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Presenter: Joy Jackson ART Crumbs at Christmas ART’s spoof of the Chipmonk Song Crumbs at Midnight:Fanciful tale of horror, based on a short story by David Templeton. Who could possibly dread Christmas Eve…and why? Starring Gregg Porter, and Bob Perks Adapted by Gregg Porter ORIGINAL 2010 SCIENCE FICTION HORROR CHRISTMAS 16:14 Bing Crosby 44-05-10
This story was written by David Templeton for the July-August 2024 issue of Strings magazine and is read by editor Megan Westberg.As a performer who often shares the statement, “We are magical creatures,” the notion of a Cirque du Soleil show built around her brand of inspirational pop grandeur—perhaps with actual magical creatures in it—seems like a bit of a no-brainer.“Right?” she says. “It has to happen.”Support the show
This story was written by David Templeton for the May-June 2024 issue of Strings magazine and is read by editor Megan Westberg.It's shaping up to be a major milestone year for violinist Philippe Quint. The Russian-born musician turned 50 in March, right around the time he celebrated the 30th anniversary of his professional United States debut. More than 33 years after defecting to the United States from Leningrad, the two-time Grammy nominee has given hundreds of live performances and produced more than 15 albums, including the acclaimed Chaplin's Smile (2019) and Korngold: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35 (2009).Support the Show.
This story was written by David Templeton for the March-April 2024 issue of Strings magazine and is read by Megan Westberg, Editor. “I would try to figure out which composer it was all on my own,” Grammy-nominated violinist-composer Curtis Stewart says, speaking from his apartment in New York. “But the real reason I would do that, close my ears when the DJ was talking, is that I'd realized, early on, that knowing ahead of time if I was listening to Tchaikovsky or Bach or whoever would change how I listened to it. It changes the feeling you have. It changes the sense of exploration.”
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 21, 2024 is: scurrilous • SKUR-uh-lus • adjective Scurrilous is a formal adjective that most often describes language that contains obscenities, abuse, or, especially, slander—that is, a false statement that damages a person's reputation. Scurrilous can also describe someone who uses or tends to use scurrilous language, or it can describe a person or thing as evil or vulgar. // The press secretary made a point at the briefing not to address the scurrilous rumors surrounding the senator. See the entry > Examples: “There are many interesting and surprising details about ‘Jingle Bells' known to few of the millions of people who happily sing the beloved song every December. For one, its author—a somewhat scurrilous fellow named James Lord Pierpont—was the uncle of the legendary Gilded Age banker J.P. Morgan (the P. is for Pierpont), who reportedly thought little of his songwriting relative, once calling him ‘Good for nothing.'” — David Templeton, The Argus-Courier (Petaluma, California), 18 Dec. 2023 Did you know? Scurrilous (and its much rarer relation scurrile, which has the same meaning) comes from the Middle French word scurrile, which comes ultimately from the Latin noun scurra, meaning “buffoon” or “jester.” Fittingly, 18th-century lexicographer Samuel Johnson defined scurrilous as “using such language as only the licence of a buffoon could warrant.” Qualities traditionally associated with buffoonery—vulgarity, irreverence, and indecorousness—are qualities often invoked by the word scurrilous. Unlike the words of a jester, however, “scurrilous” language of the present day more often intends to seriously harm or slander someone than to produce a few laughs.
Former Hearts and Rangers winger, Davids Templeton joins us this week! It's been a lively weekend in the SPFL Scottish Premiership with Celtic dropping points at Pittodrie after a troublesome week at the club as Rangers close in on their rivals at the top of the table. The lads also discuss Neil Warnock's arrival at Aberdeen! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Former Hearts and Rangers winger, Davids Templeton joins us this week! It's been a lively weekend in the SPFL Scottish Premiership with Celtic dropping points at Pittodrie after a troublesome week at the club as Rangers close in on their rivals at the top of the table. The lads also discuss Neil Warnock's arrival at Aberdeen! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Scott Bradley is joined by former Hearts and Rangers player David Templeton. They discuss David's early days at Stenny, his move to Hearts, his bizarre conversation with Romanov, that iconic goal against Liverpool, his time at Rangers, and retiring from professional football at 32, all this and so much more!
Petaluma Argus-Courier writer David Templeton recalls his chat with comedian Tom Smothers in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County back in 1999. Hear a bit of their conversation recorded at Third Street Aleworks.
We talk emergency medicine today with Dr. Andrew Wilson and Dr. David Templeton from Nuvance Health.
Happy Holidays! This month's radio play is an excerpt from David Templeton's Polar Bears, an exploration of the lengths we go to to keep the spirit of Christmas alive, voiced by Chris Carlson.David Templeton is an award-winning playwright whose play “Galatea” one the 2022 Steinberg/American Theater Critics Association New Play Citation. “Polar Bears” was first staged in 2015 at Main Stage West theater in Sebastopol, California. Find out more about his work and his plays at DavidTempletonPlaywright.com. Chris Carlson is the artistic director of Brooklyn Players. Happy Holidays and see you in 2023!If you like this podcast be sure to subscribe and rate us! If you do email vintageoldbiddy@gmail.com and we will send you a nifty sticker! If you are able and willing to financially support my work please check out my Patreon and Tip Jar.
This week, Stefanie Evens Stewart joins us to talk about G.O. Center plays, show choir trips, and physics with David Templeton. She shares about her time in veterinary school at Virginia Tech and her path to becoming Dr. Stefanie Stewart, DVM. Next time you run into Stefanie, ask her about the fish pond in her living room!
Wingers and Divers, Overindulging, The Name Game, Coronavirus and Scottish Football & The Desert XI with David Templeton & Jason Leitch
Hamilton midfielder David Templeton joins Stephen, Grado & Chris to talk through his career at the likes of Stenhousemuir, Hearts and Rangers Hear what it was like to face Pep's Man City side, what lead to his transfer from Hearts to Rangers and why Vladimir Romanov kept stealing his football boots. It's Grado's turn on the Legends Lottery and there is a shock revelation! Plus strangest bets you've made on the big question, talking over Rangers league reconstruction proposal and there's a lot of chat about Take the High Road! Football Daft Episode 47 is here, blow the whistle! Remember to rate, review & subscribe on Apple or wherever you get your podcasts and get your own merch shop.spreadshirt.co.uk/footballdaft
Burton Albion winger David Templeton joins us to look back on his days in Scotland with us we go back to where it all started with Stenhousemuir straight through to becoming a fans favourite at Hearts, to scoring at Anfield and then making the trip West to join Rangers. David tells us all about the big characters he’s worked with over the years including Jim Jeffries, Kevin Kyle and Ally McCoist as well as touching on the recent struggles of avoiding early retirement while coming through a frustrating lengthy injury period on the sidelines.
Burton Albion winger David Templeton joins us to look back on his days in Scotland with us we go back to where it all started with Stenhousemuir straight through to becoming a fans favourite at Hearts, to scoring at Anfield and then making the trip West to join Rangers. David tells us all about the big characters he’s worked with over the years including Jim Jeffries, Kevin Kyle and Ally McCoist as well as touching on the recent struggles of avoiding early retirement while coming through a frustrating lengthy injury period on the sidelines.
One-person shows with a holiday theme tend to skew toward the male variety, whether it’s a show about a disgruntled department store Christmas elf (David Sedaris’s Santaland Diaries) or a single dad desperate to maintain the fiction of Santa Claus with his children (David Templeton’s Polar Bears). Even Dickens’s classic A Christmas Carol has been reduced to a one-man show with Scrooge. Playwright Ginna Hoben’s the 12 Dates of Christmas is a rare female-centric holiday themed show that, despite its title, has little to do with the holiday and more to do with a one woman’s experience in the dating world. It runs at Santa Rosa’s 6th Street Playhouse through January 6. Mary (Jess Headington), a thirty-something actress in New York, is getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving with her fiancé when he calls to beg off due to food poisoning. She’s watching the Macy’s Parade on television, when what to her wondering eyes do appear but said fiancé nibbling on his co-worker’s ear. No sooner is the engagement ring dropped in a Salvation Army kettle when Mary begins her own parade - of dates. We skip from holiday to holiday and follow her through a year of family set-ups, chance meetings and the occasional hook-up. Each date is represented by an ornament Mary hangs on her Christmas tree. There’s a doctor who’s too good to be true, a bartender who forces Mary to break one of her personal rules (never date anyone with an ass smaller than your own), a stalker, a guy who offers her a steady job, a co-worker, an old friend, and even the ex-fiancé. Some dates are better than others. She turns down a guy who calls back. She waits for a call from a guy who never does. A year later, she’s still single, but seems content with her choices and has moved on, continuing to build her life, whether there’s another person in it or not. Headington is a talented performer and engages the audience from the get-go. Her Mary is a fully-formed character, neither perfect nor a walking disaster. She owns her choices, recognizes the bad ones she makes, revels in the good ones, and keeps plowing forward through the ups-and-downs of dating with her sense of humor intact. Mary is not the only character to take the stage, as Headington takes on the roles of her mother, her busy-body aunt, her perfect sister, her various dates and about a half-dozen other characters who enter the scene. She does a good job making each character distinctive and recognizable, either through vocal choice or physicality. Director Juliet Noonan keeps Mary on the move and brings the show in at about 90 minutes with an intermission. She utilizes the entire black box space and even has Mary come into the audience. Headington’s goodwill prevents these moments from becoming too intrusive. The closing moments of both acts need to be defined a bit more, though. It’s never good when an audience isn’t sure whether a show is over or not. The dating world is often a fertile field for comedy. Headington and the 12 Dates of Christmas do a pretty good job of harvesting that field for good-natured laughs. 'The 12 Dates of Christmas' runs through January 6th at the 6th Street Playhouse Studio Theatre in Santa Rosa. Friday and Saturday evening performances are at 7:30pm; the Sunday matinee is at 2pm. There’s one Saturday matinee on December 29th and a Thursday evening performance on January 3rd. For more information, go to 6thstreetplayhouse.com.
When after sixteen years David Templeton hung up his theater critic’s hat, his stated purpose was to turn his full attention to other pursuits: artistic, journalistic, theatrical and otherwise. Since then, he continues to write, has a full-time gig as the Community Editor at the Petaluma Argus-Courier, and took a featured role in Left Edge Theatre’s pole dancing extravaganza The Naked Truth. An “otherwise” pursuit for Templeton would be directing, and he’s about to do just that with his holiday-themed one-man show Polar Bears, opening November 30 at San Rafael’s Belrose Theater. Templeton describes Polar Bears as “a heartwarming holiday tragedy.” Say Again? “I wrote it,” said Templeton, “because I've read scads of stories about Christmas and families and Santa Claus, but never have I read any story about that unique passage of childhood, and parenthood, that is the moment that kids stop believing, and the ways their parents help or hinder that rite of passage.” It’s an autobiographical tale of an average father who finds himself a bit in-over-his-head one holiday season and goes to increasingly outlandish lengths to keep his kids' belief in Santa alive. It seems his own faith in Santa was disrupted when he was four-years-old and he's hellbent on making sure that doesn't happen to his kids. Polar Bears had two successful productions in Sonoma County with Templeton under the direction of Sheri Lee Miller. For the this production, Templeton takes over the directing reins and has cast actor Chris Schloemp in the role of David Templeton. Sound strange? “I’m actually not thinking of it as Chris playing ME,” said Templeton, “he’s playing a character named David, who did some things I did, but I told him from the beginning to think of David as a fictional character. He’s constantly surprising me with new things, and I love it.” What’s it like for an actor to be directed by his ‘character’? “Being directed by the guy you’re performing and who’s also the writer is a little intimidating”, said Schloemp, “but also very rewarding in that, in any play, there are always those nagging questions you want to ask. Here I get to ask them at every rehearsal. David’s been very insistent that I am not playing him, so I have free rein.” So, in a season full of Nutcrackers and Christmas Carols, where does Polar Bears fit in? “I think anyone who loves Christmas stories but has grown tired of the same old cloying, overly sentimental holiday stories will appreciate it”, said Templeton. “That was the intention, and based on audience reactions in the past, I think we’ve succeeded.” ‘Polar Bears’ opens November 30 and runs through December 15 at the Belrose Theater in San Rafael. There are Friday and Saturday evening performances at 7:30pm. For more information, go to thebelrose.com There will be one performance in Santa Rosa at 7:00pm on December 23 at Left Edge Theatre at the Luther Burbank Center. For more information, go to leftedgetheate.com
If you’re trying to avoid attending the umpteenth production of The Nutcracker in your lifetime, Marin theatre companies are providing several other entertainment options for this holiday season. Last year, the Marin Theatre Company (marintheatre.org) was one of the participants in the rolling world premiere of Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon’s Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley. The continuation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was a smashing success, so it’s no surprise that Gunderson and Melcon have returned to the material and created a companion piece entitled The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley. While Miss Bennet dealt with the folks celebrating Christmas ‘upstairs’ at the manor, The Wickhams is more of a ‘downstairs’ piece focusing on the estate’s staff as they deal with an unwelcome visitor and a potential holiday disaster. Megan Sandberg-Zakian directs the show which will no doubt be colorfully costumed and impressively designed. The College of Marin Performing Arts Department (pa.marin.edu) will be presenting the musical comedy Nuncrackers in their Kentfield campus’s studio theater. Yes, it’s a Nunsense Christmas musical. Creator Dan Goggins’s Little Sisters of Hoboken return to stage a Christmas special in their new basement cable access TV studio to raise funds for the Mount Saint Helens School. The nuns will be singing songs like “The Twelve Days Prior to Christmas” and “Santa Ain’t Comin’ to Our House”, dancing in their habits, and handing out fruit cake. I think Sister Amnesia makes a return appearance, but I can’t remember. Actors Basement is staging PacSun contributor David Templeton’s one-man holiday show Polar Bears at The Belrose (thebelrose.com) in San Rafael. It’s the autobiographical tale of a father’s attempt to keep his children’s belief in Santa Claus alive way past the point most others do. Templeton has performed the piece in Sonoma County several times in the past few years. For this Marin production of his “heartwarming holiday tragedy”, Templeton moves into the director’s chair and turns over the performance duties to actor Chris Schloemp. The Ross Valley Players (rossvalleyplayers.com) are giving audiences the chance to completely forget about the holiday season with their production of The Odd Couple. The Neil Simon classic comedy about a mismatched pair of middle-aged roommates that’s been a proven laugh-getter since it’s 1965 Broadway premiere. For those willing to travel and in the mood for a big holiday musical extravaganza, the Transcendence Theatre Company (transcendencetheatre.org) will be presenting their Broadway Holiday Spectacular with three performances up at Santa Rosa’s Luther Burbank Center and two performances out at the Lincoln Theatre in Yountville. There’s nary a Sugar Plum Fairy in sight on these North Bay stages. You can find links to all these shows and more on the calendar page of the North Bay Stage and Screen web site at northbaystageandscreen.com
