Existential THE RIVER runs slowly, but is thought-provoking

In the late 1950’s through the 1980s The Theatre of the Absurd theatrical movement was the intellectual rage.  Based on the concept of Existentialism which asks, “what happens when human existence lacks meaning or purpose and communication breaks down.”  The structure of the plays often centered on the finishing point,, being the same as the starting point with the ultimate conclusion being silence.
 
Playwrights of the era included Samuel Becket, Eugene Ionesco and Edward Albee. Their plays have a common denominator — the "absurd", a word that Ionesco defined as " that which has not purpose, or goal, or objective."  Albert Camus describes the purpose of that era’s plays to illustrate that “the human situation as meaningless and absurd.”
 
Probably the most memorable works of that era were WAITING FOR GODOT and WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRIGINIA WOLF?
 
Though Jez Butterworth is not of that age or era, his play THE RIVER is the ilk of those times in structure and message.  It is haunting, dark, often off-putting for a lack of clear purpose, and circular in charting a curved line from beginning to end.   
 
There is a mystery throughout the show that we continue to think about, but, in fairness to potential theatre-goers, is not fair to reveal.
 
What can be revealed?  It’s an eerie tale and a borderline ghost story that also feels firmly grounded in a familiar reality.  
 
The setting is a small Minnesota cottage on a river.   A small wooden table and several chairs sit in the center, a fully stocked kitchen, a cooler, a library nook, and an oven complete the space.  
 
“The plot concerns the main character of The Man as he brings his girlfriend, The Woman, to his family’s cabin.  As the sun sets, there is much that happens in this cabin—things that will happen and have already happened, as time begins to fold into itself. This eeriness might be jarring in the early going, but impeccable acting and strong directing truly make The River feel human even in its strangest moments.”
 
As previous reviews say of the play, “The greatest attribute of THE RIVER is it’s a somber conjuring to the idea of memory and thoughts of the bygone past.”  
 
Also, “The River is one of the better plays about love. Not love as manifested in a relationship with a plot so much as just that big, unwieldy emotion of love itself--the need, the desire, the ache, the way one willingly deludes oneself into thinking you can ever fully escape your romantic past and not have it somehow taint your relationships in the present.”  
 
As well as, “I spent much of this play trying to figure out what was happening, but in a good way. The kind of figuring out that keeps you completely engrossed and on the edge of your seat to see what happens next.”
 
The Ensemble production is well conceived by director Ian Wolfgang Hintz.  The presentation, performed on a runway stage with the audience seated on both sides, which allows for an interactive intimacy as the audience members share the stage with those on the other side of the stage, thus making for a shared intimacy.
 
The acting is totally natural, which each performance being of a real, fleshed out person.  No acting by Dan Zalensky (The Man), Becca Moseley (The Woman), Laura Rauh (The Other Woman) and Laurel Hoffman (Another Woman), just being.  Being to the degree that the audience is sucked into the happening, the reality.  
 
It’s so real that one can’t avoid being involved in the decapitation of a fish…complete with the head and entrails removed as a meal is prepared. Sounds gross…it isn’t.  It is just part of the required reality.
 
Is this a murder mystery?  Is it an analogy of fishing? Is it a study of relationships and loneliness?  Is it a statement of the meaning or life?   Is it???.
 
Capsule judgment:  THE RIVER is not a play for everyone.  Go if you love theatre which is well directed and acted; but, as with most absurdist plays, it doesn’t render a solution.  It is a play that, even after you leave, doesn’t let you go.  
 
THE RIVER runs through March 5, 2023 at Ensemble Theatre located in the Performing Arts Center of Notre Dame College, 4545 College Road, South Euclid. For tickets call 216-321-2930 or go to www.ensembletheatrecle.org

Totally delightful SENSE AND SENSIBILITY is farce-perfect at GLT

 

Kate Hamill has written the play version of Jane Austen’s 1811 novel, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, with a keen ear to the language and attitudes of the day, but with an addition of humor, not present in the original Austen work.
 
