ASHEVILLE - What if the Three Stooges tried to write the screenplay for “Gone with the Wind,” in just five days – locked in a room with nothing to eat but bananas and peanuts?

But these Stooges aren’t Moe, Larry and Curly – they’re producer David O. Selznick, screenwriter Ben Hecht and director Victor Fleming.

That, in a nutshell, is “Moonlight and Magnolias,” a wildly entertaining slapstick comedy running at Asheville’s N.C. Stage Co. This freewheeling romp showcases the superb talents of Scott Treadway as Selznick, theater co-founder Charles McIver as Fleming and the increasingly impressive Willie Repoley as Hecht – plus Lauren Fortuna as the dutiful secretary Miss Poppenghul, who manages some good moments up against this powerhouse trio.

Loud and frantic, there’s a strong similarity here to “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged),” previously performed by the same company which starred Treadway and McIver acting out the Bard’s works in one evening. There is great on-stage chemistry with these guys, and it’s only made better with the addition of Repoley to the mix.

It’s 1939, and stressed-out Selznick has shut down the movie for lack of a suitable script. He’s called weary fix-it man writer Hecht for help, and summoned strong-willed Fleming from the almost completed “The Wizard of Oz.”

Trouble is, Hecht knows nothing of “Gone with the Wind,” so Selznick and Fleming will act it out for him, line by line, as he pecks out the screenplay for a big paycheck. Hecht wrestles with the book’s racist undertones, while Selznick and Fleming wrestle with each other, and all three sink into an almost psychotic stupor from the stress.

Everyone here shines under the direction of Ron Bashford. Given little more to do than reply “Yes, Mr. Selznick,” Fortuna steals a few moments, especially pushing a squeaky cart around the stage.

This one will leave you exhausted from laughter and the experience of watching this bunch work.

Contact Tony Kiss at 828-232-5855, via e-mail at TKiss@CITIZEN-TIMES.com

Crown of Shadows

2008-02-21T11:45:00.005-05:00

from wnctheatre, http://wnctheatre.livejournal.com
BG--

Edward the King: A Wonderful Play, in Search of a Production
2/20/08 02:54 pm

Crown of Shadows, a joint production from Junction City Productions and Black Swan Theatre, is an offering of three plays by local playwright David Brendan Hopes, on three consecutive weekends, from February 15 through March 2, at the Asheville Arts Center.

The first of the three installments is Edward The King, which will enjoy a full production this coming May as part of New York City’s Gayfest. The play, beyond question, is worthy of a full production. It is unfortunate, then, that the play was not afforded the same luxury this past weekend at the Asheville Arts Center.

The script is simply delightful, filled with whimsy, wit, passion and poetry. It tells the story of young Edward Plantagenet before and during his ascension to the throne, and his deep abiding love for another young man that he meets on his secret journey to the underbelly of his eventual kingdom. The play is unique in that it takes place both then and now: in a world from hundreds of years gone by complete with laptop computers and automatic weapons. The dialogue is truly engaging, and some of the acting is good as well, but there is little to no production value whatsoever, which proves to be detrimental to the overall experience. There is no set designer listed in the program, which is painfully obvious when looking at the stage. The landscape is random, flat and does not help to facilitate any kind of flow to either the physical or the emotional life of the play. Since the stage dressing failed to make clear the production's conceptual merging of two time periods, perhaps this could have been achieved with costuming. However, apparel choices seemed to blend together in a hodge podge of non-specific time periods and styles.

The only other production elements present is provided by Brian Sneeden, designer of the sound and lights, both of which, thankfully, help to create and even at times enhance the world of Edward The King, so terribly lacking in any other aspect of the production.

Another saving grace of the evening is the acting from four of the five cast members, who were splendid. Unfortunately, Piers Gaveston, the one character who truly needed to dominate the world with his sexual energy, blow every girl's skirt up, and make every boy question his own manhood, does none of those things, coming across more as simply amusing and cute rather than dangerous and beautiful. To be fair, the actor seems only partially responsible for his performance. We have to look to the higher chain of command to find where truly the fault lies.

After seeing the performance, I expected to see the same credit in the program for director as there was for set designer: none. Alas, no, there were two! There were several choices made, or not made, on various levels, including acting, staging and design, but most of it seemed arbitrary at best. The actors provided some wonderful moments, but the bigger picture lacked any momentum, continuity or vision.

But once again, I must bow my head and curtsy to Mr. Hopes, who has written what I believe to be a wonderful play. I look forward to the next two plays in the next two weeks. It certainly is an ambitious effort, and hats off to Junction City and Black Swan for giving a voice to a well-written play. Despite the fact that the lack of production and direction detract from the enjoyment of the evening, there are some engaging acting moments. And even if you can’t see all the action all the time, (a distinct possibility, given the lay-out of the space), there is satisfaction to be had in just listening to the words.

I Love a Coney Island Roller Coaster

2008-02-21T11:24:00.002-05:00

From the C-T
BG--

Berlin musical familiar fun
by Tony Kiss, TKISS@CITIZEN-TIMES.com
updated February 21, 2008 8:35 am

ASHEVILLE — Irving Berlin’s “I Love a Piano” is like a Coney Island roller coaster ride. You know where it’s going, but it’s a fun and entertaining ride.

This collection of 60-plus songs written by Berlin is a feel-good performance powered by a talented singing, dancing cast of six, plus three musicians. It follows the same format as the John Denver tribute “Almost Heaven,” and the Johnny Cash celebration “Ring of Fire,” with lots of familiar songs.

The touring production, running through Sunday at Diana Wortham Theatre at Pack Place, takes a musical trip through the first half of the 20th century, when Berlin was one of America’s top songwriters.

Show creators Ray Roderick and Michael Berkeley have divided the piece into various settings — among them, a music shop in the 1910s, a 1920s speakeasy, a 1930s New York street scene, the World War II years and after, and a 1950s summer stock theater.

Among the show’s best moments are “Blue Skies,” “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” “Pack up Your Sins and Go to The Devil,” “White Christmas” and “Anything You Can Do.” The show has its goofy moments — “Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning,” among them, but is equally touching with “White Christmas” and the stirring “God Bless America.” The choreography and vocal blending is often stunning.

The cast features Mark Baratelli, Sean Schwebke, Jason Weitkamp, Summer Broyhill, Darcie Bender and Karla Shook. Jillian Nyhan Zygo will take over Broyhill’s spot Friday-Sunday. All perform with skill, but the standout is Shook, with big brassy vocals and fine comedic skills. Also adding to the production is the live music by pianist/conductor Alex LeFevre, Jared Young and Chris Conte plus five local musicians not credited in the playbill.

Contact Tony Kiss at 828-232-5855, via e-mail at TKiss@CITIZEN-TIMES.com

35 below MATCH

2008-02-21T10:58:00.002-05:00

From the C-T
BG--

'Match' provides intense theatric experience
by Tony Kiss, TKISS@CITIZEN-TIMES.com
published February 9, 2008 12:15 am

ASHEVILLE – Lies. Broken responsibilities. Emotional wounds that won’t heal, even years later. Those themes run through the heavy drama "Match," on stage at Asheville’s tiny 35below theater space.

This tale of three lives colliding in a dingy little apartment in Manhattan is incredibly intense. There are some funny moments, but mostly this is very intense stuff, as a man and his wife pay an odd visit to an aging choreographer, supposedly for scholarly reasons. But they begin weirdly prying into his life. It’s obvious there are some secrets here, and soon, the whole mess spills out and it’s not pretty.

The play, by Stephen Belber and directed by Jamie Nicholson, is getting its North Carolina premiere. Alphie Hyorth is the fading dancer and choreographer Tobi Powell, whose colorful Bohemian life has passed him by. It’s the show’s juiciest character and Hyorth is masterful in his portrayal.

Jane Porterfield is the soft-spoken interviewer Lisa Davis, who comes calling with her husband, Mike (Clete Fugate). She begins asking bland questions about Tobi’s career, but after seeming to be completely disinterested, Mike abruptly starts interrogating him about his sex life.

By intermission, we know what’s happening and in act two learn why. But even at the conclusion, when it seems all is wrapped up, you wonder just what has happened. This is adult material, peppered with profanity, sexual situations and drug use.

With Hyorth in the center of this story, Fugate gives an explosive performance while Porterfield remains mostly subdued. At times, she speaks in almost a whisper that’s difficult to understand, though she has some powerful emotional moments.

photo Contact Tony Kiss at 828-232-5855, via e-mail at TKiss@CITIZEN-TIMES.com

Stomp

2008-02-21T10:53:00.001-05:00

Sorry for the delay.... from the C-T
BG

Theater Review: "Stomp" a high-energy hit at Wolfe Auditorium
by Susan Strehler
updated January 30, 2008 9:11 am

It’s difficult to go anywhere without meeting someone who hasn't seen “Stomp.” And now I understand why.

I've never seen such good use of a floor. Or a plunger, kitchen sink, tin trashcan lid, water cooler jug, bucket, broom and other nondescript items that we see on any given day. The production finishes a two-night run this evening at Thomas Wolfe

What makes this show so unique is its cast's ability to individually hold a beat, creating a collective output which is eclectic, rhythmic and so well choreographed it seems effortless.

Over the years, I've heard various tales of how “people bang on things,” so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I had earplugs in my pocket in case the “banging” became a little too obnoxious. On the contrary, it could have been a bit louder.

In some acts, subtle, gentle beats erupt into a full-blown circus of people doing round-house leg maneuvers, jumping, arms swinging, playful stick-fighting, all while purposefully maintaining their own particular beat on a can or jug. My toes were tapping most of the time.