With September come football games that actually matter, open season on California tree squirrels (daily limit of four) and the opening of the new artistic season for many North Bay theatre companies. Here’s some of what they have in store for local audiences: Petaluma’s Cinnabar Theater (cinnabartheater.org) transforms itself into Berlin’s Kit Kat Club and bids you willkommen, bienvenue, and welcome to the classic Kander and Ebb musical Cabaret. Broadway veteran Michael McGurk and Petaluma native Alia Beeton take on the roles that won Joel Grey and Liza Minnelli their Oscars. The Spreckels Theatre Company of Rohnert Park (spreckelsonline.com) opens its season with the multi-Tony-Award-winning The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. Fans of the Mark Haddon novel about a young boy on the autism spectrum investigating the death of a neighborhood dog will find that it’s been somewhat reworked for the stage, but Tony voters liked it enough to name it 2015’s Best Play. Sebastopol’s Main Stage West (mainstagewest.com) opens its season with the world premiere of an original comedy by local playwright Bob Duxbury. Savage Wealth examines the impact of the sale of a Lake Tahoe home and the vacant lot next to it on a pair of brothers and their childhood friend. John Shillington directs a cast of three in a story that also manages to work new age philosophy, politics, and romantic betrayal into it. Dancing and singing New York “wiseguys” take over Santa Rosa’s 6th Street Playhouse (6thstreetplayhouse.com) as they present Guys and Dolls. Summer Repertory Theatre Artistic Director James Newman moves to Railroad Square to helm what has been called “the greatest of all American musicals”. Santa Rosa’s Left Edge Theatre (leftedgetheatre.com) continues to provide North Bay audiences with recently written plays never before seen in the area with the U.S. premiere of a hit British comedy. David Simpson’s The Naked Truth involves charity fundraising, female empowerment, and pole dancing. Argo Thompson directs and somehow has worked former Second Row Center host David Templeton into the mix. The Pegasus Theatre Company of Guerneville (pegasustheater.com) will present its 12th annual Tapas: New Short Play Festival. This year’s festival will include seven short plays by Northern California playwrights and will be the first production overseen by new Artistic Director Rich Rubin. Healdsburg’s Raven Players (raventheater.org) open with two contemporary dramas that deal with a host of complex issues including war, PTSD, gun violence, politics and religion. Time Stands Still and Church & State will run in “rep”. In Marin, the Novato Theater Company (novatotheatercompany.org) hopes to have one singular sensation with their production of A Chorus Line, while Mill Valley’s Marin Theatre Company (marintheatre.org) will present the West Coast premiere of the 2017 Best Play Tony-winning political thriller Oslo. Ross Valley Players buck the trend and bring Shakespeare indoors for a change with their production of Twelfth Night. Napa’s Lucky Penny Productions (luckypennynapa.com) invites you Into the Woods, where director James Sasser has apparently added another layer of “fun” to the musical fairy tale mash-up. Plenty of options for the avid theatregoer. Information on all these shows can be found in the “Calendar” section of the North Bay Stage and Screen web site at northbaystageandscreen.com
“Am I supposed to be retelling my creature’s story or confessing my own?” – so asks Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly, author of Frankenstein and the protagonist in Petaluma playwright (and former Second Row Center Host) David Templeton’s latest theatrical piece Mary Shelley’s Body, now in its premiere engagement at Sebastopol’s Main Stage West. Templeton, whose previous plays are autobiographical, ventures into historical fiction with this stage adaptation of his same-named novella published last year in Worde Horde’s anthology “Eternal Frankenstein”. The play opens, as most good ghost stories do, in a graveyard where we find Mary Shelley (Sheri Lee Miller) atop her tomb and coming to grips with the realization that she is dead. She finds herself trapped by an invisible force and begins to review her life with the hope of revealing the reason for her purgatorial existence. Her upbringing by a stern father, her romance with the married Percy Shelley, their eventual marriage after the suicide of Shelley’s wife, and the loss of three of her children are all relayed, as well as the fateful summer evening spent in the company of Lord Byron and others where she conceived the idea for her classic horror tale. Interspersed with the biographical information is Templeton’s original take on the Frankenstein story, focusing on the “construction” of the monster. Four tales are told of the various parts collected by Victor Frankenstein – the hands of an ox man, the brain of a judge, the heart of a stallion, and the blood of a washwoman. Each tale is a horror story unto its own and they provide the play with its strongest, creepiest moments. The play concludes with Shelley’s horrific realization as to how she met her demise but to reveal more may reduce the jolt audience members deserve to receive for themselves. I’ll just say that in Templeton’s world, Shelley’s tale of Frankenstein may be more autobiography than fiction. Miller gives a tour-de-force performance as Mary Shelley, one moment exuding the charm of her character and in the next relating a bone-chilling tale of murder and body snatching. There is also a surprising amount of humor in the piece which Miller slyly delivers. She commands the stage from beginning to end of the play’s one hour and forty-five-minute run (with a fifteen-minute intermission.) The show could stand to be trimmed a bit, particularly with the sometimes-clunky exposition at the show’s start. There were also a few moments that left some members of the audience confused (including myself) that should be clarified. Templeton writes a good horror story, and Miller as Shelley is a great story teller. Both are aided by a simple but effective set design by stage director Elizabeth Craven and the omnipresent flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder that surround the audience courtesy of designers Missy Weaver and Doug Faxon. Current events may make some shy away from a tale in this genre but the Main Stage West production of Mary Shelley’s Body really will transport you to another time and place. Mary Shelley’s Body plays at Sebastopol’s Main Stage West Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8pm, with a 2pm matinee on Saturday and a 5pm matinee on Sunday. For more information, go to mainstagewest.com
The Handoff… DAVID: The art of theater and the inevitability of change - they’ve gone together from the beginning of, well, of theater. And I’m not talking about the pocket change that most theater artists earn for their work, or the mundane kinds of change - like ‘scenery changes’ and ‘quick changes in the dressing room. The art form itself has changed over the centuries, from a single bard standing in the square reciting an epic poem, to Greek choruses expounding exposition, to men playing women, to women playing men, to men writing plays in which people drop F-bombs, to women writing plays in which women talk to each other about something other than men. The audience changes too, mostly by turning gray, but sometimes by turning the tables on the theater establishment and demanding something new. And, inevitably, those of us who give our opinions on the art of theater, we change too. And that’s good, because new voices and new ideas always serve to keep things interesting and fresh. Which is a long, theatrical way of saying that after nearly ten years of contributing my thoughts - and my voice - to this weekly ‘Second Row Center’ radio segment, it’s time for me to make a change, and as such, this will be my last time appearing on the radio in this particular format. Why the change? Main reason – I’ve taken a position as the Community Editor with the Petaluma Argus Courier, and the new gig will be taking up a great deal of my time. I will continue as the theater reviewer of the North Bay Bohemian, however, so I will stay in the role of North Bay theater critic, in print, if not on KRCB. Which brings me to Harry Duke, who will be taking over this segment, beginning . . . well, beginning right now. Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Harry Duke. HARRY: Thank you, David. We’ll now take a short pause while the listeners say “Who?” Well, I am Harry Duke. I’m a twenty-five-year resident of Sonoma County, a graduate of Sonoma State University’s Theatre Arts program, an actor, a director, an educator, one of the founders of the Marquee Theatre Journalists Awards, the Chief Information Officer of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle and a member of the American Theatre Critics Association. I’ve been performing on North Bay stages since the last century and reviewing theatre as far back as my days on my New Jersey high school newspaper. I love theatre. Whether onstage or in the audience, theatre has always been the place I have been most content. We are fortunate to have an abundance of it in this area. With so many choices and limited time or resources, how does one go about deciding what to see? That’s where a critic can be of assistance. I’ll share my thoughts and opinions with you about productions in the North Bay and beyond. The foundation of those thoughts will be my education, my experience, and my love of the art of theatre. I’d rather give you a reason to go see something than to not go see something but, like a baseball umpire, I just call ‘em like I see ‘em. Thanks to my colleague David Templeton and to the folks at KRCB for allowing me to add my voice to the Radio 91 airwaves. So, until next week, I’m Harry Duke… DAVID: And I WAS David Templeton, Second Row Center . . . HARRY: … for KRCB.
It has been argued, effectively, that the person most qualified to talk about race and racism is the victim of that racism – not those who, consciously or unconsciously, are benefiting from that racism, or any system of inequality in which they have it better, more or less, than everyone else. Clearly aware of the arguments, pro and con, playwright David Mamet – a white guy – and never one to shy away from taboos or controversy - has stepped into the conversation with his 2009 drama ‘Race,’ currently running at Left Edge Theater, at Luther Burbank Center for the Arts. Sensitively and entertainingly directed by Carl Jordan, ‘Race’ aggressively tackles subjects of bigotry, black rage, white guilt, white privilege, cultural suspicion, and workplace sexism. Mamet’s script is a surgical, often humorous exploration of the lies so many Americans tell each other, and themselves, about matters of race. The play first appeared eight years ago, when many were claiming that Barack Obama’s presidency had ushered in a post-racial America. Bringing things up to the moment, director Jordan opens the play with a video montage showing current race-themed political confrontations in the streets and on the airwaves, all cut to the recognizable strains of Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Goin’ On?’ Then the play begins. In Mamet’s Ze-Koan-like story, Henry is a brilliant African-American lawyer, played superbly by Dorian Lockett, who is alternately funny and furious. From the opening moments, Henry is facing off against a potential new client, the cocky millionaire Charles, played by a nicely layered Chris Ginesi. Charles has been accused of raping a black woman. He insists he’s innocent, but one law-firm has already sent him packing, so he comes to Henry, and Henry’s law partner Jack, who aren’t immediately sure they want to take the case. Mike Pavone plays Jack as a blunt-and-befuddled, ever-moving force of nature, verbally bulldozing his way through everyone in this path - including Susan, the law firm’s cautiously watchful new hire. Played with intense focus by Jazmine Pierce. She does what she can with the role, though it frequently requires her to stand around silently and observe the men plotting their defense of Charles. Thankfully, her character does become increasingly pivotal as the plot-twists stack up. It’s hard to say anything more without spoiling the intricately composed story. Race is certainly an ambitious undertaking, though the script bears one or two irritating David Mamet-sized flaws, a typically under-written female part, being one. That said, Mamet’s best trick is to ask a lot of very hard questions - and then barely attempt to answer them. That’s smart. He knows that to offer any actual answers about such subjects could be cloying at best and deeply offensive at worst. Instead, Mamet simply presents a number of juicy, interesting, uncomfortable things to think about, then tosses in a few last-minute surprises and sends us away wondering what-the-hell it was that just happened. It’s no shock that Mamet, ever the master of profane conversation, peppers his play with four-letter-words, racial epithets, and effectively hammer-hard dialogue. Ultimately, Race is as much about sexism as it is about racism. Intelligent and raw, probing and disturbing, Left Edge Theater’s bold production might offer no real answers, but the questions it asks couldn’t come at a better time, or be more important. 'Race’ runs Friday–Sunday, through March 26 at Left Edge Theater. www.leftedgetheater.org
In episode 8 of the Bally Alley Astrocast, Paul, Michael and I review the 4K Blast Droids cartridge that Esoterica released in 1983. This game was written by Dan Drescher, and J.P. Curran. We also review the BASIC game Haunted House released by New Image in 1981. Paul and I discuss the contents and programs included in the August and September 1979 issues of the Arcadian newsletter. We also read feedback from Arcadian readers that sent letters and postcards to Bob Fabris concerning the July 1979 survey question that asked if users would purchase a third-party keyboard and RAM upgrade. Lastly, we cover about ten letters that cover general topics that were sent to the Arcadian from late July to September 1979. Recurring Links BallyAlley.com - Bally Arcade / Astrocade Website What's New at BallyAlley.com Orphaned Computers & Game Systems Website Bally Alley Yahoo Discussion Group Bally Arcade / Astrocade Atari Age Sub-forum Bally Arcade/Astrocade High Score Club Bally Alley Astrocast Facebook Page The Classic Gaming Bookcast - By Chris Federico Feedback Chris and Adam play and compare the cartridge and BASIC versions of Artillery Duel in a video.. G.I. Joe - Picture of prototype version of Artillery Duel. Astrocade Videos - Astrocade videos created by William Culver (aka "ArcadeUSA"). Blast Droids by Esoterica Blast Droids Manual Blast Droids Disassembly - This disassembly was started November 30, 2016 by Adam Trionfo. Most of the game's graphics have been found, but much of the code has not been disassembled. Blast Droids Box (Front) - The Blast Droids packaging. Blast Droids Box (Back) - The Blast Droids packaging. Blast Droids Cartridge Blast Droids Review - This review first appeared in Niagara B.U.G. Bulletin, 1, no. 5 (October 5, 1983): 13. Esoterica Tape Boxes - Esoterica's quality boxes and packaging for their tape releases. Astrocade High Score Club (Round 1) - Final Standings - The final round of season one's Astrocade High Score Club ended February 6, 2017. Haunted House by New Image Haunted House - "AstroBASIC" 2000-Baud version. Haunted House Bally BASIC Instructions - These are the program instructions and BASIC listings for New Image's Haunted House. This game is very unusual because it is made up of nine different loads, each of which is a separate BASIC program. Haunted House "AstroBASIC" Instructions Treasures of Cathy ("AstroBASIC" Program) - This programs, by John Collins, seems like a fairly complex dungeon-crawler type game. The Crown of Zeus by Todd Johnson - This game is probably the most RPG-like game on the Astrocade. It is for AstroBASIC only. It takes you to a dark decaying castle in the evil land of Sorom. You've been asked, as the best warrior in the land of Beekum, to retrieve the Crown of Zeus which the Scromites have stolen. The crown, when worn, gives the wearer the awesome ability to cause anything he or she wishes to vanish. Apparently the Scromites have not yet discovered the crown's powers. But as you hid in the forest outside the castle, you saw a troop of orcs from the warring land of Machor slip in through the front gate. They surely know the power of the crown and will have to be dealt with... Arcadian Newsletter Arcadian 1, no. 9 (Aug. 18, 1979): 69-76. - The ninth issue of the Arcadian newsletter. Arcadian 1, no. 10 (Sep. 31, 1979): 77-84. - The tenth issue of the Arcadian newsletter. Arcadian 1, no. 10a (Sep. 31, 1979): 80a. - A supplemental page to the tenth issue of the Arcadian newsletter. TV Output Notes by Marc Calson (possibly a misspelling of Mark Carlson). - The four pages of this document were created using the output of a short 10-line, BASIC program. Whoever sent this document to Bob methodically noted down four sets of numbers for each ASCII character. I can't say that I understand the listed decimal number information, but it seems to nicely supplement the August 1979 issue of the Arcadian's music coverage from Robert Hood (American Concert Frequencies) and the second part of Chuck Thomka's music tutorial, The Music Synthesizer. Hit the Pedestrian by Sebree's Computing (Timothy Hays) - This is a hand-written type-in program listing for Bally BASIC. Typed instructions are included. This program has not be digitally archived. Pictures of the Viper RAM Expansion - This hardware was released by Alternative Engineering. Pictures of the Keyboard for the Viper RAM Expansion Unit Aldo Trilogy by Dave and Benjamin Ibach - Three PC shareware titles for DOS released 1987-1991. These games do not run on the Astrocade. These games will run well under Windows when using a program called DOSBox (an emulator, of sorts). The games included are: Aldo's Adventure, Aldo Again, and Aldo's Assault. While these games won't run on the Astrocade, they do give a continued history of what Dave Ibach did (with his son) after he moved on from the Astrocade. The main character in this series of one-screen platform games looks suspiciously like someone named...Mario. Give these games a try-- you'll like 'em. The Bit Fidder's Corner by Andy Guevara - The Bit Fiddler's Corner is an Astrocade machine language programming tutorial that ran as a series of serialized articles in the Arcadian newsletter in 1983 and 1984. The author, Andy Guevara, programmed the Machine Language Manager cartridge for the Bally Arcade/Astrocade. This tutorial complements that cartridge, but has a general focus so this information can be used without reinterpretation by Astrocade assembly programmers, or those wishing to learn about the machine. The Music Synthesizer by Chuck Thomka - A tutorial on creating sound effects for the Astrocade. Black Box by B. Reany. - This Bally BASIC (300-baud) program was printed on page 74 of the August 1979 issue of the Arcadian. Black Box is a sort of Battleship game where the computer hides some "atoms" in a grid and you have to locate them. Use the diagram for clues. Space War by Dave Ibach - A 300-baud, Bally BASIC game that was printed in the September 1979 issue of the Arcadian. It's a neat idea for a two player game. Each player has a ship on one side of the screen, and can move up and down and fire at any angle. However, the ships are invisible, so you can only figure out where your opponent is when they fire a shot. XY Tutorial by Timothy Hays - A 12-page tutorial on the Bally BASIC XY command for exceptionally well controlled graphics. XY Tutorial Programs by Timothy Hays - This archive includes the Bally BASIC programs included with the XY Tutorial document. The six programs included are: 3-D Forward Simulation Above A Flat Plane, Cartesian Coordinates To XY Values Routine, Demonstration Program #2, Demonstration Program #2 (with Additions), Demonstration Program #4, and RND XY Value To Perspective Point. Responses to the Arcadian July 1979 Survey These letters relate to the programming keyboard survey