As was true of Austen and her co-writer of the Regency time-period writers, they developed their publications to reflect the lack of independence for women.  The major theme was that the financial future of women was solely dependent on the economic status of their fathers or husbands. They could own no property and the class system, purely based on economics, put each woman in their slot.  No money, no respect!
 
The playful new adaptation of Jane Austen’s beloved novel follows the fortunes (and misfortunes) of the Dashwood sisters after their father’s sudden death leaves them financially destitute and socially vulnerable. 
 
Set in gossipy late 18th-century England, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY examines reactions, both reasonable and ridiculous, to societal pressures. An unfair situation where reputation is everything, yet each woman was unable to control her narrative.
 
Hamill’s play premiered off-Broadway in 2014.  It was met with critical praise, with such comments including “an unconditional delight,” “invigorating” and, “perhaps the greatest stage adaptation of this novel in history.”
 
Does the GLT’s reach the levels of the off-Broadway production?  Absolutely!  It is one of the best productions that theatre has staged! 
 
The purpose of the overture to a musical is to set the expectations and mood of the audience for what is to come.  In the case of the farcical SENSE AND SENSIBILTY, Courtney O’Neill’s whimsical set serves the same purpose.
 
The cartoonish drawings that cover the white walls scream “fun” and fun is exactly what the creative combined directing of Sara Bruner and Jacklyn Miller garners.  
 
Paul James Prendergast’s music and Mieka van der Ploeg’s costumes add to the purposeful whimsiness.
 
Farce is one of the hardest forms of theatre to stage.  Most times directors don’t know how to develop the ideas and not play funny just to play funny.  The actors tend to “ham” it up, overdoing, not fulfilling the purpose of sticking to the author’s intent and purpose.  Instead, they play for laughs, losing the play’s theme.  
 
That is not the case with Bruner and Mille’s direction. (Hurray!)  And, this a cast who knows exactly how to play farce… realistic yet exaggerated, not losing the play’s purpose by being outrageously funny, for the sake of getting laughs. (Bravo!)
 
The cast of eight, play 17 roles. This is accomplished by having all but two cast members play multiple parts, along with some very clever costuming and voice and accent changes.
 
Maggie Kettering develops an Elinor Dashwood, the eldest of the sisters, as an intelligent, sensible, practical, kind and reserved and self-contained young lady.  In contrast, Angela Utrera creates a Marianne who embraces spontaneity, and romantic idealism.  She is the emotional sister while Elinor is the logical one. 
 
They each nail the persona of the woman who Auston created!
 
The rest of the cast:  Joe Wegner, Hanako Walrath, Vima Silva, Nick Steen, Laura Welsh Berg, and M.A. Taylor are excellent in each of their roles.  They work as a well-oiled machine to create a cohesive production.
 
Capsule judgment:  SENSE AND SENSIBILTY is a delight!  The well-directed cast, supported by the purposeful technical aspects of the production, not only makes this a wonderful theatrical purpose, but creates a staging that has to rank with the best shows Great Lakes Theatre has created.  This is one show that actually deserves the curtain call that the show is nightly getting.
Bravo!!  

SENSE AND SENSIBILTY runs at the Hanna Theatre until March 5, 2023.  Tickets can be obtained by For tickets https://www.greatlakestheater.org/or call (216) 241-6000

Performances, singing and dancing eclipse script and score in BW/Beck’s GHOST the musical

There is an adage in the theatre world that “one should not come out of a musical whistling sets and costumes.”  In other words, the important aspects of a musical are the book (story) and the lyrics and music, not the production aspects.  

 

In spite of these sage words, after seeing GHOST, The Musical on Broadway, though I was under-whelmed by the shallow book and the lack of memorable music, my review of the show waxed eloquently about the production qualities, especially the effects which resulted from the electronic projections, which allowed for actors to run through walls and appear to be suspended in space.