There were a few times when the lead cast member elicited the crowd to follow his clap or finger snap, and that was all good and fun; not like one of those shows where the amount of audience participation gets annoying.

Though not indicated by drawn curtains or the end of a song, the acts are separated by dimmed lights. Each segment takes on a whole new “instrument,” which sparks laughter in the audience because of its ingenuity. Would you really think to crinkle a newspaper as a source of rhythm?

Another source of hilarity was the cast's resident “goofball.” He was the poor soul who couldn't quite keep up with his stagemates' acts, yet brought comedy and musical talent when least expected.

One of the best moments was the show's only off-the-floor act: five people dangling, rappel-style, beating on the wall of pots, pans, cans, cups and jugs.

Performed without spoken word, the whole production based upon ordinary "junk" creates a dialog on its own.

Contact Susan Strehler at 828-232-5964, via e-mail at sstrehle@gannett.com

Oedipal (For)Play

2008-01-31T10:40:00.000-05:00

From the "wnctheatre" blogger...
BG--

In the second production of NC Stage’s new (For)Play Series, director Ron Bashford took on the widely recognized but seldom actually seen Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles. Charles Flynn-McIver, no stranger to portraying royalty on this stage, brings us the titular role in the emotionally-charged, understated intensity that audiences will have come to expect after seeing Flynn-McIver in such roles as Hamlet and Macbeth. Other notable performances include Michael MacCauley as Creon, aptly handling the future king’s righteous indignation in the beginning of the play and his shift into almost paternal sympathy for Oedipus’ self-wrought plight at the end. Callan White-Hinman did a fine turn as Iocasta; her characterization seemed a little unfocused at first but gained solid momentum along with the events of the play.

Never having seen this (or any play of ancient Greece) actually staged, I’ve always been rather curious as to the logistics and dynamics of the chorus parts. Bashford chose to have the entire ensemble of the chorus speak many parts, but then to break up others into solo or duo voices, which aided in giving variety to a device which could have seemed monotonous. Varying his actors from a fairly young girl (Charlotte Lawrence) to adult males (with assorted ages of men and women in between) produced some really nice tonal shifts and combinations that wove themselves well into the tapestry of the production.

NC Stage really just keeps getting it right, bringing fresh performance ideas into Asheville’s theatre scene. I look forward to the remaining readers’ theatres in this series.

Asheville Community Theatre thriller

2008-01-25T11:03:00.000-05:00

Theater review: ‘Wait Until Dark’ powerful
by Tim Reid, take 5 correspondent
published January 25, 2008 12:15 am
http://www.take5online.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880124074

ASHEVILLE — Asheville Community Theatre turns up the terror quotient in Frederick Knott’s classic thriller “Wait Until Dark.”

Susy Hendrix (Heather Johnson) is about as vulnerable as you can get — a blind woman at home alone in New York City who is besieged by three criminals determined to get a doll filled with heroin. Her husband Sam (Chris Martin) was given the doll on a business trip but has somehow misplaced it. The crooks figure his handicapped wife will be an easy prey to trick or coerce into surrendering it.

While Sam is away at work, Mike (Don Clancy) shows up pretending to be a friend of her husband.

Susy figures she needs a friend when police Sgt. Carlino (Alan Wohl) shows up asking questions about her husband and the now all-important doll. Her mounting alarm turns to terror when she is visited by the sinister-sounding Harry Roat (Charlie Passacantando).

Susy enlists an unlikely ally in her struggle to find out the truth — an exasperating but perceptive young girl from the upstairs apartment. Fourth-grader Lindsey Salvati nearly steals the show as Gloria, who darts in and out of Susy’s apartment at will, obviously enjoying the advantage that sight gives her over an adult.

Heather Johnson undergoes a marvelous transformation as Susy, who at first seems so vulnerable but then turns the tables on her attackers, using darkness as a weapon.

Many people will remember “Wait Until Dark” from the 1967 movie starring Audrey Hepburn and Alan Arkin. Thanks to director Ralph Redpath and a strong cast, the stage version has lost none of its power.

Tim Reid reviews theater for the take5. He can be contacted at timreid4@charter.net.

Wonderful Life

2007-12-14T10:38:00.000-05:00

This show rehearsed locally and closes locally, but in between has toured all over the state. I thought this would be a great opportunity to compare reviewers (both professional and APAR-based) from around the region. I'll just post a sampling here, starting with this from The Charlotte Observer; I'm sure NCSC and itp will post the rest on their websites. Hope you enjoy.
BG--

From The Charlotte Observer, Sunday 2nd December 2007

Classic tale, fresh approach
Radio-style staging, sound effects add charm to `Wonderful Life'
by JULIE YORK COPPENS

"You've been given a great gift, Charlotte: a chance to see what the world would be like if you'd never lost your professional regional theater."

At least I think that's what the angel said ...

Could the fine production of "It's a Wonderful Life" now at Spirit Square be a divine visitation meant to keep Charlotte's most depressed theater fans from jumping off a bridge? I know I felt better Saturday, after the first of four performances this weekend by N.C. Stage, a professional company on loan from Asheville. The traveling show, a co-production with Asheville-based immediate theatre project, must lift spirits wherever it plays -- but especially here.

In this 1940s-style, "live radio" stage adaptation by Joe Landry, five gifted and engaging actors in vintage costumes voice the many familiar characters from Frank Capra's Christmas classic: George Bailey, a small-town banker blind to his own worth. His devoted wife, Mary, and their four adorable kids. His uncle Billy, whose dottiness, combined with the greed of town boss Mr. Potter, nearly brings disaster down on the Bailey Building and Loan. Clarence, the apprentice angel assigned to save George from suicide. Ernie the cabbie, Bert the cop, Vi the blond bombshell and all the others in tiny Bedford Falls whose lives would have been poorer, in some cases tragically so, if George had never been born.

Do we really need to experience this story again? Of course.

There's a reason "It's a Wonderful Life" remains an immortal TV presence in December, and this pared-down stage version reminds us of everything we love about the movie, often in surprising ways. How is it possible that an adult actor pretending to be little Zuzu ("Not a smidgen of temperature!") could tug at our hearts even more than 6-year-old Karolyn Grimes does on screen? Or that watching another actor mimic the crack of ice with a branch of bamboo could help us feel the chill of the lake that almost claims George's kid brother, Harry?

That's theater.

Asheville director Hans Meyer -- he also plays Clarence and other parts in the show -- keeps his fellow actors busy scoring this "Playhouse of the Air," as the faux broadcast is billed, with low-tech sound effects. A hand slapping an eggplant: That's Mr. Welch, the teacher's husband, slugging a distraught George in Martini's bar. Sure, it's a gimmick, but Landry's radio-theater approach fits the period and, far from distracting us, refreshes dialogue most viewers already know by heart.

The production's staging might be cute, but the portrayals are clear, earnest and deeply felt. Actor Willie Repoley makes the leading role his own, neither imitating nor departing radically from James Stewart's iconic screen performance. Repoley gets strong support from Lauren Fortuna (Mary), Kathryn Temple (Vi, Zuzu and others) and especially Joe Sturgeon, a man of a thousand voices (from God on down) who would have had a lucrative radio-theater career in another era.

True, Charlotte should be producing more of its own high-quality theater, not importing it from Asheville. But as George learns on that fateful Christmas Eve, when in need, there's no shame in accepting gifts from well-meaning friends. Let's accept this sweet little show as George does his own miracle, with open hearts, and be thankful that the members of N.C. Stage will be using their newly earned wings to fly back to Charlotte soon: In April, they'll bring another play with cinematic roots, Ron Hutchinson's "Gone With the Wind"-inspired comedy, "Moonlight and Magnolias," and in June, Lee Blessing's smart satire of politics and dogs, "Chesapeake."

Godspeed.

Virginia Woolf at HART

2007-12-14T10:37:00.000-05:00

I recently came across a blog called wnctheatre.livejournal.com and was delighted to find some reviews of local shows. I have no idea who the blogger is or how to get in touch, so for now I'm posting these without permission. If anyone knows the blogger, please check and see if they mind!
Bernhard Grier--

Who's Vaguely Perturbed by Virginia Woolf

Haywood Arts Repertory Theatre's recently-closed production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf left me to answer the titular question with, “Eh, not I.” I am left, perhaps, a little gassy by Virginia Woolf. To be fair, I seemed to be relatively alone in this feeling, as most of the audience exited the theatre in awe, utterly enchanted by this adequate interpretation of the iconic Albee classic. Additionally, several members of the crowd were absolutely guffawing at George and Martha’s acerbic repartee and Martha’s drunken swagger and frequent mugging. While I certainly find the play to be pithy and the dialogue as witty as it is scathing, I’m not sure if the full-out cackle is really the intended effect. If it is, I think the directors and actors certainly incorrectly ascertained the spirit of the show. Several people also commented at being completely riveted the entire three hours plus, while I found myself checking my watch with increasing frequency towards the end of the second act. So take that as you will.