on page 55 of the July 1979 issue of Arcadian. As a reminder, the survey questions were: "Assume that the Bally keyboard is available with full capacity (reference page 21). Are you ready to pay $650 for it? "Assume that the Bally keyboard is available with partial capacity (reference page 54). Are you ready to pay $350 for it? "Assume that we develop a keyboard that would have 16K RAM with upgrading capability of 24-plus K RAM, and some form of resident BASIC in 16K ROM, along with some features such as cassette motor control, word processing capability, etc. Are you ready to pay $350 for it? (Assuming that Bally does not produce in the same timeframe.) "A postal card with numbers down the side and yes/no opposite each is all that is necessary, but suggestions are certainly welcome. Also, tell me the model number and serial number of your machine if you haven't done so yet." Letter from Paul Zibits to Bob Fabris. (Approximately July/August 1979). Letter from Kirk Gregg to Bob Fabris. (Approximately July/August 1979). Letter From "Levin" to Bob Fabris. (July 31, 1979). Letter from M. Lewitzke to Bob Fabris. (August 2, 1979). Letter from Richard Bates to Bob Fabris. (August 4, 1979). Letter from Terry Kersey to Bob Fabris. (August 10, 1979). Letter from John Hurst to Bob Fabris. (August 11, 1979). Letter from Kelvyn Lach to Bob Fabris. (August 19, 1979). Letter from L. Kingman to Bob Fabris. (August 24, 1979). Letter from Curtis Schmidt to Bob Fabris. (August 28, 1979). Letter from Ken Stalter to Bob Fabris. (September 3, 1979). Letter from David Templeton to Bob Fabris. (September 5, 1979). Letter from Al Nowak to Bob Fabris. (September 6, 1979). Letter from George Tucker to Bob Fabris. (October 16, 1979). Letters to the Arcadian Letter from Chuck Thomka to Bob Fabris. (1979, probably late January). - Chuck sent two programs with this letter: Modified Player Piano for Learning Aid on the &16 - &23 Commands and Leaning Aid for "&" Command. It seems that these two programs helped Chuck figure-out the sound capability of the Bally Arcade. He went on to use this information to write the Music Synthesizer tutorials in the July and August 1979 issues of the Arcadian. Chuck describes the printer that he uses to create the BASIC listing forms, "It actually doesn't take too long to create a form on what I use, which is a cross between a computer and a very high-speed line printer. It puts images on paper with laser optics utilizes Xerox xerographics. It's really quite an impressive machine. As an example of what can be done with it, well, if you can envision an 8 1/2" x 11" blank piece of paper and another 8 1/2" x 11" completely black piece of paper, this represents the extremes of the machine. Everything in-between (just about) can be done by this machine. That includes all different font sizes and styles, logos, lines and even signatures! All this with about the resolution of 300 dots to the inch. The speed of this machine is two full pages a second. If you wanted to print with a reduced print style and also have put two sides of data on the same side of the paper, this machine would print at equivalent speed of 36,000 lines per minute! Like I said, a very high-speed line printer!" Leaning Aid for '&' Command by Chuck Thomka. - A five-page program that is purely Chuck's own concoction. This program uses all but about 150 bytes of memory and is somewhat involved, but is informative as to the workings of all the possible '&' commands. Modified Player Piano for Learning Aid on the &16 - &23 Commands by Chuck Thomka - Submitted to Arcadian on January 5, 1979, but previously unpublished. A single-page modification to an existing Bally program which allows easy and quick changes to '&16' through '&23 commands [the sound ports]. Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age by Michael A. Hiltzik - Chuck Thomka works worked a Xerox, and he mentioned what sounds like a laser printer in his letter. This is an Amazon.com link to Dealers of Lightning, a book published in 2000. The creation of the laser printer is discussed in some detail here. It "is a fascinating journey of intellectual creation. In the 1970s and '80s, Xerox Corporation brought together a brain-trust of engineering geniuses, a group of computer eccentrics dubbed PARC. This brilliant group created several monumental innovations that triggered a technological revolution, including the first personal computer, the laser printer, and the graphical interface (one of the main precursors of the Internet), only to see these breakthroughs rejected by the corporation. Yet, instead of giving up, these determined inventors turned their ideas into empires that radically altered contemporary life and changed the world." Letter from Tracy Crook to Bob Fabris. (About 1979). - "I wanted to let you know where I am on the Bally expansion. So far, I've added 16K RAM, one serial port, two parallel ports and an ASCII keyboard. These all work very well. What has not worked so well, is some special logic used with the non-mask will direct. With this, I had hoped to use the Bally BASIC unmodified with the keyboard I added. As it is, I can input data from the keyboard under basic control (or machine language), but program entry and editing must still be done through the keypad. I can't get this to work, I guess Bally BASIC (or some other language) could be placed in RAM. A commented listing of Bally BASIC would be invaluable at this point. [...] With that info, we could tailor it a bit and put it in RAM. "At this point, I see the remainder of the expansion to be mainly a software effort, which is where I could use some help. The most important changes, I think, would be to get BASIC program storage out of internal (graphics) memory. This would greatly increase the color capabilities when using BASIC." [Note: Blue Ram BASIC does this, which is why more colors are available to this expanded BASIC.] "Another interesting possibility open by having RAM memory available is the ability to load it with data from any of the game cartridges (which were previously dumped onto a cassette tape) and then switch this memory into the bank normally signed the plug-in cartridge. This is quite easy to do. At this point the Bally would perform exactly as if you had plugged in the game cartridge that the data came from." [The Blue Ram, Viper and Lil' White RAM expansion units all allow for this.] "The end result would be that you could have the entire library of Bally games in a couple of cassette tapes. Bally might not be too wild about this idea, I assure you it would work." "In the meantime, in order to ease programming the Bally, I use another one of the microcomputers I own, which has an ASCII keyboard, to write Bally BASIC programs on and then dump them on tape in a format compatible with the Bally. Doing it off like this has some disadvantages, but it sure beats that key pad." "Haven't done much on it lately, as my Bally was struck by lightning about five weeks ago, and it still not back from the factory." Letter from Ed Mulholland to Bob Fabris. (July 1, 1979 / July 23, 1979). - In the July 1'st letter, Ed says, "The schematics to our Ballys show a 10-pin and a 26-pin port in addition to the IEEE-488 port. My machine did not have 26-pin port as shown in the photo on page 14 of the [Bally PA-1] service. This would still be only a small inconvenience because the pin numbers and functions as shown on the schematic." The second part of the letter (dated July 23) shows how the 10-wire 24-key keypad is arranged. I think that this information is meant to help explain how to wire a 63-key "full size" ASCII keyboard in parallel with the 24-key keypad. Letter from Robert Dahl to Bob Fabris. (July 29, 1979). - Mr. Dahl suggests that future issues the Arcadian leave room so that a hole punch can be used so that the issues can be stored in a binder. He says, "They are well worth saving." I agree! On July 27, Mr. Dahl received a mimeographed copy of the Hacker's Manual from Bally. He notes that they included a letter that says they do not expect the keyboard expansion to be released this year Robert Dahl notes that he was able to order the Amazing Maze/Tic-Tac-Toe cartridge from Montgomery Ward's catalog. He got the cartridge in just three days. He adds that a fellow, who sells the Arcade and its accessories, tells him that he has a standing order for all arcade items, but gets more promises than anything else from a wholesale distributor in Milwaukee. This man had been trying to get the Amazing Maze cartridge ever since he first heard about it and he had yet to get it. Mr. Dahl figures that Bally's distribution must be out of whack. Mr. Dahl has typed in various versions of Slot Machine. He talks about three that he has used comparing and contrasting differences between them. Mr. Dahl makes a comment that the Checkers game number six had him puzzled. He was expecting a regular checkerboard on the TV screen. He says that, "Right now, it's beginning to soak-in that I should take a checkerboard and number the squares and move the pieces around as the numbers on the screen direct?" [Is this accurate?!?] Letter from Andy Guevara to Bob Fabris. (July 30, 1979). - Andy Guevara wrote several programs that were published in the Arcadian and Cursor/BASIC Express newsletters. Andy programmed the Machine Language Manager, a 2K cartridge that was released in 1982 by The Bit Fiddlers. He released a few tapes, including Candy Man and Chicken, two games released on tape that were written in mostly machine language. He wrote Ms. Candyman and Sea Devil, both of which are 4K cartridges that were released 1983 by L&M Software. Mr. Guevara also wrote The Bit Fiddler's Corner, an Astrocade machine language programming tutorial that ran as a series of serialized articles in the Arcadian newsletter in 1983 and 1984. Andy just received his first stack of Arcadian newsletters. He has had his Bally arcade for five months and never dreamed that so much information could be further developed. He has dumped the Baseball cartridge, and is pleased to see that other people have made ROM dumps too. Mr. Guevera is looking into expanding his internal memory from 4K to 12K of RAM with a single IC designed by Harris Semiconductor. He goes into detail about how this might work. Andy has come up with a solution for Bob to be able to print programs. He provides details and a schematic on a device that can be used that will use a UART to allow the Bally to print. Although Andy has only had his Bally Professional Arcade model BPA-1100 for five months, the innards have already had to be changed twice. Letter from Richard Dermody to Bob Fabris. (July 31, 1979).- Richard's interest has been piqued by the announcement of the keyboard project. So much so, that he has already gone out and bought a keyboard for the project. He says, the "glimmer of a future for the Arcade as a computer [...] has prompted [him] to retain his [Arcade] with hopes for the future." Richard notes that while he understands the difficulties that Bally may be having with the FCC, he has noticed that other companies, such as Apple, have made significant progress in the same time period since the Arcade was first announced. Richard is on his second Bally arcade. He had to return his first one to Montgomery Ward as "it tended to self-destruct after being in operation for a while." Mr. Dermody hopes that reviews of the Bally cartridges will be in future issues. There is no local retailer for these items where he lives so his only resort is mail-order. He would like to have some idea of what he is ordering before he places an order. Letter from Guy McLimore to Bob Fabris. (July 31, 1979).- Guy gives an unqualified "yes" to all the survey questions that Bob asked the previous issue of the Arcadian. Guy says that he wants and needs a keyboard badly. An interesting bit here is that Ken Ballard, the owner of ABC Hobbycraft, has commissioned a professional hardware/software man to develop a 64K keyboard memory expansion to be sold commercially. The unit is still in the planning stages, but [they] hope that it will be ready by December." This seems overly optimistic, since it is nearly August already. I don't recall ever hearing about this from any other source. It is interesting that so many people wanted to build, create or purchase a memory expansion/keyboard for their Bally unit. Guy really enjoyed Chuck Thomka's synthesizer tutorial. He found the two accompanying programs very useful. He does wonder how Bell Telephone feels about the programs, however. He notes that if you add the buttons A-D to the Touch-Tone dialer program (Touch Tone Simulate), then you have a semi-efficient Black Box for receiving free telephone calls. The Touch-Tone dialer doesn't work in Guy's local area. He thinks that Indiana Bell has an acoustical filter that prevents Touch-Tone signals from being input to the microphone from the handset. By popular demand, ABC hobby craft is now accepting mail orders for Bally hardware, W&W software, Stocker Software, and Skyrocket Software (Guy's company). Guys makes an observation about the tape quality for software that is being sold through the Arcadian classified ads. It seems that the people distributing their software on tape are using cheap tapes brands which makes loading the tapes difficult. He notes that the Dave Stocker software is also available on micro cassettes. I don't know of any other Bally software that was distributed on these tiny tapes. Guy has been pleasantly surprised by the amount of response he received to the listing of his Fantasy Games #1 package in the Arcadian. Despite the fact that it is a limited program designed only for those persons familiar with fantasy role-playing games, such as Dungeons & Dragons, the program sold remarkably well! Phenomenally well, in fact, given an audience of relatively few people. Guy will be creating programs under the name Skyrocket Software with his partner Greg Poehlein. They intend to sell software for the Bally, TRS-80 and eventually other systems. He says they won't be turning it out fast, but they will be turning it out good, paralleling Bally's own stated policy of producing fewer top quality cartridges as opposed to Atari's more is better philosophy Letter from Jeff Frederiksen to Bob Fabris. (August, 20 1979).- This letter is from Jeff Frederiksen, the chief engineer behind designing the Bally Professional Arcade hardware. It seems that this letter was accompanied by some hardware. The letter simply states: "The enclosed assemblies replace the 75361 clock driver, located in the oscillator shield. The failure of the 75361 is that the 6V high time after warm-up drops below 55ns causing the data chip to appear defective. If you do not have this sinking clock syndrome, replacement is not necessary. I hope you find the enclosed hardware description useful." Letter from Jeff Grothaus to Bob Fabris. (August 31, 1979). - Jeff is building his own cassette tape interface from the schematics on page 20 of the Arcadian and page 4 of the Bally Hacker's Manual. He has run into a few difficulties and is hoping to get some help. He also wonders if Bob knows if anyone else has created a working interface from the schematics. There's a handwritten note from Bob where he simply writes, "No." I find it interesting that Jeff is actually building his own tape interface. This interface would be of no use without the basic cartridge. At the time, I think, the tape interface was easy enough to get for $50. I wonder if Jeff was trying to save money, or if he was having difficulty finding the necessary hardware to use with Bally BASIC and a tape recorder. Letter from Karen Nelson to Bob Fabris. (September 10, 1979). - Karen is a programmer who got interested in the Bally when JS&A advertised it in Scientific American in 1977. She was told that she was one of the first people to get her hands on one. She was very excited about machines potential, but was disillusioned by the heat problems which were inherent in the first machines. She "burned out" two of the units. Just after she returned the second unit, she discovered that her programming instructor was doing the graphics for the Bally. She says, "Yes, folks, it was the infamous Tom DeFanti and his magic Z-GRASS." She knows Tom well enough to drop into his "Graphics Habitat" at the University of Chicago to talk intelligently about some of his projects. She also knows Nola Donato and a few other of Tom students who are working on projects for Bally. Tom has had the University of Chicago purchase eight Bally's and eight Sony TVs to teach students the basics of computers and programming. In August 1979, Tom was the chairman of a traffic seminar held jointly by IEEE and ACM/SIGGRAPH. For three nights, Tom and his crew presented new and interesting works in various areas of computer graphics (including a few by people using Bally Arcades). In addition to the seminar, a graphics experiment Expo was held and it was there that Karen met some of the guys from Dave Nutting, in particular Ricky Spiece (who developed the Football cartridge). Ricky was helpful and showed Karen some tricks (like the ports in BASIC), and he also demonstrated the graphics capabilities by loading a picture from a disk to a color monitor. In addition, his Bally was connected to a B&W monitor and a keyboard. His commands appeared on the black-and-white monitor, and the graphics were displayed on the color monitor. However, the whole setup was attached with the Bally board mounted in a frame, not in the case, which leads Karen to believe that some special wiring is needed. Karen describes her experimentation with the different ports available in BASIC. Karen has recently seen the pinball cartridge demoed at the graphic seminar. She says that it looks pretty good. She heard one of the Dave Nutting guys say that he had just sent the thing off to Bally and that it should be out on the market pretty soon. Karen says that there was a demo of Z-GRASS, but that she didn't get to see it. She does note that as a student of De Fanti, she learned how to program in GRASS-- Z-GRASS's daddy-- using a PDP-11/45. Karen is glad to find out that there are other people like her who think that the Bally Arcade/computer has a lot more potential than most people give it credit for. She hopes that Bob Fabris might be able to pass on some information to whoever the marketing manager at Bally is. She would like to see the Bally advertisement computer magazines such as BYTE and Personal Computing. She would like to see Bally stress that most people buy home computers for games and that Bally has terrific controls, and that by the time people become interested in programming, Bally will have add-on module available. She also says that the graphics capabilities of the Bally have no competition; they are the best, and the Arcade is dirt cheap when compared to other systems. End-Show Music Rockin' Robin MP3 File - Transcribed for the Astrocade by Peggy Gladden. This song is from Astro-Bugs Club Tape #2.