 

Though not as visually spectacular as the New York production, the sleek BW/Beck set by Jordan Janota and lighting design by Russ Borski do much to support the superlative BW cast.  But before we get into the performances and staging…

GHOST is a musical, based on the hit 1990 film of the same name, with book and lyrics by Bruce Joel Rubin and music and lyrics by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard. The stage version opened in Manchester, England in March of 2011, ran on the West End and was transferred to Broadway in 2012, where it ran a brief 136 performances. 

The musical starts when New York banker, Sam Wheat, and his long-time girlfriend, sculptor, Molly Jensen, move into a loft apartment in Brooklyn, aided by Sam’s co-worker Carl Brunner.  

Sam and Molly are in love. Sam, however, shies away from articulating the “L” word.  In what is an important plot development foreshadowing, he assures Molly that he doesn't say it in so many words because he prefers to, “say it through his actions.” 

At work, Sam notices some discrepancies with several bank accounts.  He shares his discoveries with Carl.  (Shout out:  Major plot clue).

After a night out, as they return to their apartment, Sam and Molly are confronted by an armed man who tries to steal Sam's wallet. Sam fights back instead of surrendering.  They struggle for the holdup man’s gun. It goes off.  Sam is fatally shot.  (Another plot advancer.)

We quickly find out that Sam is caught in the netherworld (Eww!) and the hold-up was orchestrated by Carl. He needs to warn Molly that she is in danger. He turns to Oda Mae, a fake clairvoyant, to help him. (The writer needed to both get some humor into the plot and incorporate in an off-beat character.)

Molly gets a visit from Oda Mae, but Molly is hesitant to believe what she is being told, until Oda Mae starts parroting things that only Sam would know. (Including that he had trouble saying “I love you, “which I told you about a couple of paragraphs ago.) Thus, we have all the elements of exposition to allow the audience to be taken on a fantasy journey where love conquers all. 

 

The BW/Beck production, under the directing of Victoria Bussert, is creatively staged.  Lauren Tidmore’s choreography has the perfect amount of pizzaz, and Matthew Webb’s seven-piece orchestra hits all the right notes.  

 

The cast is outstanding.  Bussert, in choosing the students to be in her Musical Theatre program, usually has a couple of “stud” guys who are not only visual gym-toned eye-candy, but can sing, act and dance.  Mark Doyle (Sam) and Mike Bindeman (Carl) are in BWs ready for Broadway pipe-line.  

 

Doyle, who has been seen locally in MAMMA MIA!, THE LIGHTNING THIEF, THE SOUND OF MUSIC, CHRISTMAS CAROL and SPRING AWAKENING, is a graduating senior.  He has a strong voice, good acting chops and a nice stage presence.  He, and adorable and talented Jessi Kirtley (Molly) play-off each other well.  Their duets, “Here Right Now” and “Three Little Words,” are show highlights.

 

Bindeman, another BW graduating senior, also showcases strong singing chops and is properly snarky as the manipulating Carl.  Versatile Danny BÓ fascinates as Subway Ghost.  

 

Colleen Longshaw, who has trod the stage at every local professional theatre, and been seen in national tours and on Broadway, steals the show as the outrageous Oda Mae Brown.  

 

Capsule judgment:  GHOST THE MUSICAL has a weak book and non-memorable music, but it is worth seeing to appreciate its wonderful singing, dynamic dancing, fine acting and creative staging!   Go! See! Enjoy!

GHOST, which has a runtime of 2 hours 15 minutes runs through FEBRUARY 26, 2023.  For tickets go to https://www.beckcenter.org/shows/ghost

STEW

 

Well prepared and seasoned STEW is a must see at Dobama

 
Roy Berko
(Member: Cleveland Critics Circle, American Theatre Critics Association
 
According to Nathan Motto, Dobama’s Artistic Director, the recipe for a great play are well-developed characters, circumstances that incite reaction, environments are ripe for action/reaction, strong dialogue and balanced elements.
 
Motto believes that STEW, a 2021 Pulitzer Prize Finalist, which is now on stage at Dobama, Cleveland’s off-Broadway theatre, is a “fantastic play that has all the fixings for a great feast.”  He explains his reasoning: “As we act as a fly on the wall, we get to know these women [the five members of the African American Tucker family] who tease, prod, instruct and question each other, we experience their family dynamics and watch as closely guarded secrets are brought to light.”
 