Upon entering the theatre, many of us were struck by the beautiful and detailed set, which included a rather exquisite bar I intend to steal and cram into my tiny apartment (after strapping it to the top of my tiny car) as soon as the show closes. Don’t tell. Aesthetically speaking, the show was quite lovely, if the physical casting a bit odd. Mickey Hanley, portraying Martha with an abundance of sass and attitude, is striking in the role, but we are constantly reminded by Albee’s text that she is to be six years older than her husband, which she very clearly is not. To me, she generally lacked the subtle vulnerability that gives Martha her essential humanity, which leaves us with primarily a caricature of bravado and bluster, followed by an impressive complete emotional breakdown at the end of the show. I wouldn’t say she missed the mark of the character entirely, but there were some dimensions left unexplored. She captured the comedy of the role magnificently and, when the character did finally crack, the effect was fairly devastating. David Hopes was solid as George, unwavering in matching Martha in verbal spars, albeit a bit level and detached. Have these two ever had affection for each other? Do they now? It seems from the end of the show that they still share an emotional bond, but they come across more as a petulant child and her persevering guardian a great deal of the time. Some pacing difficulties here and there, perhaps in part due to the wordiness of the script. Trinity Smith was unassumingly charming as Honey, and Ben Marks a decent foil as her quick-tempered, upstart young husband.

This work is a challenging one to tackle, to be sure. It is rather easy to do an okay production of it, and very difficult to do an excellent one. I feel here we saw a lot of the surface of the relationships, while I wanted to see the subtext and intricacies that make human interaction so fascinating at large, and specifically intriguing in Albee’s opus.

--wnctheatre.livejournal.com

Jingle Taps

2007-12-14T10:36:00.000-05:00

This is from the C-T
BG--

‘Jingle Taps’ dances in the holidays
by Jim Cavener, take 5 Correspondent
published December 14, 2007 12:15 am

When N.C. Stage Company added a show called “Jingle Taps” to its Catalyst roster for this winter, it was a tad confusing, since the theater often hosts riotous comedy or stunning drama. But we attended “Jingle Taps” on the opening weekend, and it was a good decision.

The first act is a series of vignettes with a lame story line meant to hold together an interesting series of body movement loosely classified as dance. A rhythmic percussive element opens the show with Santa’s Irish elves becoming shoe- and boot-makers, using hammers and tools, hands, thighs and feet to create the bang.

Despite the silly theme and the striped stockings, the range of dance was impressive and exquisitely executed. Still, there is too much contrivance and too many conceits.

In the second act, all is forgiven when the troupe of six skilled dancers re-emerge in less contrived costumes, yet still managing to evoke the season. The fun begins with this intense and high-energy troupe blasting off in classic clog dancing form, with the bounce and flash one has come to expect of competent clogging.

The short set at the finish of this barely hourlong presentation is simply stunning. Six young dancers, with two “spares” rotating in performance give a world-class demonstration of the best of clog dancing.

This high-powered clutch of foot-stompers grew out of Mars Hill College’s award-winning Bailey Mountain Cloggers, with all but one of the crew either current students or recent alums. One is only a 17-year-old who will enroll at Mars Hill next year. The directors of the show, Heidi Kulas and Cheryl Renfro, are members of the All-American Clogging Team and have vast professional clogging experience.

The rest of the team includes Misty Searcy, Joseph Quattlebaum, Tyler Mercereau, Meghan McCartney, Matthew Kupstas and Leah Cunningham. Cunningham and Quattlebaum were the two who were missing at the performance reviewed but will perform this week.

Jim Cavener writes for the Citizen-Times.

Romance

2007-12-07T00:15:00.000-05:00

From MX
BG--

Theater Review: Romance
by Aiyanna Sezak-Blatt on 12/06/2007

This holiday season, Zealot Productions decided not to launch the typical Christmas play — indeed they decided to do just the opposite. Romance, a comedy by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet, is set in a courtroom and follows a trial that’s literally gone crazy. With a pollen-sensitive judge popping antihistamines, an anti-Semitic lawyer defending a Jewish chiropractor and a homosexual prosecutor caught in a relationship crisis with his flamboyant boyfriend, this play isn’t for the faint hearted.

If you’re not familiar with the most recent developments in derogatory name-calling, this unabashedly non-P.C. play will bring you up to date, and in doing so it will leave you bent over your seat in a fit of laughter. The small amount of order that the trial begins with quickly collapses, resulting is a disorderly and intensely funny debate between these broadly painted characters as they poses many worthy questions: What will resolve conflict in the Middle East? Was Shakespeare a Jew… was he gay? What do homosexuals really… do? What will happen if a man takes too many of his allergy pills?

Zealot’s cast of seven is strong, and the play’s director, Ryan Madden, seems to know that his cast shines on stage. In a theater made to hold 50 people, the BeBe enhances the feeling of being a part of the play’s dysfunctional trial. If you want to laugh this holiday season, don’t miss Zealot’s production of Romance. However, be sure to leave the kids at home.

Romance will at the BeBe Theatre till Dec. 8th and begins at 7:30 p.m.

— Aiyanna Sezak-Blatt, listings assistant

Flat Rock's Tuna

2007-11-30T12:20:00.000-05:00

from the C-T again...
--BG

by Tim Reid, take 5 correspondent
published November 30, 2007 12:15 am

FLAT ROCK — The Christmas Phantom threatens to ruin “A Tuna Christmas” in the hilarious sequel to “A Greater Tuna” by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears and Ed Howard.

Veteran Flat Rock comic actors Scott Treadway and Michael Edwards play all 22 characters as Texas’ “third-smallest” town prepares its annual Christmas decorating contest.

Vera Carp has won the contest 14 years in a row but faces strong competition from upstarts like Tasty-Crème waitresses Inita Goodwin and Helen Bedd. And no one is safe from the mysterious phantom, who wrecks somebody’s yard decorations each year.

Radio station personalities Thurston Wheelis and Arles Struvie provide a running dialogue on Tuna’s Christmas preparations, interspersed with commercials by Didi Snavely, owner of Didi’s Used Weapons.

A touching drama plays out as Bertha Bumiller struggles to have a traditional Christmas with her family. This is complicated by the fact that her trucker husband is absent as usual, her son Stanley is almost certain to go back to jail, and her daughter Charlene has a crush on gay theater director Joe Bob Lipsey.

Treadway and Edwards are awesome as they deftly switch characters, keeping up the frantic pace that gives the play its punch. The humor is wild, the satire on small-town life is revealing, and the laughs are nonstop.

It has been three years since Flat Rock last presented “A Greater Tuna.” Judging from the spontaneous standing ovation given Treadway and Edwards for this go-around, which is directed by Betsy Bisson, Texas’ third-smallest town has lost none of its appeal.

Tim Reid reviews theater for the Citizen-Times. Contact him at timreid4@charter.net.

Hospitality

2007-11-30T12:17:00.000-05:00

C-T, of course...
--BG

Theater review: Enjoy some down-home ‘Southern Hospitality’
by Tim Reid, take 5 Correspondent
published November 23, 2007 12:15 am

ASHEVILLE — The Futrelle sisters swing into action to save their beloved Fayro, Texas, in “Southern Hospitality,” the third installment of the popular story by Asheville comedy writers Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten.

This time Fayro is suffering an economic decline with the loss of businesses and jobs. Even Geneva Musgrave (Thelma Cousins), owner of the Bookoo Bouquet florist shop, complains there hasn’t been “a good funeral” in months. Folks are going to have to leave their beloved town if a major new employer isn’t found soon. The Futrelle sisters aren’t about to let that happen.

Honey Raye (Joan Atwood) concocts a scheme to put on a giant “Fayro Days” festival to impress the president of a hot sauce factory who is considering moving his plant to Fayro.

Her sister Frankie (Kay Crews St. Clair) is pressed into hosting the visitor in her home, which they pretend is a bed and breakfast.

Meanwhile, just about everyone in town tries to make the hastily concocted “Fayro Days” a big success to impress the hot sauce king.

Frankie’s husband Dub (Roger Magendie) helps coordinate a Civil War battle re-enactment — never mind the fact there was no battle within hundreds of miles of Fayro.

Their daughter, Gina Jo (Julia Cunningham), puts on a petting zoo despite the fact that all she can muster are a dog, a cat and a stuffed emu. Her preacher husband, Justin (Cory Boughton), meanwhile gambles away their car at a nearby casino.

Twink Futrelle (Kerry Shannon) is determined to make her longtime boyfriend, John Curtis Butner (Steve Wilde), marry her as the highlight of Fayro Days.

Shirley Cohen nearly steals the show as Dub’s irascible Aunt Iney, who spits and fumes vitriol at Dub and Frankie’s every attempt to win her favor — and her sizable estate.

Frank Salvo does a wonderful job as Reynard Chisum, a simple but sweet town character who keeps gushing how great Fayro is while residents make absolute fools of themselves.

Jessie Jones directs this hilarious tale in which all the characters are over the top but somehow reminiscent of real people with all their faults and foibles.

A strong cast and an irresistible story line make this a sure crowd-pleaser.

Tim Reid reviews theater for the Citizen-Times. He can be contacted at timreid4@charter.net.

Harm for the Holidays at NCSC

2007-11-20T13:42:00.000-05:00

I’ve reliably missed Tom Chalmers perform David Sedaris’ “The Santaland Diaries” every year so far, and will miss it again this year. So I made a special effort to see his autobiographical one-man show “Harm for the Holidays,” running as part of the Catalyst Series at NCSC.

I don’t think this is the funniest work ever I’ve seen from Chalmers, but the evening’s mix of personal stories is a good one, and the tone is set as something less than a “laff riot” from the very beginning. Which is not to say it is not funny — it is. But many of the biggest laughs come packaged in groans of discomfort that such horrible things could happen to poor Tom, and some of the most effective material is a gently comic slant on these otherwise horrible situations, most of which involve uncomfortable family situations, and all of which are undercut by the slightly melancholy sense of relying on comedy to survive tragedy.