There’s a line that comes about halfway through Edward Albee’s classic play “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Unlike so much of the rest of Albee’s brutal and brilliant drama, it’s not a line full of anger or recrimination, or witty humor, or caustic observation. As such, it stands out like a whisper in a rainstorm. It is uttered by an extremely inebriated young woman named Honey, curled up on a couch after a period of extreme alcohol-fueled nausea, making her barely-conscious remark in response to her host, George, telling a deeply personal story, which Honey’s own husband, Nick, told George less than an hour before, while Honey was indisposed in the upstairs bathroom. As it so happens, it’s a story about Honey. “This story sounds familiar,” she murmurs softly, unexpectedly adding, “Familiar stories are the best.” Sometimes, that’s true, isn’t it? Sometimes, familiar stories are the best. That’s why classics like “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” keep cycling through our culture every so often. They might have been written 55-years-ago, like “Virginia Woolf,” but the good ones – like “Virginia Woolf” – always seem to have something to say. Whatever familiarity you might have with Albee’s masterpiece, or with George and Martha and Honey and Nick – that furious foursome of funny-and-ferocious married academics whose relationships all unravel spectacularly over the course of single evening - you’d be well advised to leave your expectations - and perhaps your past disappointments - at the door of Main Stage West, where director David Lear and his first rate cast are serving up a dry and dirty, perfectly poured presentation of Albee’s caustic excoriation of modern marriage and the deadly addictiveness of illusion and deceit. If I seem to be using a lot of words, I am. After nearly three hours with these loquacious, word-wielding folks, you too might find yourself luxuriating in the rich highlights and lowlights of the English language. In the play, George — a sensational Peter Downey — is a middling history professor at a small university, and his wife Martha — Sandra Ish, also marvelous — obviously resents him for his lack of academic ambition. Early one morning, after a lengthy faculty dinner, George and Martha have invited another couple over for drinks. Nick—John Browning, quite strong in a difficult role—is the school’s new biology professor, and his wife, Honey—a remarkable Rose Roberts—well, um, Honey has a habit it throwing up a lot when things become too “intense.” So, you know, woe is them. Director Lear keeps the tone masterfully light, recognizing that the escalating intensity of all those words works best when they’re delivered as if it’s all pretty hilarious – which, amazingly, it often is. The production’s best moments include Ish’s priceless expression when a potted Venus flytrap is placed in her hand as a “hostess gift.” Or Downey’s hilariously multi-layered response to Nick’s saying, “Well, you know women.” And words cannot describe Robert’s jaw-dropping brilliance when Honey launches an improvised dance that includes elements of ballet, hand-jive and a mime stuck in a box. The brilliance of Albee’s script, of course, and this razor-sharp interpretation, lies in the awareness that beautiful truths can be found even amongst people as vile and ruthless as these. Yes, they are, to varying degrees, swine, but they are remarkably believable swine. And as George so memorably puts it, late in the show, “You have to have a swine to show you where the truffles are.” 'Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’ runs Thursday–Sunday through March 19 at Main Stage West www.mainstagewest.com
Well, it’s spring, and the annual Oregon Shakespeare Festival has kicked off its 2017 season with four new shows – out of an eventual total of eleven —the majority of them playing for the next nine months in Ashland, Oregon. The First Four include a frisky stage adaptation of the film ‘Shakespeare in Love,’ and two plays by William Shakespeare – a bloody and visceral staging of ‘Julius Caesar’ and a highly entertaining take on the father-son history ‘Richard IV, Part One.’ Taken together, they make for a strong opening salvo at OSF. For me, the most impressive of the bunch, however is the play ‘Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles,’ by the prolific L.A.-born writer Luis Alfaro, presented with remarkable power and passion by director Juliette Carrillo. Alfaro has adapted a number of classic Greek tragedies over the years, putting a Latino-spin on such influential myths at Elektra and Oedipus Rex — and now Medea. In ‘Mojada’ – the Spanish word for ‘wet,’ as in ‘wetback’ — Medea is an undocumented Mexican seamstress, living in L.A. with her husband Jason, her son Acan, and her talkative, Greek Chorus-like storyteller Tita. They are all survivors of a brutal crossing from Mexico, which, we eventually learn, has cost Medea much more than mere money or blood. Frail and fearful, she now confines herself to her small yard in L.A.s Boyle Heights barrio, avoiding her neighbors, helping to make beautiful dresses she could never afford to buy with the meager wages she earns. Played with ferocious fragility by a superb Sabina Zuniga Varela, Medea carries some very dark secrets—and a desperate fear of losing Jason (an excellent Lakin Valdez), a construction worker whose American dreams of money and influence have placed him in an uneasy alliance with the wealthy widow Armida (Vilma Silva, wonderful). Also an immigrant – though with a very different story of making her way to the States – Armida employs Jason as a contractor in her construction company, and may have her eye on more than just his house-building talents. Medea’s neighbor, the over-effusive Josefina (Nancy Rodriguez), is yet another version of the immigrant story. She’s a hard-working baker who rises early to make the bread she sells from a cart on the streets. Providing some easy comic relief, Josefina’s resourceful acceptance of America’s love-hate relationship with its immigrant population is a stark reminder of what Medea could become, if she could somehow find a sense of power and strength in her life, all of which this strange new land seems to want to deny her. Anyone familiar with the Medea story, of course, will know where all of this headed, and the machete occasionally wielded by Tita (wonderfully played by VIVIS) just serves as a constant reminder of what’s to come. Alfaro does much more with this marvelous, gorgeously constructed drama than just parrot the bloody plot turns of the original Medea myth. In retelling it through the eyes of a Mexican immigrant in America – with one stunning bit of beautifully queasy magical realism – the playwright reveals what happens when any human being is denied a sense of humanity, dignity, and control over their own lives. I should add that the set by Christopher Acebo is a little marvel of architectural beauty and poetry - a circle of chain link and concrete, a garden grown in old tires and tin cans, and a tiny house that appears to almost float above the yard, with vast roots angling beneath it - as if to suggest the sense of ‘uprootedness’ and ‘in-between-ness’ that constantly threatens to define Medea, as it does, tragically, an entire generation of disenfranchised American dreamers. For the full schedule of shows at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, visit OSFashland.org.
I’m not sure what it is, but there’s just something appealing—if that’s the word—about watching a puppet – especially a cute puppet – talking dirty … dropping F-bombs, describing sex acts, saying things that puppets don’t normally get to say. Maybe that’s because, over the last seventy-five years or so — beginning with Kukla Fran and Ollie and Howdy Doody, all the way to Sesame Street and Mister Rogers — television has enforced the idea that puppets are for kids. That’s not true. Consider Punch and Judy, who in medieval times were anything but kid-friendly. That’s just the tip of a dark and dirty iceberg of puppet-powered adult-oriented entertainment. Well, in recent years, puppets have been regaining their adult voice through such inappropriate inanimate objects as Greg the bunny, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, those murderous marionettes from “Team America: World Police,” and good old Trekkie Monster - and all the other foul-mouthed porn-surfing residents of “Avenue Q,” the hit Broadway show that gave the world the songs, ‘The Internet is for Porn’ and ‘Everyone’s a little bit racist.’ To that list of celebrated, envelope-pushing puppets, we may now add Tyrone, the hilariously devilish sock puppet who rules over playwright Robert Askin’s remarkable new stage play, ‘Hand to God’ (now running at Berkeley Repertory Theater). Blending clever one-liners, expert slapstick and shocking (but funny) acts of violence, with outrageously pointed observations about faith, guilt, parenthood, and the notions of good and evil, “Hand to God” is extraordinary. It’s obviously not the first show to feature puppets saying and doing bad things. But as written by Robert Askins – who was nominated for a 2015 Tony award for this play— “Hand to God’ is always feels fresh and inventive, even a bit transgressive in its willingness to go places very few puppet-shows have ever dared to go. Directed with spot-on precision by David Ivers, “Hand to God” is set in a small-town Texas church, where a troubled, sweet-spirited teenager named Jason—brilliantly played by Michael Doherty—has just created Tyrone. Innocent-looking enough, at first, Tyrone was made of socks and yarn – and eventually, teeth - part of the youth puppet ministry run by his recently-widowed mother Margery. Also in the club is the gentle-but-resourceful Jessica, and Timothy, a confrontational teen punk with a serious case of the hots for Jason’s recently widowed mother. Hoping that a church project might help snap Margery out of her grief, the church’s painfully lonely pastor Greg has basically forced the puppet club on her. It’s not a great fit. All hell breaks loose, literally, when Tyrone begins exhibiting strong anti-social behavior, dropping those aforementioned F-bombs alongside some brutally escalating observations about Jason, his mother, and the other basement-dwelling “Christ-keteers.” These puppety outbursts begin gradually, with Tyrone tagging inappropriately sexual comments onto a performance of the famous “Who’s on first?” routine, occasionally reciting vaguely threatening facts: “The smallest of cuts to the Achilles tendon will cripple a man for life!” Before long, though, Jason has to accept the fact that his Id-driven puppet just might be … Lucifer himself. It’s very funny, but also genuinely scary, a testament to Askins’ skill as a writer, and the actors skills as a tight, energetic ensemble. As Jason/Tyrone, Doherty is a marvel, pivoting between characters with breathtaking speed and precision. The play does go to some very dark places, but the show never loses its inherent sense of humor and heart, or the story’s staunch commitment to the idea that those things out there that we loathe and fear the most, might be closer to home than we prefer to imagine. ‘Hand to God’ runs Tuesday–Sunday through March 19 at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, www.berkeleyrep.org
Beauty, one could argue, isn’t always very pretty. Especially in the case of great literature. Richard Wright’s 1940 masterpiece Native Son—considered one of the most important and powerful American novels ever published— is one great example. A bestseller upon publication, the novel has been alternately praised and condemned over the years since, often drawing kudos and criticism for the very same things—mainly, the brutal honesty, stark realism, and shocking violence of Wright’s supremely crafted work, a stark depiction of life as a poor, under-educated black man in America in the early 1940s. And yet, as written from within the conflicted mind of one such man, it’s also a beautiful piece of writing, insightful and raw and full of gorgeously well-written passages. Which brings us to ‘Native Son,’ the play. Powered by a poetic, elegant script by Nambi E. Kelley, Marin Theatre Company, in Mill Valley, has finally brought Wright’s explosive novel to the stage. Under the steady guidance of director Seret Scott, an extraordinary cast gives perfectly tuned performances, resulting in a remarkable theatrical experience that is at once astonishing, beautiful, visceral, vibrant and, because of the reality it describes, often inescapably ugly. Kelley, succeeding where countless adapters have fallen short, strips Wright’s epic-length novel to its bones, dressing it back up again with brilliant theatrical ideas, enhancing, rather than diminishing the power of Wright’s ingeniously built, emotionally rich ethical puzzle box of a story. The conflicted protagonist is Bigger Thomas — played superbly by Jerod Haynes. Bigger is barely scraping by, living in a rat-infested Chicago slum with his mother (C. Kelley Wright), sister Vera (Ryan Nicole Austin) and borderline criminal brother Buddy (Dane Troy). Bigger, for understandable reasons, is a combustible blend of anger, hopelessness and fear. He dreams of flying airplanes, but knows the system will never give him the opportunity. Bigger’s violent internal struggles are brilliantly illustrated through his conversations with The Black Rat (played by William Hartfield), the playwright’s nattily dressed depiction of Bigger’s conflicted inner battles. The Rat represents Bigger’s claim that the way society sees him is often in opposition to how he sees himself. Which one is which is never made clear, adding extra meat to chew on in already chewy storyline. For Bigger, even the possibility of a decent job, chauffeuring for a wealthy, liberal white woman (Courtney Walsh), is rife with danger. Her daughter Mary (Rosie Hallett) and Mary’s communist boyfriend Jan (Adam Magill) attempt to show Bigger how open-minded they are, but are cluelessly indifferent as to how their public shows of “equality” and familiarity with Bigger actually put him in danger. When disaster strikes early on, Bigger ends up on the run, his clumsy act of accidental violence leading quickly to another, less defensible one. As the story plummets ahead with ferocious speed—told in a single, 90-minute act—Bigger literally steps back and forth from his present to his past, vivid flashbacks underscoring his rising fear and fury with heartbreaking power. The story may be set in the 1940s, but that so little has changed since then is abundantly clear. That — along with the graceful energy of his storytelling — is why Wright’s brutal masterpiece continues to have such resonance after more than 75 years, and why Marin Theatre Company’s gorgeously ugly adaptation is the first must see of 2017. ‘Native Son’ runs Tuesday–Sunday through February 12 at Marin Theatre Company. www.marintheatre.org