What’s it all about? “The Tucker women are up early to prepare an important meal, or at least that’s what Mama says. As the day wears on, tensions simmer inside and around Mama’s kitchen.”  Tensions which include teen pregnancy, potential abortion, marriage infidelity, divorce, random gunfire, spats over recipes, family traditions and are summarized by Mama’s mantra, “Shit. Damn! Fuck.”
 
Motto is not alone in his positive beliefs about the play.  Reviewers from other productions of this script have commented, “A powerful play about a family with all its foibles and love.” “If it was a tv show you would want season 2 to get picked up pronto!." “Is an excellent script that shares the pure truth of how each individual's life struggle can affect the family structure.” 
 
What is the meaning of title?  “This play is indeed a stew, the actors & plotlines mimicking the layering that the family matriarch sees as essential to her delicious culinary creation. The metaphors for motherhood, daughterhood, family and love are meaningful. Each woman contributes a different taste or element to the familial stew and each brings it to a boil at some point."
 
The Dobama production, 90 minutes with no intermission, is compelling.  The staging is guided by creative director/composer Nina Domingue, a Black woman, cultural memory worker and intimacy advocate, who banners herself as a griot (“a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, and/or musician.”)
 
The cast, headed by Christina Johnson (Mama), who is holding on to life by a thread, is spot on in their character development as the matriarch whose family teeters on the edge of destruction.  How do you guide a group of head-strong females who seem to act on pure emotion, and no logic?  “Whenever Mama takes a brief moment away from her cooking and does not personally tend to the pot, the stew gets burnt or ruined in some way, much to her frequent upset. And then she has to turn around and start another batch.”  
 
Nicole Sumlin (Lillian, the oldest daughter), who appears at the opening of the play to be living a functional life, unravels as she shares that her marriage is over and she did not come to Mamma’s, with her two children to visit, but to return to in order to survive.  Hers is well-nuanced performance.
 
Adrionna Powell (Nelly, Lillian’s sister) presents a conflicted teenager who wants to be independent, treated as an adult, but who is now pregnant and facing life with the consequences of deciding whether to abort the child, or be a teen mother.  Powell nicely develops the character.
 
Logan Door Williams (Lil’ Mamma, Lillian’s tween daughter), the youngest of the Tucker females, finds herself caught in the midst of on-going family angst.  This youngster nicely develops her role.
 
Laura Carlson-Tarantowski’s realistic and functional kitchen set design enhances the production.  Megan Culley’s well-presented sound effects, is one of the play’s developmental fulcrums.
 
CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:  A must see production that lives and breathes with an undeniable passion and earnestness.  The ending of the play is both shocking and unexpected.  Don’t be surprised if the effect lingers in your mind as the full Impact hits!   
 
STEW runs through February 19 at Dobama, 2340 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights.  For tickets go to https: www.dobama.org/tickets-index
 
Next up at Dobama:  THE OTHER PLACE, March 10-April 2.  Juliana is fifty-two years old and a brilliant drug-company scientist. She is giving a speech to a neurological convention. As she speaks we cut away to scenes with her doctor, phone calls from her estranged daughter, and arguments with her husband who may or may not be divorcing her. Through it all she constantly refers to "the other place", a cottage on Cape Cod that the family once owned, and a place where Juliana feels she may reunite with her missing daughter and find some peace of mind.

HADESTOWN impressively directed, conceived and performed, but may confound some

 

When HADESTOWN, opened on Broadway on April 17, 2019, it was met with critical acclaim.  Reviews contained such terms as “inventive,” “gorgeous, “hypnotic,” “high energy,” “utterly fabulous” and “immersive.”  The critics went gaga over the quality of the singing, the scenery, the special effects, the choreography and the fine acting.  

The Big Apple production had 14 Tony nominations, winning eight of them including Best Musical and Best Original Score.  