The play starts with the Christmas Eve death of a beloved grandfather, and this sweet but somber beginning firmly establishes the layout of the evening. It is surprisingly funny, but it is tinged through with a hint of sadness that grounds the show in a nicely real way. As an added bonus, this allows the moments where Chalmers seemingly riffs off script to be true asides that break the mood and inject the purest, least compromised laughs of the evening.

I don’t want to say too much about the material, and risk giving away any surprises. I’ll just end with this: if you are only interested in seeing “Tom Chalmers: Funnyman,” you may be slightly under-whelmed. But if you are looking for a very sweet, very heartfelt, and, yes, very funny performance that makes you appreciate both the flaws and wonders of your own family, consider coming “Harm for the Holidays.”

And now I turn the joke writing back to Mr. Tom Chalmers, ladies and gentlemen, who’s actually good at it.

--Willie Repoley

The Pleasure Principle

2007-11-19T22:27:00.000-05:00

Ok, I’ll admit it: I’m a sucker for the drama department at Hendersonville High School. I can always count on their fall play to be one of the most exciting, surprising, and genuinely theatrical shows of the season, and this year’s offering is no exception.
This unexpected phenomenon started a few years back, when HHS produced Edward Gorey’s bizarre collection of random sentences passed off as a play called “Helpless Doorknobs”. Only Heather Malloy’s recent “The Many Deaths of Edward Gorey” has threatened to overtake that production as the most wonderfully inventive re-imaging of the spirit of Mr Gorey ever seen. I loved it.
I loved even more 2005’s ingenious re-thinking of an antiquated French play, “La Dispute,” a sort of allegory about two couples in a years-long pseudo-scientific experiment to study love and fidelity, as well as the nobles who commissioned and are watching the experiment. It was delightful and enchanting and earnest and moving, and I still hold it up with NCSC’s “The Syringa Tree” as one of the very the best shows of the season.
I regret to say that I had to miss last year’s reportedly post-noir Nancy Drew-meets-the-Hardy Boys concoction.
This year, I caught the possibly ill-conceived revival of a play they competed with earlier this season, an original piece called “The Pleasure Principle”. For the record, I only say “ill-conceived” because the performance had a slight air of a play who’s life had peaked during it’s first run, and this was a sort of post-show performance that couldn’t quite muster the oomph of the original run, especially not with a largely listless and rather small audience, comprised mostly, it seemed, of people who had probably already seen the show, and were now, a bit like the actors, returning dutifully, but not wholly enthusiastically.
But be that as it may. The show itself was beautiful and flawed and engaging and bizarre, and great, even on a slightly off night. Described as a “surrealistic fantasy,” it was based partially on the writing of Sophocles (Oedipus Rex), the theories of Sigmund Freud (especially the Oedipal Complex), and the political activism of the Zapatistas. The mix is odd, and does not always make literal or immediate sense, but they don’t call it surrealism for nothing.
Our hero, Edmund, played by Turner Rouse with his reliable mix of sincerity and wonder, is a 16 or 17 year-old student whose parents are going through a divorce, and whose sister Tista (Arie Romstadt, a convincingly child-like narrator, without being cloying) talks in the third person and sometimes shares his visions of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, played with a thuggishly Johnny Depp scowl and giant blue sombrero and black moustache by Katie Bailey. He also sees visions of Sigmund Freud and of is led of course to the inescapable destiny of killing his father and marrying his mother (who happens to share wardrobe choices and names with his girlfriend.)
The overarching theme of Destiny (and the idea that if one is destined to do something, it ceases to matter if it has already happened, or will happen at some point in the future) ties the disparate ideas together visually as well as thematically; the very cool set consists of a few key furniture pieces, all askew on the stage and painted white, with bits of the face of a black clock showing up on each piece. Behind the action are two painted flats, also blanked white, and if the two pieces were ever put together, a single giant clock with sharply black Roman numerals would be formed.
Like the other HHS shows I have seen, one of the highlights of the play is a bold visual beauty. The design elements were meticulously thought out and executed, both by the designers and builders and by the cast’s interactions with them. I loved that the brother/sister pair had an artfully correlated blue/red color scheme, for example. Possibly the most striking image was the use of a giant red flag, first as a long banner proclaiming some absurdist version of a universal/revolutionary truth, and then as an impromptu full-body wrap—part swaddling cloth, part shroud—for Edmund, who of course, also joins his sister in some sort of optical degradation, as prophets and other seekers of the truth must do (just ask Sophocles or Tony Kushner, or even Shakespeare).
Perhaps most importantly, throughout all the absurdist double talk, the visions of ballet dancing revolutionaries, a marriage that is also a divorce, death that is also life, blindness that is also clarity, and other potentially confusing contradictions, the cast maintains an essential sense of ensemble, with each member not just pulling his or her weight, but actively pushing the play forward with bold, sweeping leaps of imagination and trust in each other. It is truly inspiring to see young people so dedicate themselves to making the play a powerfully actor-driven event, one that finds beauty in the everyday, in the extraordinary, and of course in the absurd.
This is complex, confusing, and engaging story telling, presented by a fearless cast. If every high school in the country had a drama program as creative and daring as the one under Todd Weakley’s care at Hendersonville High School, the state of the American Theatre would be in spectacularly exciting hands.
--Willie Repoley

History is About to Crack Wide Open (Millennium Approaches)

2007-11-12T09:44:00.000-05:00

North Carolina Stage Company has launched a new series for the 2007-2008 season. Four plays have been selected to be read on stage. The first offering is Angles In America: Millennium Approaches by Tony Kushner, directed by Angie Flynn-McIver. This is part one of a two-part play.

I have seen the full production of Angles In America twice and have found it to be powerful and moving. Entering the theater, I wondered if a reading could capture my attention for the almost three hour long drama. Can a group of actors sitting around on stage, reading from a book be that compelling? Can they do justice to the script?

It didn’t take long to find out. The eight people assembled for this reading, some local and some out of towners, turned out to be actors, not readers. Without the usual trappings of costumes, lighting, lines to remember, and all the technical issues with a full production, they were able to focus on the script. Their acting ability cut to the heart of the play in a powerful and dramatic way, giving us Kushner’s words, thoughts, and emotions in a lively and compelling performance.

The actors did not just speak their lines. That would have been boring. Sitting in those chairs, they acted their lines. They made us laugh and cry. They made us glad to be alive and afraid that we were. They challenged old thought patterns; not by saying “you must agree with everything in this reading,” but by offering us an opportunity to pay attention to who we were.

Was this play really three hours long? Time flew by as the performers expertly drew us into the play. It seemed all to soon when the stage manager said “End of Part One.” For a long moment we were all stunned into silence, audience and actors alike. Together we were thinking, “Is it really over? I’m not ready to end it. Look at what happened here!” Now I am wondering if some day there will be an Angles In America, Part Two..

Robert Arthur

Smokey Joe's in Flat Rock

2007-10-29T17:21:00.000-04:00

Theater review: Songs of ’50s, ’60s get grand treatment
by Tim Reid, take 5 correspondent
published October 19, 2007 8:30 am

FLAT ROCK — Flat Rock Playhouse really rocks the house with “Smokey Joe’s Café: The Songs of (Jerry) Leiber and (Mike) Stroller.”

This exuberant musical review features the legendary songwriters’ pop/rock standards of the 1950s and ‘60s that were performed by Peggy Lee, Elvis, The Coasters and many others.

The show includes some of the best-known songs from the duo that is credited with marrying rhythm and blues with pop music.

Older members of the audience will thrill to the tunes of their youth such as “Jailhouse Rock,” “Yakkety Yak” and “Charlie Brown,” and a whole new generation will learn to appreciate the music.

Director Ray Kennedy has assembled a talented cast of mostly new faces at Flat Rock for this high-energy production that keeps the tunes coming almost nonstop.

Alexander Elisa, Joelle Lewis, Keldon LeVar Price and Terrill Williams form a close-harmony foursome, their tightly choreographed movements giving the music an extra energy.

Nova Y. Payton belts out some of the show’s most unforgettable blues tunes, relishing the persona of a strong-willed woman versus her wishy-washy men.

And Flat Rock favorite Amanda Treadway sizzles as the sultry blonde in “Teach Me How to Shimmy.”

Daniel Bogart is paired with Treadway in some of the show’s most engaging boy-girl reveries, and Jackie Burns and Wendy Hayes also provide strong vocals.

The show is worth going just to catch the red-hot “I’m a Woman.”

Musicians Steve Alford, Paul Babelay, Jim Beaver, Kip Brock, Charles Holland, Amy Elizabeth Jones and George Wilkins Jr. deliver the big sound required for some of this era’s best-loved songs like “Kansas City” and “On Broadway.”

It’s a little surprising that Flat Rock has scheduled such a big show so late in its season. Judging by the almost sold-out house on opening night, you had better get your tickets early.

“Smokey Joe’s” is smokin’ hot!

Tim Reid reviews theater for the Citizen-Times. He can be contacted at timreid4@charter.net.

Macbeth

2007-10-21T11:23:00.000-04:00

THEATER REVIEW: N.C. Stage Company’s ‘Macbeth’ is a ghostly Halloween treat
by Jim Cavener, Citizen-Times Correspondent
published October 21, 2007 12:15 am on www.citizen-times.com

ASHEVILLE — Not only is N.C. Stage Company opening its sixth season with a major production of the epic tragedy “Macbeth,” it is also inaugurating the new NCSC Chase Gallery of art in its lobby.

The gallery will display thematic exhibitions relevant to each show in the upcoming 2007-08 season. The first exhibition, “Vice & Virtue,” grows out of themes in “Macbeth” and consists of photography, pen and ink, and mixed-media art by local artists.