Playwright Clare Barron, a New York theater artist with a fast-rising reputation for crafting quirky comedy-dramas with the ring of truth and an affection for damaged people, is finally getting her shot in the North Bay, where Left Edge Theater has just opened the West Coast premiere of her oddball play ‘You Got Older.’ Skillfully directed by Argo Thompson, ‘You Got Older’ follows a struggling, twenty-something lawyer named Rae, who’s recently lost her job, her apartment, her boyfriend, and her self-esteem, at the very same moment that her father is diagnosed with a mysterious, possibly fatal throat cancer. She’s also got a truly terrible-sounding rash. Rae is played with meticulous sensitivity by Paige Picard, a first-rate performance in a play full of them, and Joe Winkler, as Rae’s kind but befuddled father, is frequently astonishing, particularly so in a key scene at the end where his steady bravado suddenly crumbles. Barron’s writerly kookiness manifests itself mainly through the stunningly candid dialogue between her characters. The awkward but believable way that Rae converses with Mac, a rash-loving stranger she meets in a bar. He’s played nicely by Jared Wright. There’s sexy-but-menacing Cowboy (played by Chris Ginesi) who Rae conjures up in a series of increasingly disturbing sex fantasies. Then there’s the way Rae makes wobbly plans for the future with her loving, easily distracted siblings, all while waiting at the hospital bedside of their post-surgery dad. The convincingly familiar siblings are played by Sandra Ish, Devin McConeell, Victoria Saitz, all good, though the apparently twenty year spread in ages seems a bit unrealistic, given other details of the script putting them closer together than that. That one weirdness aside, there is a palpable honesty and “realness” to the story that sneaks up on you, and delivers a surprising impact. As hinted in the title, You Got Older is actually a play about growing up, about the ways that facing our losses, disappointments and the eccentric irritations of life, in time make us all older - and sometimes, a little wiser, too. Meanwhile, 6th Street Playhouse’s Buyer & Cellar, which also opened last weekend, is a one-actor exploration of the affluent eccentricities of singer-actor Barbra Streisand. Written by Jonathan Tolins, directed with energetic simplicity by Sarah Muirhead, Buyer & Cellar takes a well-documented fact about Streisand—that she built a miniature shopping mall in her cellar to hold the costumes and kitsch acquired over the years—and uses it to launch a flight of fancy about an unemployed actor named Alex who is hired as a make-believe storekeeper in Bab’s bizarre basement playground. The enjoyable, joke-packed script contains a truly effective play-ending twist, but its insights into Streisand’s psyche mostly tend toward the obvious—her mother never told her she was pretty, she grew up in poverty so she now likes to flaunt her wealth. And the story itself, while definitely funny and affectionate, sometimes strains for purpose and relevance. It doesn’t matter. The real reason to see Buyer & Cellar is Patrick Varner’s outstanding performance as Alex. Jaw-droppingly good, Varner’s inventive characterizations and clear emotional arc carry this kooky comedy along on a wave of energy and sweetness, with only occasional lapses of momentum. Taken together, both new shows show extraordinary humanity and compassion for their messy, identifiable characters, and at a time when its sometimes hard to recognize the commonalities between us, a bit if humanity and compassion are exactly what the world needs more of. 'You Got Older’ runs Friday–Sunday, through Feb. 3 – Feb. 19 at Left Edge Theater, www.leftedgetheater.com. 'Buyer & Cellar’ runs Thursday–Sunday through Feb. 19 at 6th Street Playhouse. www.6thstreetplayhouse.com
Powered by some pretty spectacular voices, Sonoma Arts Live’s clever, minimalized production of Webber-and-Rice’s iconic musical “Evita” scores major points for musicality, invention and sheer guts, emphasizing the politically ominous rags-to-riches story of its heroine by removing the massive cast and the elaborate dance numbers for which the beloved stage show first became known. On the medium-sized stage at Andrews Hall - in the historic Sonoma Community Center, just off the Sonoma plaza - wooden planks, scaffolding and a brilliantly employed piece of moving machinery take the place of the ornate sets usually employed for musicals of this scale. Originally announced as a “staged concert,” the show, as directed by Lauren Miller, exists somewhere in between a concert and a full-production. Though the blocking of the tight nine-actor cast tends a bit to often towards the static - with several people standing in a line, striking slightly stiff poses while singing straight out to the audience - what this approach lacks in dynamism and visual energy it more than makes up for in helping tell its story simply and clearly. Ellen Toscano, a ten-year-veteran of San Francisco’s Beach Blanket Babylon, deploys her stellar singing voice as Eva Peron, who started out as a middle class dreamer from the outskirts of Argentina, became an actress and screen celebrity, and worked her way up to become the first lady of her country, the wife of the dictator Juan Peron. Though a bit physically rigid at times, her face is constantly alive with emotion, ranging from resolve to disdain to love to anger to pain, and sometimes all at once. As her politically ambitious husband, Juan, Michael Conte strikes the perfect tone of austere authority, and his voice is magnificent. As the narrator Che, who steps in and out of the story - frequently offering challenging perspectives in the form of wry commentary - Robert Dornaus is also quite strong, climbing up and down the set pieces, leaping to the audience floor, even operating the man-lift at a crucial moment, easily giving the shows most varied and animated performance. In the small part of Peron’s kicked-to-the-curb mistress, Fiorella Garcia delivers one of the show’s most powerful moments, singing the lovely “Where do we go from here,” and as Eva’s lounge-singing first conquest, Tod Mostero is appropriately smarmy, smitten and entertainingly surprised at being less in control of his hungry paramour than he assumed. The ensemble is in fine voice throughout, though at times they seem to be wishing they has more to do then file onstage, sing beautifully, and file off again, though perhaps this is the remaining vestiges of the original “staged concert” concept. All in all, the miraculous thing about this production is how well the parts that work, work, especially the marvelous moment when Toscano sings the show’s most famous number, “Don’t Cry for me Argentina.” I won’t spoil the surprise of how the song is staged, but it’s truly delightful and inventive. Perhaps most surprising of all is how pertinent and powerful this story feels today, as it traces the way that politicians often take advantage of the people they claim to be wanting to help, using them to gain the power they need to take control—then convincing them that they’ve delivered what they promised, even when they have done the exact opposite. ‘Evita’ runs Thursday through Sunday through Feb. 5 at Sonoma Arts Live, at the Sonoma Community Center. www.sonomaartslive.org
Truly effective plays are often built on big ideas. And ideas don’t get much bigger than the Birth of America – or E = mc 2, which happen to be the subjects of two shows currently being performed by a pair of prominent Sonoma County theater companies. One’s a classic, rarely performed due to the monumental size of its cast, The other is brand new, notable for the minimalism of its scope, in the face of the gargantuan themes it dares to tackle. Let’s start with the classic - Spreckels Theater Company’s grand staging of Peter Stone and Sherman Edwards historical musical ‘1776,’ first produced in 1968. Telling the surprise-laden story of how America’s Declaration of Independence came to be signed, the production, under the direction of Larry Williams, combines a cast of nearly 30 actors, along with clever projections and elaborate, gorgeously detailed costumes. Not surprisingly, the show looks magnificent, and the somewhat longish tale — clocking in at just under three hours, with one intermission — only rarely loses its momentum. That’s really saying something for a show boasting just thirteen songs, only two or three dance numbers, and a “plot” - if that’s the word - in which impassioned political debate carries the bulk of the “action.” The story, fortunately, includes a Who’s Who of American historical figures. Jeff Coté plays John Adams, who – in May of 1776, is desperate to convince his fellow Continental Congress-members to separate from Great Britain. Coté is wonderful, fiery and fun, even if the singing does sometimes get away from him, pitch-wise. Adam’s chief supporters in seeking Independence are Benjamin Franklin, played by a thoroughly delightful Gene Abravaya, and the darkly moping Thomas Jefferson, David Strock. Then there’s the genial Richard Henry Lee, played by Steven Kent Barker, who shines in one of the show’s most rambunctious songs, ‘The Lees of Old Virginia’. It’s thorough-lee infectious, and if you think that joke is bad, wait till you hear the ‘Lee puns’ layered through the song itself. ‘1776’ is a massive undertaking, and Spreckels pulls it off with only a few bumps. Assisted by a large orchestra under the fine guidance of Lucas Sherman, Spreckels accomplishes a very difficult task with, as audiences will clearly see, far more grace and polish than the founding fathers showed in bringing our still struggling nation to life. On to another big idea. At Cinnabar Theater, Trevor Allen’s delightful ‘One Stone’ takes on Albert Einstein’s development of the Theory of Relativity — but approaches it on a much smaller scale than that with which Spreckels tackles 1776. Under the inventive direction of Elizabeth Craven, working on a simple stage suggesting a cluttered office, a single actor, Eric Thompson, represents Einstein’s Brain, his various discoveries and observations brought to life by a balletic puppeteer (Sheila Devitt) and an often-present violinist (Jennifer Cho). Elevators fall through space, bicycles scoot along at the speed of light, and much more. The miraculous thing about ‘One Stone’ is how emotionally powerful it is. With little in the way of actual plot, Allen’s words, plus Thompson’s exuberant performance, and the rich, magical puppetry of Devitt, all create a poetic space where Einstein’s ideas scamper about like curious children in a playground. ‘One Stone’ is consistently lovely, excitingly unconventional, and thoroughly extraordinary. ‘One Stone’ runs through February 19 at Cinnabar Theater, www.cinnabartheater.org. '1776' runs Friday–Sunday through Feb. 26 at Spreckels Performing Arts Center. www.sp[reckelsonline.com
Valentine’s Day is less than a month away, and love is already in the air at some local theaters. Well, love and sex, and betrayal … and sex, and also mathematics … and sex, and stage-fright, fake kissing, real kissing … and sex. Sound fun? Let’s start in Ross, in Marin County, where the Ross Valley Players have just opened a four-week run of Lauren Gunderson’s surreal 2010 drama, ‘Emilie: La Marquise Du Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight.’ That’s an unwieldy but intriguing title for an intriguing but unwieldy play, the true story, sort of, of the Emile Du Châtelet, an 18th Century mathematician, physicist and philosopher who scandalized French society by becoming the lover of the famous playwright-adventurer Voltaire - and challenged scientific assumptions by writing papers finding fault with some of the most esteemed thinkers of her day. In Gunderson’s poetically convoluted version, the show’s heroine has just died. Robyn Grahn plays her with undeniable charm, yet always feels strangely distant from us, as if she is relating her story from beyond the mists of time, which she is. The script is written that way. Offered a chance to relive and review her life, possibly even getting to finish her life’s work — a book describing the Life Force as a mathematical equation — Emilie finds that actually touching these memory-people she encounters leads to a nasty electric shock. Nice sound effects, by the way. Anyway, whenever Emilie’s story gets “physical,” in that she remembers doing the nasty with Voltaire or any of her other occasional lovers, she avoids ethereal electrocution by calling in a younger version of herself, played by Neiry Rojo, to handle all the kissing and groping. Director Patricia Miller takes a very bold, but ultimately unsuccessful risk in casting Catherine Luedtke as Voltaire. Luedkte, a first-rate actor, does everything she can, but the choice doesn’t work, taking an already over-analytical, over-complex story, and adding another level of unreality, pushing it all even further from the grasp of the audience’s emotions. We want to feel for this brave, intelligent woman, but she never seems real enough, despite Grahn’s best efforts to make her so. Yes, the scientific stuff is frequently thrilling, but the sexy parts - mainly reduced to men chasing women while shouting “hoo-hoo-hoo” - are about as un-sexy as a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Considerably sexier—and considerably more convincing—is 6th Street Playhouse’s production of Ruhl’s “Stage Kiss,” directed with welcome farcical fury by Marty Pistone. This one is definitely easier to wrap one’s head around, but only so much. As written by Ruhl, this story of stage actors in love is so oddly structured as to require constant audience effort to absorb what’s happening some of the time. Structured as a play-within-a-play—followed by another play-within-a-play—‘Stage Kiss’ gives us two ex-lovers, He and She, played by Edward McCloud and Jenifer Coté. Both He and She are actors, thrown together in a very bad 1930’s play called ‘The Last Kiss.’ The other actors in the play-within-a-play are a delightfully underachieving bunch, played gleefully by Rusty Thompson, Lydia Revelos, Abbey Lee, and Tim Kniffin, all of them guided by a woefully unprepared Director, played by mollie boice. ‘Stage Kiss,’ as promised in the title, contains a whole lot of kissing - some serious, some very, very funny - and it’s entertaining to watch the way fake kissing can lead to real kissing, then back again. Though ultimately kind of pointless, vague, and a bit overly mean-spirited, Stage Kiss is an enjoyable enough romp, cleverly comparing the easy promises of love-struck fantasy with the hard-but-worthwhile work of creating real-life love. ‘Emilie’ runs Thursday–Sunday through February 5 at Ross Valley Players. www.rossvalleyplayers.com. 'Stage Kiss’ runs Thursday–Sunday through February 5 at 6th Street Playhouse. www.6thstreetplayhouse.com
Whatever else one has to say about the year 2016, for those in the North Bay who love live theater, it’s been an especially strong year. If you were willing to do your homework, make good choices, take some chances, and keep at it even after the occasional disappointment, there have been a high number of truly exceptional shows playing on local stages over the last 12 months. So what better way to end the old year and start the new one than by attending a party at one of our fine local theaters. It’s become a tradition, for some companies, to kick off their new year with a performance of the first show of that new year. Cinnabar Theater, in Petaluma, has turned the tradition into one of its best-attended fund-raisers of the year. This time, on Saturday night, December 31st, they’ll be launching another year-end gala with the first performance of the new one-woman musical “Sophie Tucker: Red Hot Mama.” Written and performed by acclaimed Tony-nominated actress Sharon McKnight, ‘Red Hot Mama’ tells the story of Sophie Tucker, the renowned burlesque, vaudeville and Broadway performer who made a name for herself with her tough-as-nails, bawdy and boozy songs and banter. The show features several of Tucker’s most famous songs, including ‘Red Hot Mama,’ “My Yiddishe Mama,” and “I Don’t Want to Be Thin.’ McKnight was nominated for a Grammy award for best supporting actress for the 1989 sci-fi musical ‘Starmites.’ Now a resident of Hollywood, she’s performed ‘Red Hot Mama’ all over the world. The show will have a full run at Cinnabar from January 6 – 22, but for those looking for a sexy and salacious way to sashay into the new Year, Cinnabar’s New Year’s Eve party will give a chance to see the show first, along with special musical entertainment, food and drinks, champagne and Auld Lang Syne. There’s just something about New Years and naughtiness. The other hot ticket for the New Years – so hot it had to be spread over two nights and three shows – is 6th Street Playhouse’s New Year’s Cabaret featuring Sandy and Richard Riccardi, performing their YouTube sensational songs about the weird side of life, love, politics and making it in a crazy world. The show runs once on December 30, at 8 p.m., and twice on New Year’s Eve, at 7 p.m. and again at 10, for those who want to be laughing at midnight when the calendar finally turns the page. To learn more and buy tickets, visit 6thsttreetplayhouse.com and/or cinnabartheater.org.
