A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur

A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur

La Femme Theatre Productions

Theatre at St. Clements

September 22, 2018

Photo courtesy of
La Femme Theatre Productions

A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur, presented by La Femme Theatre Productions, poetically captures Tennessee Williams’ rhythms to draw you into the complexity of the characters.  Director Austin Pendleton orchestrates this stellar cast to gradually reveal their characters yearnings, motivations, and inner fears.  The scenic and lighting design by Harry Feiner magnificently creates a single room living space on the poorer side of St. Louis in 1939.  The overcrowded set dressing brilliantly reflects the characters’ deep need for fulfillment.  The four women in the cast gracefully dive beneath the surface to deliver heartfelt, genuine performances.

Dottie (played by Jean Lichty) is waiting for a very important call, while her roommate, Bodey (played by Kristine Nielson) is frying chicken and preparing deviled eggs for a Sunday picnic at Creve Coeur.  Bodey is obsessed with Dottie getting together with her brother, Buddy.  Dottie has her heart set on another man, the principal at the school where she teaches.  Bodey does not believe he is a good match for Dottie.  When Helena (played by Annette O’Toole) arrives and asks to speak to Dorothea, it takes Bodey a few minutes to realize she is asking for Dottie.  Helena is a teacher at the same school as Dottie.  They have been planning on getting an apartment together in a more affluent neighborhood, and Helena is there to collect the down payment.  Bodey thinks Helena is there to break some disturbing gossip to Dottie, and tries to keep them from speaking privately.  The presence of Miss Gluck (played by Polly McKie), the upstairs neighbor who suffers from depression due to the recent death of her mother, triggers specific reactions from each of the three women.  When Helena finally has a private moment with Dottie, she has to face her greatest fear.   

Kristine Nielsen, Jean Lichty, & Annette O'Toole
Photo courtesy of La Femme Theatre Productions

Tennessee Williams creates three highly complex characters in Dorothea (Dottie), Bodey, and Helena.  Dorothea is the fragile, idealistic, and aging Southern Belle who puts tremendous effort into maintaining her superficial and calm façade.  Jean Lichty reveals Dottie’s true heart in the opening scene with Bodey.  Their friendship is genuine.  Kristine Nielsen portrays Bodey as highly protective of Dottie.  Bodey’s personal need for Dottie to marry her brother is never spoken, but viscerally communicated by Ms. Nielsen.  When Dottie faces her fears in the climax of the play, Ms. Lichty relies on the genuine connection she created in the opening scene to build her character’s courage and fortitude.

Annette O’Toole’s Helena is highbrow and uptight.  Her entrance immediately creates a problem for Bodey.  Ms. O’Toole and Ms. Nielsen explore many levels of this conflict.  They build and vary their tone and physicality.  Even when they find a moment of agreement, they never drop the tension of competition.  After all her aggressive behavior, Ms. O’Toole is still able to elicit empathy when Helena’s deep sense of isolation is uncovered.

Annette O'Toole, Jean Lichty, Kristine Nielsen, & Pollu McKie
Photo courtesy of La Femme Theatre Productions

Miss Gluck represents the lonely end that each of the three women fear.  Polly McKie creates a dark and imposing presence that none of the other actors on stage can avoid.  She is what unites these characters in their struggle to survive.

This lesser produced Tennessee Williams play is a gem of complexity.  As he does in his other works, Williams sets up the fragile, artistic soul of the main character.  In this play, however, he surprises us by revealing the tender and vulnerable side of the characters who push their expectations on her.  Austin Pendleton and this marvelous cast take the audience on a truthful and intimate journey.  A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur is playing at the Theatre at St. Clements through October 21.   

Domenick Danza

Desperate Measures

Desperate Measures

New World Stages

September 10, 2018

Photo courtesy of Desperate Measures

What would it be like if Shakespeare’s morally complex Measure for Measure was transported to the Wild West?  This question is answered in the melodramatic musical, Desperate Measures, now playing at New World Stages.  The bold, bawdy, and highly skilled cast of six takes the book and lyrics of Peter Kellogg and music of David Friedman far over the top, delivering delightfully fun performances.  Director Bill Castellino’s concept is based on concise, rhythmic timing, and topped off with his clever and sharp choreography.