NCSC has established itself as the pre-eminent professional theater in Asheville, in great part because of the production standards of several shows attributed to, or based on, Shakespeare.

Twice it has done “Shakespeare’s R&J,” a zany take on “Romeo and Juliet.” Last year, it was “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and early on in the company’s history, director Ron Bashford delivered a truly legendary production of “Hamlet,” which caused the regional theater world to sit up and take notice.

“Macbeth” as done by the NCSC, is not a costume drama that dazzles the audience with period drag from the royal court. The dazzle is in the script and the intensity of the acting.

The setting is limited to a timeless, ageless, glimmering Mylar scrim behind a sheet of clear plastic with paste-on, milky suggestions of trees.

Costumes are modern, grungy, grimy, monochromatic and reflecting the black-and-white world of Cecil Beaton. Costumer Shelley Porter inserts a couple of plaid, or tartan robes, about the only color on stage.

A clever conceit to emphasize the darkness of the material and bring grim reality to the house is the use of powerful hand-held LED flashlights for facial lighting, with virtually no other light source during the first 20 minutes or so. When well-aimed, this is an effective gimmick, but often the beams are misdirected and light more of the audience than the actors’ faces.

Other lighting use is skillful and earns kudos for designer Keith Kirkland.

Ten able actors take on the 27 roles in the dire drama, with more than a bit of gender-bending in this casting. Female Lords (Thanes, in Scots-speak), and male witches work well under Ron Bashford’s deft direction. John Crutchfield, Mike Coghlan, Bill Munoz, Hans Meyer, Michael MacCauley and Adam Vernon-Young do fine ensemble work.

Neela Munoz has a virtuoso vignette as the castle porter, while Lauren Fortuna is an apt Lady McDuff.

Jenn Miller Cribbs brings national credits that equip her with power in her Lady Macbeth. The mad scene is marvelous.

Company co-founder and artistic director Charlie Flynn-McIver approximates his excellence in the title role of NCSC’s 2003 “Hamlet,” and this Macbeth is everything a demanding director might wish.

The eerie, spooky opening and many successive scenes with ghosts, apparitions and other unnerving elements is appropriate for a production running through All Hallow’s Eve.

This is big people’s Halloween candy for the mind, with an inspired cast and adept technical values.

Jim Cavener writes on theater for the Citizen-Times. E-mail him at JimCavener@aya.Yale.edu.

Congratulations!

2007-10-17T17:01:00.001-04:00

Hi all, this is not a review, but a mutual congratulation: I just got word that the readers of Mountain Xpress voted us third best blog in town. And we've only been operating for about 10 months! Yay! So, thanks, and congratulations to all of you for reading, contributing, and helping to make this site a valuable resource for the local performing arts scene.
Here is the link to the full article:

(also-- it's been pointed that my hyperlinks don't actually work. Sorry about that - I think I've got it fixed, now. If the one above works, we're good. If not, I'll keep working on it...)
thanks
Bernhard Grier

Laugh your Asheville

2007-10-17T16:53:00.000-04:00

I just found this one on the XPress site (http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2007/review_laugh_your_asheville_off/)
--BG

Review: Laugh Your Asheville Off
by Alli Marshall on 10/15/2007

Though there’s some sort of show to check out every night of the week in Asheville (dance, theater, music, visual art, etc.) the one performing field that’s under-represented is comedy. Luckily, for stand-up fans, local comedian-turned-show producer Greg Brown is changing that.

Brown and his partner Rowan Lischerelli introduced the first-ever Laugh Your Asheville Off Comedy Festival back in July. The three-show run, held at Diana Wortham Theatre, brought an extensive roster of local and regional comics to downtown Asheville. But Brown and Lischerelli didn’t sit back and bask in the success of that first production. They immediately set about organizing other comedy events including last weekend’s one-night follow-up.

The Friday, Oct. 12, show at Diana Wortham featured Charlotte’s “Comedian of the Year” Joe Zimmerman as the host of the show along with other up-and-comers like Carlos Valencia, Felicia Gillespie and Justin Chambliss.

If you caught the July show, you recognized Zimmerman, Valencia and Chambliss. All three pretty much repeated their earlier performance to varying affect. Zimmerman’s riff on the Asheville scene hits pretty close to home (his bit about protesting Staples: “If we get office supplies, what’s next? Offices?"). Valencia’s schtick about STDs and having a terminal disease named after him was more awkward than funny. Comedians tend to ride that line between humorous and creepy, but Valencia edges closer to creepy for me. Then again, his MySpace quote is “Bringing unsettling creepiness back” — mission accomplished!

My favorite acts of the evening were headliner Dave Landau, whose laid-back delivery and banter with the audience made for a fun and fast-paced routine, and Asheville-based comedian Tom Chalmers, who started his set with an impression of a bluegrass band.

Chalmers came to WNC from New York City where he served as artistic director for Gotham City Improv. In Asheville, he teaches comedy writing workshops through Asheville Community Theatre. He also performs the annual one-man play, The Santaland Diaries.

On the whole, this second Laugh Your Asheville Off show was a fun evening with plenty of laugh out loud moments and a pleasantly surprising number of good regional artists. Hopefully what was originally intended as an annual festival will quickly become a quarterly event.

—Alli Marshall, A&E reporter

Ruthless

2007-10-17T16:44:00.000-04:00

Again, C-T. Find the original at http://www.take5online.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200771011065
Sorry about the occasional half-sentence in this review-- I presume the paper printed better than the website, but I dropped my subscription some time ago, so this is the best I can do!
--BG

Theater review: ‘Ruthless!’ offers a study in bad taste
by Jim Cavener, take5 correspondent
published October 12, 2007 12:15 am

ASHEVILLE — “Ruthless!,” now running at Asheville Community Theatre’s 35below space, is high camp comedy. Nothing is sacred. This is an acquired taste but also tricky business, a mix of the good timing of farce, overstatement of melodrama, cleverness with lots of double-entendre and less-than-subtle interjections of bad taste.

Also required is a cast that can wring all the trashy nuances out of tasteless parody.

The players in “Ruthless!” are far better than the material they are working with. This script by Joel Paley is not bad, it’s just interminably silly and misses good chances to slip in more ironic pretense and gross excess.

There are ample allusions and asides, quick suggestions of gay icons and over-the-top interpretations of otherwise ordinary situations, but it misses some chances to be vulgar and naughty, while giving a great framework for successful send-up.

The plot twists and turns and writhes through wonderful territory. Director Eric Mills, who did “Miss Gulch Returns” two years ago at 35below, milks the material for more than it demands and gets bravado performances from the assembled crew. It is difficult to know who steals most of the scenes.

An emerging star

Any 12-year old in such a show has a leg up on accolades. Emily Eliot-Gaines plays young Tina, a demonic child who is determined to get the lead in the school play. This young woman holds her own among a mature cast of attention-getters as the kid everyone loves to hate.

Her stage mother from hell, Judy — later Ginger — is done ruthlessly by Beverly Todd, who comes equipped with a piercing voice that can be heard six blocks away.

Her selfless innocence, as well as her ruthless ambition in the second act, are way over-the-top.

Lori Beland Hilliard as Miss Thorn and Miss Bloch comes in close to the top as giving outrageous characterizations that work well.

Tamm’s outrageous side

Clearly dominating every scene he’s in is veteran local actor Peter Tamm as Sylvia St. Croix. Tamm is known as a serious actor, making this appearance all the more outrageous.

The costumes steal more scenes than these able actors. Linda Neal Underwood deserves kudos for the range of rags with which she adorns this cast.

Musical Director Ruth Sieber Johnson gives the sometimes-lame score the boost it needs and keeps the tempo up and racing toward the silly denouement.

Caberet

2007-10-05T14:18:00.000-04:00

"CABARET" AT HART IN WAYNESVILLE....
by Jim Cavener, Citizen-Times Correspondent

[editor's note-- this was forwarded to me as the full text of this review, a slightly shorter version of which was published in the Citizen-Times. -B.G. ]

Is it simple serendipity that Haywood Arts Regional Theatre opens it's spectacularly novel production of "Cabaret" the same week as Ken Burns' "The War" runs on PBS, as Asheville's immediate theatre project finished its run of "Copenhagen," while UNCA's Center for Diverstiy Education and Pack Library are opening thier month-long exhibition and programs on Anne Frank? Whether planned to coincide or not, this is a heady diet of powerful recollections of the Nazi horror in Europe some 70 years ago.
All this convergence on a horrendous historical event in mid-20th century is a learning experience and a powerful reminder of the worst of human atrocities. Director Charles Mills and company executive Steve Lloyd came up with a plan to make this an extraordinary production of a legendary classic of American Musical Theater. And effective it is.
Their approach was to construct a large platform out over the audience seating area, where the action takes place. The audience is seated at bistro tables on the traditional stage. Literally turning around Waynesville's Performing Arts Center, they have created more intimacy between the audience and actors, bringing the horror of Nazism close to all viewers. The cast serves as greeters and servers in the Kit-Kat Club before and between the acts. We become the 'good Germans' who are drawn into the seductive appeal of decadence, debauchery and deviousness that was Berlin in the 1930s.
Christopher Isherwood's first-hand stories of that time and place were altered for the stage by John van Druten ("I am a Camera") before musical masters Kandler and Ebb ("Chicago," "Kiss of the Spider Woman") got ahold of the material in the 1960s. With thier knack of catching sinister themes for musical presentation, "Cabaret" became the classic Broadway and film hit, making a star of Joel Grey and bringing this story to new audiences.
Mark Jones gives us an androgenous and seductive Emcee, with the help of gender-bending costumes by Cary Nichols and make-up by Beth Swanson. His slinky and sinister cabaret master of ceremonies suggests the way the German nation was programmed by the leaders of National Socialism. Jones carries the show with panache
The other major role whose talents match the music is Julie Kinter as Sally Bowles, the impish young ingenue from Britain who finds herself out of her depth in the turmoil of Berlin in the 1930s. Kinter can carry a tune and emote with the best of 'em. Her romantic interest is the boyish and winsome David Ostergaard as the young American, Clifford Bradshaw, who has come to Berlin to write -- reflecting Isherwood's own pilgrimage.
Touching performances were given by Casey Dupree and Stan Smith as Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz. They, too, carry the poignancy of this troubled time. Paul Heathman as Ernst Ludwig and Jennifer Sanner as Faurlein Kost advance the cause, and Sanner sings with elan. Among the Kit kat girls are Mary Katherine Smith, Christina McClellan and Kristen Pallota, who use those bentwood ice-cream shop chairs in the fine, erotic legacy of Bob Fosse. Beth Holmes' choreography captures the feel of the original.
The cabaret boys -- doubling as waiters and dancers -- do good dialect work and move with high male energy. Adam Kampouris, Joshua Merrell, Ian Olson and James Bradley add to the ambiance of this sad era in our recent history. Chuck Taft, Anne Rhymer, Linda Davis and David Bruce did their darndest to get the feel of the fine score by John Kandler. A few more real instruments and fewer electronic substitutes may have aided the support sounds behind the voices.