It all began on a road-trip to Ashland, Oregon. The acclaimed playwright Lauren Gunderson was taking a theater-going excursion with Margot Melcon, then the Director of New Play Development for Marin Theatre Company, in Mill Valley. On the drive, the two began discussing the need for alternative Christmas-themed plays. And having confirmed a mutual appreciation for the works of Jane Austen, soon began imagining a holiday play featuring characters from Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” They started sketching out scenes on a series of napkins borrowed from Starbucks, and the result, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, is now gaining rave reviews and playing to sold out houses at Marin Theatre Company, where it continues through December 23. Deliciously funny, and boldly old-fashioned, “Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley” is a sequel, of sorts. Pride and Prejudice, of course concluded with the marriage of Elizabeth Bennet (here played by Cindy Im) to the wealthy and charming Mr. Darcy (Joseph Patrick O’Malley). Elizabeth, of course, is one of five sisters. As Austen’s story now continues - under the skillfully knowing direction of Meredith McDonough – the happily married Darcy’s have invited three of Elizabeth’s sisters — Jane, Lydia, and Mary — to spend Christmas at Pemberley, their vast country estate, which Elizabeth has boldly adorned with a Christmas tree, a custom not yet common in England. That tree is almost a character unto itself. Sister Jane (played by Lauren Spencer), is now married to the affable Mr. Bingley (Thomas Gorrebeeck), and is, as they say, with child. Lydia (in a powerhouse performance by Erika Rankin) desperately tries to convince her sisters that her absent husband, Mr. Wickham, is not the scoundrel everyone knows him to be, and her duplicitous and hyperkinetic activities over course of the holiday cause at least one of the play’s many comic misunderstandings. The primary focus of the play, it turns out, is Mary Bennet, played with agreeably dry wit and plenty of simmering charm by Martha Brigham. Mary is the sister portrayed in the original novel as talentless and pointedly bookish, though not necessarily very bright. Well, thanks to Gunderson and Melcon, much has changed over the last two years. Mary, clearly, has evolved into a smart, observant and accomplished young woman, though no one seems to have noticed. The absence of the fifth sister, Kitty, by the way, is acknowledged in a funny, slightly “meta” reference toward the end of the play. The tale’s expected love story comes in the form of the painfully awkward bookworm Arthur de Bourgh, a magnificent Adam Magill, whose recently inherited the estate of Darcy’s aunt, the daughter of which, Anne, played by a hilarious Laura Odeh, suddenly appears to interrupt the growing love-at-nerd-sight romance between Arthur and Mary. The dialogue is sparkling and infectious, and the set by Erik Flatmo is a marvel, with snow constantly-falling behind the drawing room window, and even falling from the rafters onto the set itself. Fluffy and sweet as a Georgian Ice, Miss Bennet: Christmas in Pemberley is as captivating and delightful a holiday diversion as one is likely to find – with or without a Christmas tree. ‘Miss Benet: Christmas at Pemberley’ runs Tuesday–Sunday through December 23 at Marin Theatre Company. www.marintheatre.org
“Hope. Do we ever give up on hope? Even in the face of hard evidence?” That the question at the heart of Si Kahn’s succinctly-titled new musical memory play Hope, running through December 18 at Main Stage West theater, in Sebastopol. A world premiere, Hope is a surprisingly innovative, if not always entirely smooth collection of stories, some a little on the tall take side, that Kahn heard over and over growing up in a family of Jewish immigrants with a strong political conscience, and a clear knack for spinning a good yarn. Kahn, who authored Main Stage West’s popular musical Mother Jones in Heaven, is an award-winning folksinger, nationally renowned for his politically fueled songs and progressive activism. Hope is his fourth Main Stage West collaboration with director Elizabeth Craven. In the new show, transformed from a straightforward monologue-type piece into something far more theatrical and a bit strange and wonderful, Kahn uses stories to mine his own family’s past, borrowing songs from his own celebrated discography. These are stories of his aunts and uncles, parents and grandparents, including some relatives he never got a chance to meet. Filled with references to pogroms and concentration camps, these are stories of hope somehow surviving in the midst of unspeakable loss and sacrifice. As one piece of the massive story of European immigration to America in the 1900s, it’s powerful stuff. Which is not to say it isn’t occasionally very funny. In presenting Kahn’s loosely connected stories, Craven and her troupe of four actor-singers and three versatile musicians have created something altogether unexpected, though a bit confusing. Kahn’s first-person narration has been spread out amongst the members of the cast, each of whom tell bits of the author’s family history, all speaking as Kahn. While ultimately quite effective, this approach takes a while to figure out, and leads to some initial befuddlement. That said, the stylized storytelling does yield some supremely satisfying fruit. The expert cast features Mary Gannon Graham, Sharia Pierce, John Craven, and Alia Beeton, working their way through short overlapping vignettes of determination, love, resilience and grief, playing an array of characters: from Si Kahn himself to members of Kahn’s family, to Cossacks engaged in pogroms, and even a hilarious Angel of Death, who gets laughs with lines like, “Oy, what a day I’ve had!” At such times, ‘Hope’ resembles nothing as much as a Jewish immigrant ‘Hee Haw,’ the popular 1969-1981 television show combining country music, one-liners, and folksy sketch comedy. The main difference, of course, is that ‘Hee Haw’ went solely for belly laughs, while Kahn’s deeply personal assemblage of memories aims straight at the heart. The ensemble is first-rate, and under the musical direction of Jim Peterson, Kahn’s songs are simply and precisely orchestrated for maximum emotional impact. Craven’s gracefully energetic staging, though a bit uneven at times, is always striking and dreamlike in its flow. Despite some wobbly moments, it works, much like a really good Si Kahn folksong, serving up its scraps of dreams and slivers of hope with quiet power, and deep, wholehearted emotion. ‘Hope’ runs Thursday–Sunday through December 18 at Main Stage West. www.mainstage west.com
Describing a new Cirque du Soleil show is a little like describing a dream while still half asleep. Talking about ‘Luzia,’ appropriately subtitled “A Waking Dream of Mexico,” is roughly that difficult. Presented through January 29 under the company’s conspicuously festive big-top tent in the parking lot of San Francisco’s AT&T Park, ‘Luzia,’ directed by Daniele Finzi Pasca, is a rain-drenched love-letter to the vast, colorful culture of Mexico. Though dazzling throughout, the luxurious show succeeds especially well in the first of its two spectacular acts, as a luck-challenged traveller—played by the acclaimed clown Eric Fool Koller—tries against odds to get … well, we’re not sure till the end where he’s so desperate to get to, though he clearly would appreciate a nice cool drink of water along the way. Koller is first seen falling from an airplane, dangling downward past birds and clouds as he descends from the towering heights of the tent, improvising a safe landing after losing his parachute. Throughout the rest of the show, our plucky wanderer finds himself stumbling in-and-out of various mind-boggling landscapes and experiences, first encountering a stunning Monarch butterfly with enormous puppeteer-powered wings, dance-flying alongside a remarkable mechanical horse, running in slow motion on a series of speeding-and-slowing treadmills. Then there are the acrobatic hummingbirds, impossibly bouncing their way through a series of ever-rising hoops; a Tarzan-like acrobat dancing in-and-out of a pool of blue water, as a friendly jaguar prowls and frolics on the periphery; a Mexican wrestler, who achieves the ultimate dream of schoolyard children, on a massive swing that, in one heart-stopping moment, actually takes its rider all the way around; there’s a crew of filmmakers who take over the stage to make a movie in which a classic circus strongman climbs higher and higher on stacks of chairs. I can’t even begin to describe the dancing cacti, but do be warned, because they are as crudely sexy as they are delightfully silly. Eventually, the show’s amazing sights and stirring sounds – the latter provided by a guitar-playing band of crocodiles and a power-voiced chanteuse – all start to blend and overlap in a kind of uniquely Cirque du Soleil sensory overload. As stunning as the visuals are, nothing prepares us for the wall of rain that routinely falls across the stage, drenching its performers, which include a team of women dancing, twirling, and spinning inside of enormous hoops, and a pair of break-dancing soccer players who commit act of gravity-defying glee using an ever moving soccer ball. Then, in one jaw-dropping sequence, that sheet of rain becomes the show itself, at first dividing itself into two, then raining in falling patterns to the left and then the right, and finally transforming itself into a magical canvas, dropping its raindrops in the patterns of fish and birds, butterflies, and other visions. I know it was done with computer-timed releases of water, but knowing that doesn’t detract from the utter amazement of the effect. Perfectly timed to the beats of pulsing, soul-reaching music, the magnificent rain sequence was easily one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen on stage. With a rotating, ever changing set by Eugenio Caballero — who won an Oscar for his work on the sublime ‘Pan’s Labyrinth — ‘Luzia’ reaches past dreams and beyond logic to create a world you might not want to leave. And might just want to go back and experience again. Luzia runs through January 29 at AT&T Park. Visit CirqueduSoleil.com/luzia for more details.