Does the touring show, which is now on stage at the Conner Palace as part of the Key Bank Broadway series, gender similar high praise?  Absolutely yes!  

Should anything stop you from getting tickets?  

Before telling Siri to dial the box office at Playhouse Square or call your neighbor to talk them out of their subscription tickets, you might consider the words of the lovely lady sitting next to me on opening night, who asked at intermission, “What is this about?”  Or, the woman on the other side who said, “I loved what I saw and heard, but, since this supposedly is one of the contemporary messaged musical dramas, “Why am I not aware of the moral or the theme(s)?”

HADESTOWN is a folk opera (all songs and no dialogue) which is a twist of a classic Greek myth composed of two intertwining love stories — that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and his wife Persephone.  It takes the audience on an epic journey to the underworld and back. In the process it “pits nature against industry, faith against doubt, and love against fear.”  

 

It exposes Hadestown, an industry-based world of mindless labor, filled with absence and doubt, the dynamics of power and the never-ending tasks, and how those elements shape and control a person. 

 

The haunting classic folk music and poetic lyrics pit nature against industry, faith against doubt, and love against death.

 

The show’s opening (no overture to establish a mind-set for your viewing) is the song of “Road to Hell,” which, as all good expositions do, introduces the characters and setting.  “Any Way the Wind Blows” sets the mood and the images, followed by “Come Home With Me,” which foreshadows the conflicts which will follow.  

 

And, so, we are off on an epic adventure, which exposes the contemporary issues of climate, “Trump’s” wall, collective bargaining, class politics and social critique.  

 

As a social commentator said of the work, "It is a musical both about how art can save us and how, especially in an apocalyptic world, hope might be the only thing we have left."

 

In the pattern of the newish trend of musical dramas, whose era started around 2000 with RENT and has featured such powerful audience engulfing shows as NEXT TO NORMAL, SPRING AWAKENING, THE BAND’S VISIT, CAROLINE OR CHANGE, TITLE OF SHOW, DEAR EVAN HANSEN, FUN HOME, and HAMILTON, HADESTOWN is serious in tone, but more abstract than those of a similar classification.  It isn’t crystal clear on its purpose, though it follows the pattern of substance over pizzaz, a serious story over fantasy or entertainment.  It just takes more mental digging to expose the concept of a “song can change your fate.” 

 

The touring production is about as well-directed, conceived and performed as anything you will see.  

 

The cast all have strong singing voices and well-developed acting chops.  Nathan Lee Graham compels as Hermes.   He controls the stage whenever he appears, whether speaking, singing, moving, or just standing, he is the center of the action.  

 

Hannah Whitley (Eurydice) and Chibueze Ihuoma (Orpheus) are wonderful as the young lovers.  Brit West (Persephone) and Matthew Patrick Quinn (King Hades) spare and spark with effectiveness.

 

The funky orchestra, which features the uninhibited Emily Fredrickson (trombone/glockenspiel) is a fine addition to the goings on.

Local theatre-goers may find themselves aware that there is a home-grown on stage.  CLE native and Baldwin Wallace University grad Nyla Watson plays one of story's three Fates who reveal the main characters' thoughts to the audience.  Watson has previously toured with WAITRESS, WICKED and THE COLOR PURPLE. However, this is her first time performing with a national tour in Cleveland.

Victoria Bussert, head of BW’s Music Theatre program says of Nyla, “she is one of the most passionate, determined students I’ve ever had at BW.  She has always made it a point to check in on the current students as well as connect with alumni around the country when she does national tours.”

Capsule judgment:  Anais Mitchell’s music, lyric and book are impressive, if not always clear as to purpose.  You will not walk out of the theatre whistling or humming any of the songs.  It is doubtful that you will remember any of the lyrics.  What you will remember are the outstanding performances and the innovative directing of Rachel Chavkin and choreography of David Neumann.  This is a must see for theater-goers who appreciate the craft of theater!

HADESTOWN runs through February 19 at the Connor Palace.  For tickets:  https://www.playhousesquare.org/ or call 216-241-6000.