ACT's Beauty

2007-10-01T10:06:00.000-04:00

C-T, of course. The original is at http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200770920075
sorry this is so late.
BG

Theater review: ‘Beauty and the Beast’ appeals to all
ACT actors, costumes bring classic to life
by Tim Reid, take 5 Correspondent
published September 21, 2007 12:15 am

Asheville Community Theatre thrills young and old with “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast,” the classic tale of a young maiden who transforms a fearsome beast.

Based on Disney’s award-winning animated film, the stage version has made this one of the best-loved stories of modern times. “Beauty” is an ambitious undertaking for any community theater with its lavish music, costumes and scenery, but ACT has risen to the challenge, summoning a level of talent that would have been unthinkable in earlier days.

Rachelle Roberts is enchanting as beautiful Belle, whom neighbors in the quaint French village regard as odd because she likes to read. Tony Lance gives an awesome performance as the handsome prince who is turned into the loathsome Beast when he refuses to give a beggar woman shelter for the night.

Belle has caught the eye of the town’s most eligible bachelor Gaston (Rod Leigh), who is so full of himself that he scarcely notices or cares that she can’t stand him. Gaston’s admiration for himself is exceeded only by his fawning friend LeFou (Trevor Worden).

When the Beast imprisons Belle’s eccentric inventor father Maurice (Bruce Henderson), she agrees to become his prisoner if he will free her father.

The former prince’s servants have fallen under the same curse that made him a Beast and are gradually being transformed into household objects instead of people. Cogsworth (Payton Turpin) is an uptight clock complete with winding stem, and Lumiere (Richard Blue) is morphing into elaborate candelabra. Ruth Butler and Lincoln Belford are delightful as Mrs. Potts and her son, Chip, who are finishing their transformation to a teapot and cup.

Time is running out for the Beast and his household servants — he must fall in love and find someone to love him, or the curse will become permanent.

Director Christopher Lynn, music director Ginger Haselden, scenic designer Jack Lindsay and costume designer Kate Russell, plus a wonderful cast, have created an unforgettable evening of theater.

Copenhagen

2007-09-27T12:19:00.000-04:00

I saw immediate theater project's production of
Copenhagen at the BeBe Theater last Saturday night.
We expected (after itp's absolutely brilliant All
My Sons) it to be good, and were right. Copenhagen
was almost as shattering as All My Sons, but in a
different way. It is extremely talky -- just three
people talking and talking, on stage all the time --
but very moving.

All three actors were excellent. Kay Galvin is always
wonderful; we hadn't seen the other two before. They
seemed just right -- Lance Ball as the nervy Heisenberg
and Earl Leininger as the "good man", the fatherly Bohr.

Really there wasn't much to fault in the whole production
-- a couple of tiny and unimportant stumbles over lines
is all I can come up with if I think really hard.

The play is suitable, even edifying, for adults and
high school students. It's about... Life and
theoretical physics? History? Subjectivity? Lots of
interesting things on lots of levels. Overtly it's
about a meeting between Bohr and Heisenberg in Copenhagen
during the Nazi occupation of Denmark. (There's also a
lot of interesting history -- like the amazing escape
of most of Denmark's Jews, and the fact that several of
the guys who came up with the Bomb were Jews who had fled
to America.)

Michael Frayn (the playwright) is quite a guy -- to have
had the understanding of the very counter-intuitive concepts
of theoretical physics that he must have had to have written
the play -- and somehow applied them to life -- is impressive.
(And then he becomes a Brueghel expert for his excellent
novel Headlong!)

So don't miss it -- Copenhagen ends this weekend, on the 30th.
itp's doing some other interesting things over the next year --
check out their website.

--Tahani Sticpewich

Twelve Treatises on Memory

2007-09-27T12:18:00.001-04:00

The latest edition to North Carolina Stage Company’s Catalyst Series is a piece written and directed by local poet, playwright and performer John Crutchfield, “Twelve Treatises on Memory: An Epistemological Slapstick (With Sock Puppets), presented by Jynormous Theatre Company.
Unlike many play-goers in this community, I am not someone convinced that anything written by a local playwright is good theatre (I can type you up a short list, if you‘d like to argue this). You can tell in the first five minutes of the play that Crutchfield is no hack, tinkering about with playwriting in his spare time. The scenes are nicely laid out, the characters are interesting, and the lines are nothing short of eloquent.
In fact, that is what impressed me most about the play. Some of the writing in this show is the prettiest I’ve heard since I saw “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at NCStage earlier this summer. The succinct timing and pace of the funny parts leave the audience in stitches. The drama is also valid and easy to sympathize with.
The acting is also spot-on. The portrayal of two childhood sweethearts, reunited for one night of reminiscing and questioning past decisions, by Joe Sturgeon and Anne-Marie Welty is truly compelling. Both actors express a clear knowledge of their character’s intention and personality.
My problem with the show, however, is a big one… the subject matter.
You know that angry poem, or scene, or narrative that you wrote back in high school or college about a time when someone unjustifiably jilted you, which you never got full closure from. We all have one. They are always a little melodramatic because the pain we feel is so raw and authentic (usually because it is being felt for the first time). Still, in perspective, being dumped is not that big of a deal and not necessarily a worthy premise for a dramatic play.
I don’t mean to downplay it. Lots of great plays are based around the ins and outs of love. This play entirely rests on the connection between a slightly geeky guy named Mark (Sturgeon) who is somewhat stuck in the past and his former flame Beth (Welty), who is kind of cocky and enjoying that she still has the power to make Mark swoon. The two spend a night together, talking in circles around how dynamic the love they shared was and why it ultimately ended.
Creating a good “Why did you break up with me?” play is already a challenge. Having a man be both writer and director of a breakup play in which the man is more or less the good-natured victim and the woman is semi-manipulative, arrogant, cold and constantly in-control doesn’t help the play’s credibility either.
To cool down the laden bitterness that is apparent throughout “Twelve Treatises,” Crutchfield introduces two sock puppet scenes, where the two actors get behind the couch they had been sitting on in the previous scene, swap gender roles, and basically re-do the dialogue from the point of view of two Punch & Judy type characters portrayed by socks on their hands. Except in these scenes, the characters say what they really mean, instead of all the game-playing they do in human form.
While an interesting and entertaining way to cut the show’s heaviness, the puppet scenes end up clashing with the dramatic moments. It makes it much harder to take the characters’ pain seriously when they come forward to recite a dramatic monologue in a spotlight, when we have barely caught our breath from laughing at their whininess when they were puppets.
While an unarguably beautiful and witty play, “Twelve Treatises” is uneven in its tone. It is, however, a lot of fun and completely worth watching. I would give it 4 out of six stars.
--Meg Hale

etc's Athena

2007-09-23T14:54:00.000-04:00

sorry this has taken so long to post. Please check out the original threads on Mountain Xpress website, too... B.G.

http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2007/080807athena
http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2007/players_inject_life_into_dying_dog

Players inject life into dying dog
by Cecil Bothwell on 08/16/2007

In last week’s preview of enigmatic theatre company’s world premier of Athena, I wrote that it “demands special effects that can’t reasonably be expected to work in the NCSC black box space.” Either I jinxed them, or some wag on the crew decided to pull a plug for my benefit.

The second performance of the play, Aug. 15, was crippled by a backstage power failure which eliminated video projections necessary, again quoting my preview, to “suggest the climactic house-wrecking wind storm” in the penultimate scene. It’s always something. Video or no, the storm scene was more effectively portrayed than I anticipated. Alas, the play itself was no better. There wasn’t a lot of there there, and not much to care about.

However, stellar performances by David Hopes, as Donald, a lightning victim of quiet beauty, and Tiffany Cade, as Kate, a slightly neurotic post-partum mother, graced the evening. Others on the cast turned in commendable performances and brought a bit of life to the stage.

Michael MacCauley’s direction was inspired, weaving the multiple scenes of an extended one-act play into a continuous tapestry, and Brian Sneeden’s lighting and sound were excellent. Knowing Peter Brezny’s work, I could only imagine that the multimedia piece of the puzzle would have been equally fine — but there was that pesky blackout.