Have you ever noticed that most stories that appear, on the surface, to be all about death and dying, actually turn out to be all about life and living? It’s true. Think about Joan Didion’s memoir ‘The Year of Magical Thinking,’ or C.S. Lewis’s ‘A Grief Observed.’ What about Anne Tyler’s ‘The Accidental Tourist,’ or movies like ‘Heaven Can Wait,” ‘The Descendants,’ or Pixar’s ‘Up,’ or even plays like the recent ‘Fun Home’ and the obvious ‘Death of a Salesman.’ All of these stories use the inevitability of death and dying, and the trappings of grief, to cast a clear, comparative light on the many joys, privileges, and bittersweet consolations of surviving death, of finding a way through grief, of being alive. In such a spirit of philosophical death-musing comes Jane Alexander’s deliciously rich drama The Quality of Life, now playing at Cinnabar Theater in Petaluma. Featuring four superb performances, the play is a beautifully-crafted series of alternately heavy and lighthearted discussions about death and life, and everything in between—culminating in a gorgeous two-part climax that is at once breathtaking in its poetic simplicity and stunning in its blunt clear-eyed wisdom. Dinah and Bill—played by Susan Gundanas and Richard Pallaziol—are conservative Christians from the Midwest, each struggling in their own way with the recent brutal death of their teenage daughter. When Dinah learns that her cousin Jeanette—played by Elly Lichenstein—has lost her Northern California home in a wildfire, and that her husband Neil—James Pelican—is in the final stages of cancer, the straight-laced Midwesterners decide to visit their hippy-dippy in-laws, and are stunned to find their hard-hit in-laws living blissfully in a yurt beside the blackened and skeletal remains of their house. Dinah and Bill are in for another surprise when they learn that Neil, who inhales a great deal of pot as relief from the pain, plans to take his own life in a few weeks – after he and Jeanette throw one last blowout of a party. What perhaps sounds depressing and heavy is anything but in Anderson’s lovely, humor-filled script. In fact, the level of intellectual debate that unfolds between this oppositional foursome is at times exhilarating, as this mismatched foursome power through a list of hot-button topics, from medical marijuana and right-to-die issues to the question of whether God actually truly has a plan for our lives. The striking and unusual set, by Nina Ball, is truly impressive, all scorched timber at crazy angles on a patch of real dirt complete with a rather realistic campfire. And the lighting by Jon Tracy effectively gives a sense of time, from early morning to late evening. Taylor Korobow’s sensitive direction is unfussy and clean, focusing on building intensity through the ever-shifting relationships of the all-too-human characters. Though an unnecessary opening sequence, set to Bob Dylan’s It’s Not Dark Yet, is more confusing and odd than engaging, and mainly just serves to delay the start of the action, Korobow’s work with her actors is marvelous, drawing effective and dialed down performances that are powerful without pushing too hard. I encourage you to overlook what might sound like a downer, and take a chance on Quality of Life, a gripping, moving, funny and life affirming examination of the ways that death, ironically enough, does have ways to remind us that life, for all its shocks and snares and unhappy twists, really is worth living, and worth savoring, right to the end. ‘Quality of Life’ runs through October 30 at Cinnabar Theater, cinnabaretheater.org
The Threepenny Opera — Bertolt Brecht’s 1928 “play with music — is like an expensive desert that’s so complex and filled with flavor most people can’t quite figure out how to enjoy it. That’s how Brecht liked it. A proponent of what he called “Epic Theater,” Brecht was not interested in entertaining his audiences or allowing them to become lost in the emotions of a story. He wanted his audiences to stay a bit uncomfortable, to remain just distant enough from their feelings —and from the show they are watching — to always be thinking about how the play is being presented, what it all actually means. Therefore, I’d say that for most people, the only significant obstacle in 6th Street’s thoroughly effective and often delightful production of Threepenny Opera is that in the end, it’s still The Threepenny Opera. Staged in the larger G.K. Hardt theater, it a fascinating choice for 6th Street, where its main-stage musicals have tended, of late, toward the safe and predictable. Directed by Michael R.J, Campbell, Threepenny features thrilling singing voices, excellent musical direction by Janis Dunson Wilson, frequently brilliant staging, cooler-than-cool visual stylings, and whimsically Brechtian touches. The set, essentially a large room filled with props and costumes, resembles a theater hoarder’s paradise, and I loved those chalk-drawn signs some characters hold up from time to time, and that well-lit proscenium over the stage, chalked over with the scrawled titles of all the songs, constantly reminding us that this is, after all, just a play with music. The music, by the way, is by Kurt Weill, and includes some of his best known songs. The story is set in London in 1937, and plays like a Victorian-version of the Rocky Horror Show. It’s gleefully sexy and aberrant, and joyously contemptuous of those too sensitive and proper to sit and watch a dark, twisted, tune-filled show about the seedy underbelly of society. Ironically, the musical—based on John Gay’s 1728 “The Beggar’s Opera”—is actually (if you pay attention) all about Europe’s wealthy class of bankers and businessman, who too-often behave like crooks and murderers. Though in Threepenny Opera, we get crooks and murderers behaving like bankers and businessmen. The show’s best-known song (“The Ballad of Mack the Knife”), is presented in a gothy prelude by an accordion-playing street-singer (a first-rate Shawna Eierman), after which the plot-heavy story introduces Mr. and Mrs. Peachum (Robert Rogers & Eileen Morris, both excellent). The Peachums oversee a network of robbers and thugs, rivaled only by the vicious gang of the knife-wielding Macheath (a wonderful Jerry Lee, singing beautifully while looking like a cross between Charlie Chaplin and Gomez Addams). When Mack secretly marries the Peachum’s daughter Polly (Molly Larsen, adding yet another excellent voice to the cast), things get complicated. It seem Mack has more than one wife, and a girlfriend or two on the side. One of them, the prostitute Jenny, played powerfully by Seran Elize Flores, reluctantly collaborates with the Peachums to have Mack arrested, his eventual fate illuminated, literally, the noose hanging over the stage, occasionally lit by a spot so we don’t forget its there. The twisty tale is deliberately hard to follow (Brecht trikes again), but for venturous audiences willing to take their tea with a bit of arsenic, this energetic romp of an anti-capitalist fable is served up with enough style to keep you smiling, even as it sends you out of the theater thinking hard, and perhaps just a little unsettled. 'Threepenny Opera’ runs Thursday–Sunday through October 23 at 6th Street Playhouse. www.6thstreetplayhouse.com
Victorian England produced some spectacularly bloody and murderous literature. Some was written and published, some began as the stuff of urban legend before being translated for the stage or to the cheap and popular ‘penny dreadful’ magazines that were filled with stories of the macabre, the sensational, the bloody, the mysterious. Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes mysteries landed somewhere in between. And gruesome tales like that of Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett, they were retold in increasingly outrageous and shocking ways. Continuing the trend of transforming gruesome Victorian potboilers into new forms of entertainment, two of the best tales from this era are currently running at two different Sonoma County theaters. Baskerville—running for one more weekend at Spreckels Performing Arts Center—is Ken Ludwig’s ultra-spoofy take on Arthur Conan Doyle’s Hound of the Baskervilles, one of Sherlock Holmes most popular adventures. Directed by David Yen, who demonstrates an obvious affection for Monty Python and the Airplane films, Baskerville follows Holmes and Watson—played by Stephen Cannon and Chris Schloemp, respectively—as they take on the case of a wealthy man killed on the moors by a mysterious beast. As written by Ludwig, the play is jam-packed with pratfalls, outrageous accents, crazy characters, and silly walks. Yen stages such stuff brilliantly, and adds a number of wacky bits of his own, including a massive cloud of machine-made fog that seems to have a mind of its own. Trust me, if you sit in the front row, you’re gonna get fogged. The cast of five is mostly excellent. Though Cannon’s ultra-dry delivery as Holmes reads as lifeless and unfunny much of the time, the rest of the cast is a brisk and bouncy delight. Especially Larry Williams, excelling in an array of wildly over-the-top roles. Watching him tumble down stairs is a hilarious hoot. Kim Williams and Zane Walters do exceptional work as well, playing numerous potential murderers and/or victims. The best performance in the show, though—thanks to Williams’ utter commitment to the moment—is from the floppy stuffed-animal appearing as the mysterious Hound itself. Rarely has an inanimate object been funnier. If only “Sweeney Todd,” now p;aying at the Raven Theater in Healdsburg, had had same level of energy. Though featuring one of the best orchestras I’ve ever heard in the North Bay—with expert musical direction from Lucas Sherman—Stephen Sodheim’s spirited, darkly fun tale of murder and cannibalism feels disappointingly stiff and dour. Directed by Carl Hamilton—who delivered one of 2015’s best shows in All My Sons—this Sweeney is dealt a mortal blow by stiff and constricted, overly presentational staging that, despite several nice visual touches—I loved the falling red fabric when key characters die—often feels flat and frozen. A bit more melodramatic vitality and dynamism is called for in this kind of show. IT might be dark and bloody, but it should also be larger-than-life, over the top, melodramatic … and maybe even fun. As Todd, Matt Witthaus cuts a fine figure, and reveals a powerful singing voice—put this man in more musicals—but the dark intensity of presence for which Witthaus has become known is rarely capitalized on in this production. Far more lively and on-the-mark is Tika Moon as the pie-making Mrs. Lovett, balancing her characters’ dark humor and comic tragedy with masterful ingenuity. The Raven’s Sweeney Todd certainly has its moments. Too bad it doesn’t have more of them. 'Sweeney Todd’ runs Friday–Sunday through October 9 at the Raven Performing Arts Center. www.raventheater.org ‘Baskerville’ runs Thursday–Sunday through October 4 at Spreckels Performing Arts Center. www.spreckelsonline.com
Two appetizingly notable stage plays, both currently running in the North Bay, feature the unpredictable combustible power of people related to one another, or about to be, sitting down to eat dinner together. Yes, the family dinner. What has been lauded and celebrated as the linchpin of the American family, appears on two local stages, not necessarily as the glue that holds people together, but as the launching pad that, at many moment, could blow everything apart. Marin Theatre Company’s August Osage County, directed by Jasson Minadakis, is a solid, well-performed, but oddly distant, and strangely unsatisfying staging of the 2008 Pulitzer winner from Tracy Letts. At the center of the play is a family dinner that starts off friendly and ends in chaos. Usually presented with detailed realism, this is a deliberately surreal production that emphasizes the family-meal elements of the script by building a massive tabletop structure into the stark, skeletal bleacher-like set. Though worth checking out for the ugly beauty of Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer-winning script, there’s something off-the-mark about the production, which seems to have missed the point of the play, but at least misses it in an interesting way. With a magnificent lead performance by Sherman Fracher as Violet Westin, the ferocious pill-popping matriarch of an Oklahoma clan gathering together after the disappearance of their paterfamilias dad, the play is solidly acted by a strong cast of thirteen. Minadakis’ choice to have the actors pantomime some props is interesting, placing metaphorical emphasis on those props (pills, pot, cigarettes, alcohol) that are real. But in attempting to turn Letts’ meticulously realistic play into a tone poem about the addictiveness of casual family cruelty, this admirable but unsuccessful production blunts the razor-sharp edges of the playwright’s brilliantly brutal storytelling. Inaugurating Left Edge Theater’s brand-new 60-seat performance space at Luther Burbank Center. Director Argo Thompson serves up Dan LeFranc’s high-concept play The Big Meal covering four generations in the life of a typical American family, as told through a series of short (sometimes very short) vignettes, all presented by a character-shifting cast of eight actors, each and every scene set … in a restaurant. The ensemble show features a superb 9-performer cast that includes Sonoma County veteran actors Kimberly Kalember and Joe Winkler (Man #1), along with Sandra Ish, Graham Narwhal, Liz Frederick, and Jacob de Heer. All are excellent, playing sweeping arcs of love and loss in a show that is as ambitious in its scope and as it is, unfortunately, a bit lacking in any real payoff or point. Not that life has a payoff or point, of course, which apparently, is part of the point of ‘The Big Meal.’ That said, the combined pleasure of seeing so much good acting one stage, in a story about learning to savor life as long as we can, makes this uniquely-told story well worth pulling up a chair for. 'The Big Meal runs Friday–Sunday through September 25 at Left Edge Theater. Leftedgetheater.com ‘August Osage County’ runs Tuesday–Sunday through October 2 at Marin Theatre Company. Marintheater.org
Jack London. One cannot grow up in Sonoma County, or even visit here for very long, without gaining at least some awareness of who Jack London was. Few local school-kids can’t tell you that London wrote books about wolves and dogs, and some might even be able to name ‘White Fang’ and ‘Call of the Wild.’ Anyone whose done a bit of wine tasting in the Valley of the Moon probably knows that London’s home is now a State park a mere 30-minute drive from Santa Rosa. And of course, this year, the world marks the centennial of London’s death in 1916, with numerous events taking place all over the county. Interest should be high, therefore, for Cecilia Tichi’s passionate, fact-filled, over-long but generally well-performed world premiere, The House that Jack Built, running now in the Studio at 6th Street playhouse. Directed with resourceful tenacity by Craig Miller, the play appears alongside Charlie Bethel’s acclaimed one-man telling of the aforementioned sled-dog adventure, Call of the Wild, also in the Studio. Propelled by a first-rate performance by Ed McCloud as Jack London, ‘The House That Jack Built’ is set in August of 1913, three years before his death, just as London was completing construction on Wolf House, the vast rock-and-redwood residence he’d sunk his dwindling fortune into building for himself and his wife Charmian, played nicely by Elizabeth Henry. It is one of the clever pleasures of Tichi’s script that the house of the play’s title extends not just to the literal Wolf House, but also to the wide world London spent so much time exploring, and the future of which we clearly worried about, and often covered in his progressively political writings. If only the script had focused a little more tightly on that one theme, or any one theme, even just being willing to explore this one pivotal moment in London’s life, instead of trying to tell the entirety of London’s life in the series of long monologues and flimsily constructed conversations that make up the first act. Few Sonoma County residents don’t know the eventual fiery fate of Wolf House, but that something bad is going to happen to it is easy to guess from all of the first-act foreshadowing about insurance and creditors. The act is anchored by a long barroom conversation between London and three old associates —boyhood pal Frank Atherton (Lito Briano,) newspaper reporter Cloudesley Johns (James Rowan,) and photographer—and one-time South Sea shipmate—Frank Atherton (Matthew Cadigan.) The actors do what they can with the material. As bar-owner Johnny Heinold, Ben Harper is delightfully natural, all watchfulness and easy grace. But the whole first act is little more than a vigorous recitation of well-researched historical details that the playwright – a scholar at Vanderbilt University – felt lovingly compelled to squeeze in. The second act—highlighted by an unexpected boxing match and the climactic event that altered the course of London’s life—is far livelier, but still feels less like a play than an interpretive docudrama presented to visiting tourists. If this were Disneyland, it would be performed by animatronic robots. The House That Jack Built—for all its charms and local significance—strains under the weight of being so aggressively “educational.” That said, it’s never boring, and it has moments that are genuinely and deeply moving, due mainly to McCloud’s muscular, fully engaged performance—and, of course, to the wild, wooly excitement of London’s truly extraordinary life. 'The House That Jack Built’ runs Thursday–Sunday through September 25 at 6th Street Playhouse. 6thstreetplayhouse.org
It’s been twelve years since Stephen Walsh last played Tony the grape grower, in the classic Frank Loesser musical ‘The Most Happy Fella,’ at Cinnabar Theater. And to employ an over-picked cliché, in his second run of the show at Cinnabar, Walsh has only gotten better, deeper and rich—like a really, really good wine. The show itself—about romantic complications arising when the much older Tony, an Italian wine-maker in Napa, impulsively leaves a love letter for a San Francisco waitress—is a blend of fantasy romance and soap-opera heartbreak. It’s like something John Steinbeck might have written if asked to pitch an idea for a musical about love. Nicely directed by Elly Lichenstein, with her patented knack for filling the stage with things to look at, the production pivots on the performance of Walsh, who not only sings gorgeously, but nails the role of a love-struck sweetheart who believes he’s too old and unattractive to deserve happiness. Walsh makes Tony’s emotional journey so believable it’s impossible not be happy when happy and devastated when his desperate attempt at love hits snags, which it does from the very beginning. This is hardly light and fluffy musical material. There is real human drama here, and the music—with the exception of the poppy ear-worm ‘Standin’ on a Corner’— is complex and operatic, beautifully light and dark, bubbly and haunting, and occasionally a bit weird. This is the kind of show in which people sing whatever is in their soul, even if that means singing a single name over and over and over. As Amy—who Tony seems to think is named Rosabella—Jennifer Mitchell is charming. She’s especially strong in the early scenes where she is tricked—due to Tony having sent her a photo of his foreman instead of himself—into believing that her coffee shop pen-pal is the young and handsome guy she recognizes from the photo when she arrives at the Vineyard. She’s there in Napa, having impulsively agreed to marry the man she’s been swapping letters with. Mitchell sings beautifully, and plays the early flirtations of love and attraction to lovely effect. When she learns of the deception, a series of actions take place that steer the tale in the direction of tragedy, but never leaves us doubting that true love might somehow be possible for Tony, one way or another, no matter how unlikely. Michael Van Why, as Tony’s optimistic farmhand Herman, is magnificent—like the Scarecrow of Oz crossed with Curly from ‘Oklahoma’—and his guileless courtship of Amy’s friend Cleo—a power-force performance by Krista Wigle—is a nice balance to the rockier romance of Tony and his “Rosabella.” The music, played simply on two pianos and a set of drums, is nicely directed by Mary Chun. There are many reasons to see this show, but in the end, it all comes down to Walsh, who returns to a favorite role after a dozen years, and somehow makes it even better, giving one of the best performances of his career, and easily one of the North Bay’s best musical productions of 2016. ‘The Most Happy Fella’ runs through September 25 at Cinnabar Theater, www.cinnabartheater.org
Hooray for Captain Spalding. And hooray for the weird, wonderful, creatively imitative assemblage of actors who are currently bringing the Marx Brothers ‘Animal Crackers’ to retro-ridiculous life at the 6th Street Playhouse. Originally a long-running play on Broadway, ‘Animal Crackers’ is best known for the 1930 movie version, considered by many to be the finest example of the pun-filled, language-assaulting, physically offbeat comedy that the Brothers Marx made a career of. The play, with songs by George S. Kaufman, also gave the Brothers Marx a tune they would become inextricably associated with: the aforementioned, Hooray for Captain Spaulding, a goofy prog-pop extravaganza containing one of Groucho’s indelible signature lines, ‘Hello, I must be going.’ The 6th Street production uses the Broadway script, so if you know the movie well, prepare for a bunch of bits and songs that were cut from the show when it was adapted for the screen. As Captain Spalding, played famously by Groucho, Jeff Coté gives an uncanny impersonation, from the painted mustache and active eyebrows to Groucho’s joyously twisty-turny dance moves. As the larcenous musician Emanuel Rivelli, aka Chico Marx, David Yen is delightful, blending mischievous enthusiasm with a confidently trouble-making underpinning of potential danger. Watching Yen and Coté toss famously outrageous one-liners back and forth is one of the show’s chief pleasures. “That’s a-not a flash, that’s a fish!” Well, that’s in the show. Also, expect a slightly sinister Harpo Marx, who, in the inventive, elastic-faced hands of actor Erik Weiss, is less an imitation of Harpo than a free interpretation of the goofily creepy Professor character he played in ‘Animal Crackers.’ Don’t expect Weiss to play the harp, though. In a conspicuously desperate and clunky homage to Harpo’s musicianship, director Craig Miller — who otherwise brings a parade of inventive ideas and cleverly inspired bits to the show – basically throws the brakes on the show as we in the audience watch Weiss, as Harpo, hanging out watching a movie of the real Harpo playing a tune. That probably should have been cut. On the other hand, Craig introduces a brilliant second act bit in which John Rathjen – absolutely superb in two supporting roles – steps out in his underwear to sing ‘Keep Your Undershirt On’ while putting on the costume of the marvelously droll butler Hives, nicely dueting with a similarly negligeed Jacinta Gorringe, as the marriage-minded matron Mrs. Rittenhouse. Also excellent, in duel supporting roles, is Abbey Lee, quick-swapping outfits and wigs as Mrs. Rittenhouse’s hot-to-trot daughter Arrabella and as the scheming neighbor Mrs. Whitehead. Lee, along with the aforementioned Rathjen, commands some of the show’s best musical moments, supported by a fine onstage orchestra under the direction of Justin Pyne, and some nice choreography by Joey Favalora. Unfortunately, many of the other voices in the cast often fail to soar or blend, unless, of course, one of the faux Mark Brothers is involved. To Tell the Truth, it’s hard to know whether Coté and Yen are singing well or not, because they sound so much like Groucho and Chico, and – like the rest of this overlong but frequently hilarious, beautifully and affectionately nostalgic show - are so stitch-in-the-side funny, nothing else really matters. ‘Animal Crackers’ runs Thursday-Sunday through September 18 at 6th Street Playhouse, 6thstreetplayhouse.com.