Conor Ryan & Lauren Molina
Photo courtesy of Desperate Measures

Johnny Blood (played by Conor Ryan) is waiting to be hanged for shooting a man who was flirting with his girl, Bella Rose (played by Lauren Molina).  Sheriff Martin Green (played by Peter Saide) believes Johnny’s actions were motivated by self-defense.  He seeks out Johnny’s sister, the virtuous Susanna (played by Sarah Parnicky), to plead for a pardon from the villainous Governor (played by Nick Wyman).  Susanna resides in a religious mission and is preparing to take her final vows to become a nun.  When the Governor meets Susanna, he is infatuated.  He tells Susanna that he will pardon Johnny if she gives him her chastity.  The Sheriff comes up with a plan to fool the Governor and get Johnny pardoned.  Mayhem ensues as both the Governor and the Sheriff fall in love with Susanna.  

Conor Ryan & Peter Saide
Photo courtesy of Desperate Measures

The small ensemble cast fills the theatre with high energy, crisp characterizations, and powerful vocal quality.  The chemistry between Sarah Parnicky and Peter Saide is magnetic, and only surpassed by the comic timing of Lauren Molina and Conor Ryan.  Nick Wyman plays the self-serving, evil Governor to the max, while Gary Marachek is rib-tickling as Father Morse, the drunken, jailed Priest who finds himself tricked into helping with the Sheriff’s plan.

Nick Wyman, Sarah Parnicky, & Peter Saide
Photo courtesy of Desperate Measures

Desperate Measures is pure fun!  After the precise work in Act I of setting up the characters, location, and dilemma, Act II picks up the pace and adds intrigue and hilarity.  Get yourself to New World Stages for a melodramatic, knee-slapping good time.

Domenick Danza

Heartbreak House

Heartbreak House

Gingold Theatrical Group

Theatre Row

Photo courtesy of Gingold Theatrical Group

George Bernard Shaw’s stinging social commentary is clearly played out in Gingold Theatrical Group’s Off Broadway production of Heartbreak House.  Director David Staller’s concept allows the cast to go over the top with their characterizations and find the rhythm and timing that is highly entertaining and intellectually engaging.  This amazing cast draws you in with humor, and before you know it, you are absorbed in Shaw’s dark and truthful themes of human nature.

The opening of the show takes place in 1940 in London, England.  We are in the basement of the Ambassadors Theatre during an air raid drill.  In an effort to keep the audience calm, the actors and staff from the Ambassador decide to perform George Bernard Shaw’s Heartbreak House.  They distribute the roles, throw on costumes, and transport us to the Villa of Captain Shotover (played by Raphael Nash Thompson) in Sussex, England in 1914.  Ellie Dunn (played by Kimberly Immanuel) is visiting the Captain’s daughter, Hesione Hushabye (played by Karen Ziemba).  Hesione tries to talk Ellie out of her intended marriage for money to Boss Mangan (played by Derek Smith), and plans on seducing him to achieve her objective.  Ellie admits to Hesione that she is in love with someone else, who, unknowingly turns out to be Hesione’s husband, Hector (played by Tom Hewitt).  Hesione’s sister, Ariadne (played by Alison Fraser), returns to her father’s house with the title of Lady Utterword.  She departed years earlier to start a successful marriage into money.  She is followed by her brother-in-law, Randall (played by Jeff Hiller), who has been smitten with her for years.  Ariadne keeps him well under her thumb, while she pursues her attraction to Hector.  They all chase after their heart’s desire, comment each other’s true motivation, and face their own flaws and heartbreaks.

The cast of Heartbreak House
Photo courtesy of Gingold Theatrical Group

Karen Ziemba is charismatic and beguiling as Hesione.  She has a powerful presence that grabs your attention.  Alison Fraser is funny and cunning as Ariadne.  Her timing and vocal characterization are impeccable.  Both women create characters who live up to the Greek mythological figures they are named after.  Tom Hewitt is bold and debonair as Hector.  He exudes a magnetism that justifies the attraction of the three main female characters in the play.  Kimberly Immanuel plays the innocence and naiveté of Ellie Dunn beautifully, then dives into her deceptive side with charm and commitment.  Strong performances are also delivered by Jeff Hiller, Lenny Wolpe, Raphael Nash Thompson, and Derek Smith.

Photo courtesy of Gingold Theatrical Group

The costumes, by Barbara A. Bell, are superb.  They clearly define each character, while setting the tone and dual time periods of the show.  Scenic design, by Brian Prather, utilizes the small space at the Lion Theatre by providing a second level.  His attention to detail allows the play within a play concept to work smoothly.  Lighting design, by Christina Watanabe, creates an effective ending, which dramatically connects to the 1940 air raid drill.