The direction, production and acting in this show left me hoping for more from this young stage company. Next time with juice.

— Cecil Bothwell, staff writer

Terpsicorps' Many Deaths of Edward Gorey

2007-07-04T13:00:00.000-04:00

Let me begin by admitting that I know next to nothing about dance. I never took classes, I don't see much of it, and I have only recently begun to read reviews of it. Oh well. Heather Malloy's The Many Deaths of Edward Gorey, presented by Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance a couple of weeks ago needs to be written about, and trained or not, I am rather keen to be the one to start.

Because it was fabulous. That much was clear even to me.

The evening actually included three other pieces, in addition to the Edward Gorey, and I think I'll work backwards.

The last piece was inspired in concept, if not as much in execution. Local artist Ben Betsalel created an original painting each night during, and presumably inspired by or in some sort of relation to, the performance on stage. The painting in progress was projected digitally, thanks to G. Craig Hobbs, as a much larger than life backdrop for the dancers. I thought this was a terrific idea, but over all the dance was my least favorite. The piece, called Work in Progress, was choreographed by Ms. Malloy, and I’m sure it was very well done, it just didn’t happen to be to my particular taste. The original score, by Michael Bellar was probably very good, I just did not happen to like the sort of latin-jazzy style of music. The painting itself was a splattered canvas reminiscent of, say Jackson Pollock, and I just don’t happen to know that much about that particular style, and am not super interested in it. The look of the show was very light and colorful, but it did not grab my attention as much as some of the other pieces. And while the intersection between painter and dancers seemed very interesting in theory, I could not quite catch the relation in actuality. I found myself craning my neck to watch the artist at work on the balcony, as often as I was watching the stage. And I had a hard time sitting back and trusting that there was some “story” relating the painting and the dancing, because I just didn’t see it.

But that points to my inexperience with dance as much as anything, perhaps. What seemed clear to me at some point, was that watching ballet is, for me, a lot like conversing in a foreign language. If I try and translate everything word by word, I will not only be constantly behind, but I will lose the overall sense in favor of a few isolated moments of clarity. If however I don’t worry so much about the details, I will understand more than I expect, and will feel much more a part of the conversation. The ballet was the same: If I tried to make logical sense of every move, I was frustrated and confused, and felt like I was missing something. But when I just sat back and let the dance wash over me, it was satisfying on a much more visceral level.

This was very much true of the middle pieces, The Waiting Room and Senza Fretta (Without Worry), both choreographed by the late Salvatore Aiello and staged here by Timothy Rineheart-Yeager, Terpsicorps’ Ballet Master (and, for Waiting Room, by Ms. Malloy as well). In both pieces, I was impressed by the dancers’ skill, grace, humor, and passion, and for both pieces, I had to stop trying to create a narrative in my head. Part of the problem, especially for The Waiting Room, was that I had not looked to see what the title of the piece was, and just that would have helped me feel at ease, knowing that I was at least on the same page as the dancers. After the performance, we got to hear a little about Mr. Aiello, and how he composed the ballet after receiving some very bad medical news. I could not help but wonder if the piece would have worked even better if we had known that up front. None of this kept me from enjoying the dance, however. Written for three women, Jennifer Cavanaugh, Emily Gotschall, and Sadie Harris, and staged and lit with beautiful simplicity, the piece was wonderfully uncluttered, and moved forward with the quiet drive and peculiarly intense boredom that can only come while waiting endlessly for something of life-shattering importance.

In Senza Fretta, a cocky young man (Christopher Stuart) struts across the stage, only to be ousted by another brash young fellow (Nathan McGinnis) and there begins a very fun romp through playful competition and bold masculinity. The dance is so energetic and fast paced that it was hard even for me to care too much what the “story” was; it was easy to get caught up in the dancers themselves. The story was incidental to the event, and both dancers were both impressive and fun to watch.

The jewel in the evening’s crown was of course, The Many Deaths of Edward Gorey, which had as much beauty and intrigue as The Waiting Room, as much fun and energy as Senza Fretta, and at least as much spectacle as Work In Progress.

Dear me. I seem to have neglected a piece. I suppose I should go back and edit this document, rather than interrupt it, but I kind of think the interruption is appropriate. I have to admit, I completely forgot about That Caterpillar’s Trippin’ Again, an excerpt from Terpsicorps’ adaptation of Alice in Wonderland a few years back. It’s not that it was not memorable; it certainly was. But it was maybe a little spectacle heavy for my tastes. Very psychedelic, very flashy. The great fuzzy orange costumes were very showy and cool, but distracted me. I guess whatever I’ve been saying about not over-thinking a dance, I wish this had had more of a resemblance to Lewis Carroll’s story. The G. Craig Hobbs projections were kind of cool, but as usual I thought they mostly distracted from the performers, rather than enhancing the experience of watching them. But what if this had been an opportunity to…I don’t know, let Alice and the Caterpillar recite “You Are Old, Father Williams” in some clever, funky, ballet way? But maybe it worked better as part of the full ballet, and maybe I was just spoiled by the clever, funky, ballet adaptation of the work of Edward Gorey that I had just seen.

Ok, back on track.

To really present the look, much less the spirit, of Edward Gorey on stage seems daunting to the point of hopeless. Fortunately, no one asked me, and the Terpsicorps team delivers a piece that is just about perfect in every conceivable way (except its length, but more on that later). The look of the show is incredible. Conceptualized by Ms. Malloy and Evan Bivins (a versatile performer who plays with Jump Little Children, among others, and provided musical direction for Gorey), every detail was taken into account, but not slavishly adhered to: the show breathes equal parts homage and originality, and is inspired at every turn. The whole thing is done in a stark black and white palate, which fits Mr. Gorey’s dark, crosshatched drawings and delightfully macabre spirit very well indeed. Even the dancers’ faces are exceptionally pale, with darkened eye sockets and the occasional accent of a handlebar moustache.

The costumes (Malloy again, on design, and brought to life by Leslie Lambrecht) are key to this wonderfully expressive black and white scheme, and they could not be more appropriate or delightful. They look old fashioned, even stodgy, but actually help the dancers create a very particular world in which such seeming limitations instead elevate them to astoundingly complex heights. Height actually features heavily in the look of the show, from the almost dangerous-looking stabs of lights by designer Erik McDaniel to the high platform erected at the far upstage end of things, which serves as home for the delightfully odd, dark, and whimsical band, and also allows Edward Gorey himself (Holiday Childress in the requisite full length fur coat and sneakers) to watch/create the action from above when not actively participating in it.

The first image of the evening is also one of the most enduring and exciting: a faithful recreation the figure of Death on the cover of Gorey’s 1963 mini-masterwork The Gashlycrumb Tinies. This top hat-ed, black clad figure with skull face and ominous black umbrella appears from the copious (but not overdone) fog in a delightfully eerie musical stillness, and then the mask and umbrella swoop up into the vast black depths of the air, never to be seen again. Brilliant.

From there, the ballet uses characters from Gorey’s books as well as just a general Gorey influence to introduce a bizarre and wonderful collection of characters including a waifish, jerky and of course doomed ballerina (Sadie Harris), a pair of androgynous and macabre Odd Cousins (Emily Goschall and Christopher Stuart), the mysteriously gloomy Veiled Lady (David Tlaiye), and two children (Jennifer Cavanaugh and Nathan McGinnis) who have a spectacular pas de deux (if I’m using my ballet terms correctly) with an epileptic bicycle. Each of these has spectacular moments of their own, as well as collectively, and that does not even take into account the peculiar ballet instructor (Allison Heryzberg) and her wards (Sarah Margaret Qualley and Emily Williams). Frankly, I cannot even remember all that I liked about the dancers and the piece itself, but it left a powerful and lasting desire for more. It was engaging, highly creative, very theatrical, very fun, and even the most faithful Gorey interpretations were still full of their own originality, life, and surprise.

It was revealed after the performance that there is a possibility of expanding and re-mounting the Gorey piece and the audience cheered the idea wholeheartedly. In the meantime, Malloy is resurrecting her neo-puritan, post-apocalyptic, Appalachian-punk version of The Scarlet Letter in August, and I am already lamenting the sad fact that my work will keep me away from that show.

Heather Malloy and Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance are not only raising but re-imagining the bar for the local performing arts scene. Even if I don’t agree with every choice they make, it is clear that their creativity, intensity, passion, and exceedingly high artistic standards are helping to move the discussion of the performing arts in Asheville to a new level of professionalism. They are not alone in this, but they are among the leaders of the pack, and I’m pleased to say that it is becoming increasingly difficult for some of us to keep up. And there is not much that is more exciting than that.

--Willie Repoley

The Epic of Gilgamesh

2007-07-04T12:54:00.000-04:00

thanks to the C-T, again...
-BG

THEATER REVIEW: 1-man ‘Gilgamesh’ is sparse yet lush
by Jim Cavener, CITIZEN-TIMES CORRESPONDENT
published June 28, 2007 12:15 am

ASHEVILLE — David Novak is simply an exceptional storyteller, and his production of the renowned “Gilgamesh,” at North Carolina Stage Company is well worth seeing. The material is legendary, with elements from early mythology. But, it’s the presentation that distinguishes this tale-well told.

The world’s oldest known novel or ancient piece of quality literature, “Gilgamesh” was regarded as among the greatest literary creations for at least a couple of millennia, then was lost for another two or more millennia before being rediscovered in the 18th century.

Now, Novak is giving the classic a narrative telling in his usual exceptional way. This pared-down “Gilgamesh” is a single-voice piece.