The issue of high ticket-prices is rarely discussed openly within the North Bay theater community, nor do many seem eager to talk about the arguable effect of prices on the widely reported erosion of the audience for live theater. But it’s an issue the community thinks, and worries about, nonetheless. It takes money to put on a show. But it’s not unreasonable to expect that the more you pay, the better a show you get. A fully professional, Equity theater such as Marin Theater Company can charge what they do because the quality of their productions tends to be consistently excellent. Training programs like those at SRJC, Summer Repertory theater, College of Marin and SSU continue to have solid audience followings, despite uneven and understandably student-level work, because they rarely charge more than fifteen dollars a ticket. But when the average North Bay community theater show costs 28 or 29 dollars—and almost always requires the audience to overlook the acceptability of at least a few eager-but-not-always-stellar actors, singers and musicians—the cost, when weighed against the quality, invariably works to drive down overall audience attendance, sending those potential patrons to other entertainment options, ones that deliver more dependable bang for the buck. Well, for maximum theatrical bang, there is no better bargain for your buck right now than Curtain Theater’s joyously lowbrow, energetically slapstick production of William Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors, running through September 11 in Mill Valley. Not only is the show good. It’s free. Yes, a hat is passed after the show, but given that the average per-patron donation for pass-the-basket shows is ten-fifteen dollars, this ludicrously over-the-top, highly energetic, crowd-pleasingly hilarious show easily offers the best all around bang-for-buck value to anyone seeking a bit of cleverly-wrought afternoon entertainment. Staged outdoors in the pleasantly redwood-shaded Old Mill Park, director Carl Jordan takes what is possibly Shakespeare’s crudest comedy, sets it in the 1920s, and adds a live band playing atmospheric tunes of the era, plus a few modern songs adapted to fit the style. Ingeniously mining the story for every possible pratfall, fart joke, rubber-chicken slap, and unexpectedly crude-gesture hibernating somewhere in the Bard’s gleefully bawdy text, Jordan’s cast—who should all be awarded prizes for most miles logged in a single onstage performance—attack this opportunity for outrageousness with an enthusiasm that astounds as often as it delights, even if Shakespeare’s ingenious language occasionally gets a bit muddied in the process. In the city of Ephesus—established as a colorfully dangerous place by Steve Coleman’s brilliant storybook set and Amanda Morando’s sexy performance of Coolio’s ‘Gangster’s Paradise’’—Antipholus of Syracuse (Adam Niemann) and his faithful servant Dromio (Heather Cherry) suddenly arrive, unaware that as children they were each separated from identical twins bearing their same names. The other Antipholus and Dromio (Skylar Collins and Nick Christenson) now live in Ephesus. Confusion quickly ensues as one set of twins is mistaken for the other, leading the resident Antipholus to accidentally alienate his wife (Melissa Claire) and make his sister-in-law (Heather Gordon) think he has fallen in love with her. Additional bits about gangsters, the twins’ father facing execution at sunset, and a frustrated goldsmith (Alexis Christenson, her hilariously snorty laugh a true thing of beauty) all bring value-added laughs to this first-rate example of how to give more while charging less. ‘Comedy of Errors runs Saturdays, Sundays and Labor Day, through Sept. 11, at Old Mill Park Amphitheater in Mill Valley. All shows are at 2:00 p.m. and are Free. Further info can be found at curtaintheatre.org
Some stage musicals are lighter than air, soothing as water, sounding good and feeling delightful as long as they last, then evaporating on the wind, fading fast into the folds of our cerebral cortex, almost immediately after the show is over. Big Fish, the new production offered by Gene Abravaya and Spreckels Theater Company, is that kind of show. Light and fluffy, with pleasant but strikingly unmemorable songs, tinged with a touch of serious human drama, but mostly just a good old-fashioned American musical. But, as written by John August, with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, this adaptation of the Daniel Wallace novel and the Tim Burton movie it inspired is so sweet-natured and so crammed with positivity and eye-popping pleasures, one can’t help but walk away feeling good. The stage version deviates wildly from the movie, which deviated wildly from the book. In many ways, the stage play is even more grounded and clear than the others, which tended to obfuscate the line between reality and fantasy. In the version now playing at Spreckels, playwright John August only occasionally muddies the line between what’s really happening and what is only happening in one of the many tall tales of master storyteller Edward Bloom. A travelling salesman with a knack for telling outrageous stories in which he’s always the hero, Bloom is played by Darryl Strohl-DeHerrera, who joyously protrays a variety of ages from teenage to old age. Bloom has spent his life gleefully fabricating encounters with mermaids and giants, werewolves and witches, but why? And why are there parts of his life he seems unwilling to even make up a story about? That what Edward’s adult son Will decides to find out. A recently married investigative reporter Will has always resented his father’s tendency to make things up. When Edward is diagnosed with a terminal illness, Will sets out to discover the real Edward Bloom, one way or another. Will’s mother Sandra—played nicely by Heather Buck, also portraying numerous ages — is clearly the love of Edward Bloom’s life, and in his stories, she’s the primary “plot motivation” for his various adventures and exploits, from his colorful love-at-first-sight encounter under a circus big top, to his unorthodox method of travelling to see her once he finds out who his heartthrob actually is. The script by John August drops some of the book and movies more outrageous images, so don’t go in expecting Siamese twins or magical glass eyeballs. The mysterious town of Specter, where no one where’s shoes and everyone seems to be under a magical spell? That’s gone too, which means August has to do a little fancy storytelling footwork to make the remaining pieces fit together. The cast is energetic and clearly having a great time playing so many colorful characters in gloriously offbeat costumes by Pam Enz. The songs by Andrew Lipa feature genuinely clever lyrics, though somewhat hampered by repetitive, oddly monotone and melody-restricted music. Most of the time, it’s all singing and no song. Abravaya’s staging makes ingenious use of Spreckel’s acclaimed projection system, which provides much of the ever-shifting scenery, along with a number of clever visual effects, including a man being shot from a cannon. Of course, the best part of a story is the ending, and ultimately, this ambitious and mostly satisfying production delivers a climax that is both impactful and surprising. It might even inspire you to call up your own parents or children, to tell them you love them—and perhaps to share a story or two. ‘Big Fish’ runs through August 28 at Spreckels Performing Arts Center, rpcity.org.
Let’s talk about Jukebox Musicals. That’s a slangy term describing a stage show that is built around an assortment of pre-existing, usually well-known songs, stuff you might have heard on the radio, or on a barroom jukebox. Most traditional musicals build the songs into the stories as a unified whole. A jukebox musical lets the songs themselves suggest the storyline, the characters, and the tone. It’s basically building a musical in reverse. Nice Work if You Can Get It, built around classic 20s and 30s songs by George and Ira Gershwin, is pleasant, classy, solidly performed, and light-as-a-feather. Written by Joe DiPietro, seems to evaporate almost as soon as its over, along with the majority of its pleasing but strangely unmemorable tunes, the two or three exceptions including ‘Someone to Watch Over Me,’ ‘S’wonderful,’ and ‘Fascinating Rhythm.’ The plot, about a Prohibition era playboy, falling in love with a sweet bootlegger on the eve of his marriage to a famous dancer, is slight and silly, but crammed with old-fashioned, simplistic charm. The performances are lively, if mostly just skimming the surface, and the dancing, from swing moves to ecstatic tap numbers, is frequently breathtaking. Rock of Ages—constructed from hard-rocking, face-melting, pop-rock-and-metal tunes from the garish 1980s—is coarse, crude, exuberant, and sprinkled with sleazy Sunset Strip darkness and danger. Created by Chris D’Arienzo Rock of Ages employs songs by Journey, Van Halen, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar, Starship and others in telling the story of Drew, a wannabe rocker stuck cleaning the bar at an L.A. music club, and Sherrie, the aspiring actress he falls hard for. That Drew will eventually break into a rendition of Steve Perry’s ‘Oh Sherrie’ is inevitable from the moment he first hears her name. While both working at the a legendary rock venue called The Bourbon Room, their budding romance is derailed by the arrival of Stacee Jaxx, the amoral lead singer of a band called Arsenal. A subplot involves a plot by German developers to raze the Bourbon Room to make way for chain stores, galvanizing the club’s supporters into various forms of protest, including repeated group performances of Twisted Sister’s ‘We’re Not Going to Take It.’ As written, it’s a bit of a hot mess, with a fair share of gleefully offensive moments and one potentially moving scene marred by the actors’ use of distasteful stereotypes. But overall, Rock of Ages is infectiously pleasurable, with loads of high energy, a kind of gritty youthful innocence, and tunes written to stick in your brain for days. 'Rock of Ages' runs through August 11, and ‘Nice Work If You Can Get It’ runs through August 13. Visit www.summerrep.com
Summer Repertory Theater Festival, Santa Rosa’s acclaimed training program, has returned for its 45th year. Over the last four-and-a-half decades, Summer Rep has earned a reputation as one of the country’s best experiences for young theater artists, who come from all over the U.S. to spend their summer rehearsing, creating and performing up to five shows, stage in repertory between June and August. Over that time, audiences have come to expect a certain degree of comfortable consistency in the shows staged each summer, usually an assortment of classics and Broadway favorites. But because this is a program designed to push and challenge its artists, sometimes something unusual, even a bit controversial, manages to sneak its way in. This year, that’s the case. In addition to the cozy-cute Gershwin musical Nice Work if You Can Get It, the rowdy heavy metal musical Rock of Ages, the Sondheim classic Merrily We Roll Along, and the musty bedroom-farce Boeing Boeing, Summer Repertory Theater is presenting one of its edgiest shows ever. Though you wouldn’t know it from the way Douglas Carter Beane’s The Little Dog Laughed has been marketed. Hardly the light-hearted romp the festival’s advertising suggests, this bold 2006 Hollywood satire brings a bit of welcome edge to a season crammed with frothy crowd-pleasers. The Little Dog Laughed – its title taken from the nursery rhyme about the dish who runs away with the spoon – is not quite an artistic triumph, due to some spotty performances by a cast otherwise game to tackle a very hard play. But for the sheer boldness of the choice, Summer Repertory Theater is to be commended. With luck, despite the show’s faults, I believe it may still find an audience in its final weeks. The story is narrated by Diane, a hyper-driven Hollywood agent played by Alexa Erbach, disappointingly off-key in a performance that is far too over-the-top. Diane’s client is a closeted second-tier movie star, Mitchell—played by Justin Genna, the best thing about the show. Mitchell yearns to balance his professional ambitions with his need to find real human connection. Early on, he drunkenly summons a scheming hustler, Alex, whose primary clientele is wealthy men—though he assumes he’s straight because he sometimes sleeps with his best friend Ellen. As Alex, David Miller, a bit weak in a tough role, though impressively committed to it, and Makenzie Morgan Gomez, as Ellen, is easily the next best thing about the production. Mitchell’s growing attachment to Alex creates a bit of a problem for Diane, who might still be able to turn Mitchell into a star—if she can only keep him in the closet. The script is clever, packed with sharp observations and inventive dialogue. The direction by Travis Kendrick is focused and well paced, but too heavy-handed to let the humor breathe. The cast is certainly to be congratulated for its professionalism in handling the script’s sexual content, its suggested nudity, and its intimately close proximity to the audience, the first row of which is seated close enough to touch them. Unfortunately, this kind of writing requires a better balance of darkness and comedy. Perhaps, with a stronger cast and direction, the frank and confrontational outrageousness of Beane’s socially biting storytelling might have been as funny as it is brutal, bleak, and unforgiving. 'The Little Dog Laughed' runs through August 7 at Newman Auditorium, on the campus of the Santa Rosa Junior College. www.summerrep.com
Janet Delaney examines the social-documentary style of Roman Vishniac’s work, drawing from her experience photographing everyday life in San Francisco and other cities. Janet Delaney is a photographer and educator based in Berkeley, California. Delaney's projects have received numerous awards, most notably three National Endowment for the Arts Grants. Her work is in the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Pilara Foundation, the de Young Museum, San Francisco, and more. She published a book of her 1980s San Francisco images entitled South of Market with Mack Books of London in 2013. From January to June of 2015 her early work from South of Market was exhibited in a one-person exhibition at the de Young in San Francisco. Janet is now revisiting this district with camera in hand. This program was made possible by the Alan Templeton Endowment in Memory of Lieselotte and David Templeton.
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