The show features one actor-narrator, 29 bamboo poles in assorted assembly and a few clay shards in three piles across the front of the stage — no costumes or clutter, but discerning use of well-chosen music and light cues. Those light and music cues are especially remarkable given that actor Novak’s work is not scripted, and the technical staff must simply listen carefully and sense when the changes are ripe.

Gilgamesh is a harsh monarch over the city of Uruk, in Babylonia, present-day Iraq. His exploits send him to meet a wild super-masculine figure, Enkidu, who joins the monarch in heroic endeavors leading to a strong emotional relationship between them. Enkidu’s tragic death changes the course of the narrative, sending Gilgamesh into deep despair and ongoing grief.

There are graphic erotic descriptions of sensuality, poetic but pointed and extraordinarily eloquent.

The second half of the story reflects on human immortality. Gilgamesh still mourns for Enkidu. Poetic construct, and awesome meter and cadence, coupled with this moving tale of lost love make for powerful theater.

Great theater needs something to see as well as to hear. Though simple, the choreography of Novak’s body propelled across the stage, coupled with the light and music cues as well as the use of bamboo and reed mats, is varied enough to rivet the attention both of sight and sound.

Jim Cavener writes about theater for the Citizen-Times. E-mail him at JimCavener@aya.Yale.edu.

Bindlestiff Family Cirkus

2007-06-23T18:25:00.000-04:00

Saw a strange little show at Club Hairspray last week: The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus. These guys are on a tour, and have some sort of sponsorship relationship with Magic Hat brewery, but, thankfully, the Magic Hat people don’t seem too interested in censoring the show or even in keeping the quality up, which is actually refreshing. It was billed as part vaudeville, part burlesque, and honestly I don’t know enough about either term to know how closely that matched what they did, but at any rate it was pretty neat stuff.

The show started out with “Mr. Pennygaff” as a silent “hobo” clown, complete with funny nose, big shoes, and balloon animals. And his routine was very good, actually; a charming mix of innocence and innuendo. I kept thinking, “so this is why people go to clown college…cool.” From there, “Philomena,” (a fire-eater in a yellow tutu) took the stage as the MC, walking us through a variety of magic tricks, clown routines, sword swallowing, tightrope walking, and various gimmicks ranging from inspired to inane, all underscored by nifty live organ music by the talented Mr. Frederik Iversen.

For me, the straight up sideshow stuff was sort of cool, but not that enthralling. I mean, the sword swallowing (for example) was good, but not that theatrical, the only story or drama being “gee, this guy could really hurt himself.” It just didn’t hold my attention, generally speaking. The lame jokes and audience participation gimmicks (drink this beer without using your hands, etc.) worked in the context of the show, but the best stuff was all wordless. Neither of the co-MCs (Pennygaff dropped the clown duds in favor of a direct-audience-address huckster suit for Act II) quite had the flair to really tie the show together, and the sort of medicine-show aspects were only serviceably clever, but some of the silent, one-man routines backed by organ were totally spectacular.

This is, of course how the show got started, and although he seemed a little nervous and awkward as an MC, Mr. Pennygaff’s clown routine was an exciting opener, and a pleasant reminder that “clown” does not necessarily equal “boring” or “kid-stuff.” Luckily, I did not have to wait too long for more, courtesy of Joel Baker, who had less stage time over all, but made the most of even his occasional forays onstage to help clean up after an act. He really had both the shtick and the look down pat, in his black ballet slippers, wide-legged gray trousers, white suspenders, and ruffled dark pink shirt. He even powdered on just the right amount of white make up—not so much that he looked like a “Circus Clown,” but enough to draw out the anarchistic and delightful peculiarities of centuries–old camp; he achieved a silent film black-and-white look, only in color. Very neat. His silent wide eyed character was exiting and enthusiastic, always a step or two behind the audience, but never aware of it. He is also something of an acrobat, seeming to specialize in balancing upside-down (and/or sideways!) on a variety of chairs and even a lampshade. His best sequence (and possibly my favorite of the evening) was a simple, classic gag of a person being outsmarted by an inanimate object. In this case, Mr. Baker (accompanied by organ, don’t forget! Makes everything better!) drags over a lamp, sits in a chair next to it, and proceeds to open a book, clearly intending to read. He looks at the audience—perhaps he is going to read aloud to us? As soon as he actually looks at the open pages, of course, the light goes out. Surprised, he looks at the light, which comes back on. He settles in again, looks at the book, and the light goes out, but when he looks back at the light, it… well, ok, so it’s not exactly a surprising routine. But it doesn’t have to be . Baker is such an engaging performer, that his simple, if seemingly supernatural, struggle is riveting and strangely moving.

The other highlight of the show is A.J Silver, the smoldering olive-skinned hunk of the show. He is just as underused as Baker, but he makes such a impression in his two routines that he pretty much steals the show. The first sequence involves him in black leather and rhinestone cowboy getup doing rope tricks. And he’s incredible. He starts a lasso swinging, and never slows down. He swings it around, makes it bigger and smaller, jumps back and fourth though it, jumps up and down through it, I can’t even begin to tell you what all he does, it all happens so quickly and flashily. And he never stops looking at the audience and grinning like, “yeah, it’s cool, right?” With some performers, that could be annoying, but with him, it’s just fun. He ends the number with a delightful and surprisingly PG lower body striptease that finishes up with (attn: No Shamers) a hat trick that beats mine by a mile. Or, well, by 6 to 8 inches, anyway...

His second act, near the end of the evening, is a rhythm trick: he has on high heeled boots and starts two small, dense balls twirling rapidly on the end of long strings, one in each hand. He manages to swing them in circles at his sides so fast and so deftly that they create a reliable and wonderfully versatile pattern of loud clacking when he lets them brush the floor. He fills in around the clacking with the tapping of his boots, so that he is doing this graceful and wild stomping dance that is making more noise than should be possible, even with tap shoes (which he does not have). It’s a wonderfully exciting and unbelievable feat of deceptive simplicity and grace. Yeah, it’s just a side show trick, but it’s a loud, fast, and exciting side show trick! And he even manages syncopation! Woo-hoo!

One thing, though, is that the women got a bit shafted. Sure Philomena got to do fire tricks, but like sword swallowing, it’s got limited appeal, at least for me. And she’s a good MC, but maybe doesn’t find quite the right line between modern and vintage. As for Ariele, the last of the performers, she mainly serves as the cheery assistant in a leotard (which looks modernly out of place) except for a trip out to the courtyard to see her perform on a tightrope. And she’s excellent, doing a variety of jumps and stunts, and even managing an incredible split on the rope before the routine ends, but as talented as she is, it’s just not as showy as lasso tricks and loud noises, nor as theatrical as trying to read by an uncooperative light. Plus, she had to make do with canned music.

But it left me wondering if maybe the cannon of vaudeville performers is so skewed towards the men, that the women have trouble fitting in and building their own routines that do not rely as heavily on male stereotypes. I mean, when I think of great silent clowns, I think of men: Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, right? Were vaudeville women exclusively either in need of rescue or bearded? I have no idea, honestly. I’ve never seen them, but from what I’ve heard, The Rebelles have certainly found a feminine way to take the stage in a vaudeville-esqe sort of way. So I’m not sure why the Bindlestiff Family seemed so male-centric, but it did. At least to me. Well, I guess it was because the guys got all the best material! Whether by choice, or by accident, I don’t know, and would be interested to find out.

All in all, though, I was very glad someone talked me into giving this show a try. It had charm, some wit, great music, and most of all, reminded me how simple and pure great comedy can be.

But next time, how about a little more of the quiet fellow and the dude in the cowboy hat, eh…?

--Willie Repoley

Chesapeake

2007-05-14T15:20:00.000-04:00

Hi-- here's another C-T review. You can find the original at http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200770510094
thanks.
--editor

Provocative play ‘Chesapeake’ wins with outrageous humor
by Tony Kiss, Tkiss@CITIZEN-TIMES.com
published May 11, 2007 12:15 am

ASHEVILE — North Carolina Stage Company finishes its fifth season with the biting political comedy “Chesapeake,” the story of a conservative Southern senator, a wild performance artist, and the lawmaker’s dog, which comes between them.

Except for the pooch, the show recalls the 1993 clash between controversial performance artist Karen Finley and the former U.S. Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina.

But wild as Finley is, “Chesapeake” playwright Lee Blessing goes way beyond reality in this witty piece. It’s a one-man show, delivered with exceptional skill by Charlie McIver, directed by his wife Angie Flynn-McIver, both co-founders of N.C. Stage. The language and subject matter can be adult in nature, but it’s performed with outrageous humor — humor that clicked on opening night, with McIver rightly earning a standing ovation and a couple of curtain calls.

He plays the role of Kerr, an artful eccentric who has received a National Endowment for the Arts grant for his “show,” which consists of having audience members come on stage, and remove pieces of his clothing, one at a time until he stands naked before them. None of this is actually performed at N.C. Stage, but is part of Kerr’s dialogue.

Kerr’s performance, and the grant, earns him the wrath of fictional U.S. Rep. Therm Pooley, whose condemnation of the piece basically gets him elected to the Senate. Kerr then vows revenge against Pooley, and turns his wrath against the man’s dog, a Chesapeake Bay retriever.

That’s as far as we’ll go with the story line, except to say that Kerr’s plot goes horribly out of control, and leads to a transformation of everyone involved.

With no one to share the dialogue, and little in the way of props or staging (except for a rear projection screen), McIver caries the load alone, reeling off this monologue, mostly in the role of Kerr, but sometimes as Pooley or the dog. It’s a masterful bit of acting, showing again that he is among the top players on the local scene.