George Bernard Shaw explores the idea that heartbreak is the human experience that allows us to accept the position and truths of our lives.  He develops this theme from the different point of view of each character.  This Gingold Theatrical Group production is well conceived and impeccably executed.  Heartbreak House is playing at Theatre Row through September 29.

 

Domenick Danza

Bernhardt/Hamlet

Bernhardt/Hamlet

Roundabout Theatre Company

American Airlines Theatre

Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

In Bernhardt/Hamlet playwright Theresa Rebeck debates the power of women to transcend societal expectation.  The play portrays the legendary actress Sarah Bernhardt as she takes on the monumental role of Hamlet.  She is the first woman to take on this role.  Since the men around her are unable to picture it, they are therefore incapable of supporting her in her quest.  Ms. Rebeck weaves the poetic texts of William Shakespeare and Edmond Rostand into her well-crafted play.  Director Moritz von Stuelpnagel explores the classically stylistic recitations of the period and allows them to evolve into deep, meaningful moments of discovery for the characters and the audience. 

The year is 1897.  In Paris the great Sarah Bernhardt (played by Janet McTeer) is rehearsing the role of Hamlet.  She is struggling with the character’s inability to take action amid Shakespeare’s lengthy and poetic soliloquies.  When her lover, Edmond Rostand (played by Jason Butler Harner), returns after working on his new play, they discuss her taking on this colossal project.  No one, including theatre critic Louis (played by Paxton Whitehead) thinks it is a good idea.  Alphonse Mucha (played by Matthew Saldivar), the artist who paints all her theatre posters, struggles to find the proper perspective for her portrait.  Sarah is determined to make Hamlet her own, which includes having Rostand rewrite it for her.

Dylan Baker, Janet McTeer, & Jason Butler Harner
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Cmpany

Janet McTeer captures a poetic panache and egotistical command that grounds her embodiment of Sarah Bernhardt.  As she struggles to find the essence of Hamlet, Sarah waivers in indecision.  This causes the same incapacity to take action that Hamlet suffers from.  Ms. Rebeck skillfully draws this parallel between the true Sarah Bernhardt and fictional Hamlet.  Ms. McTeer plays this quandary perfectly.  As Sarah Bernhardt speaks passionately about what she wants to achieve in the role of Hamlet, her doubts rise to the surface making the rehearsal process slow and laborious.  Ms. McTeer has scenes where she technically recites Shakespeare’s lines, then brilliantly sinks into a rhythm that unearths the soul of Hamlet.  These scenes ring with truth and discovery.

Sarah Bernhardt as Hamlet

A woman taking on this classic role written for a man is seen as preposterous in Sarah Bernhardt’s time.  This judgement is juxtaposed with the fact that Shakespeare’s women were traditionally played by men.  Not only that, but many of Shakespeare’s female characters disguised themselves as men to achieve objectives they were unable to even attempt as women.  As all of this historic and literary fact is debated in this play, the male characters reveal their honest thoughts of what they expect when they contemplate a woman, especially one as strong as Sarah Bernhardt.  While projecting these expectations, they define her power, consequently confining her with limitation.  Sarah Bernhardt’s journey of surpassing these expectations is fascinating.  In this play, as in Shakespeare’s works where women disguise themselves as men, the characters who take the boldest and bravest action to achieve their desired outcome are the women. 

This Roundabout Theatre Company production is as grand as the legend herself.  Set design by Beowulf Boritt is lush and full of significant detail that grabs the audience’s attention and draws them into the time period.  The performances from the stellar cast of eleven are intelligent and truthful.  Bernhardt/Hamlet is playing at the American Airlines Theatre through November 11.

Domenick Danza

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever

Irish Repertory Theatre

Photo courtesy of Irish Repertory Theatre

The Irish Repertory Theatre’s rendition of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever is charming and delightful.  Artistic Director Charlotte Moore adapted and directed this production with a lighthearted touch and a sharp attention to detail.  The cast is diverse and talented, skillfully bringing the Burton Lane score and Alan Jay Lerner lyrics to dazzling life.  The set design and projection art by James Morgan captures the time period and engages the imagination for this fantastical story.

It is 1960s New York.  Daisy Gamble (played by Melissa Errico) goes to see a psychiatrist to cure her of her smoking addiction.  Dr. Mark Bruckner (played by Ben Davis) discovers that Daisy has a sixth sense and is highly susceptible to hypnotic suggestion.  While under hypnosis, she regresses to a previous life in 18^th Century England.  She is Melinda Wells, a strong-willed, passionate, and independent woman, quite opposite from Daisy’s personality.  Dr. Bruckner is beguiled by Melinda, and schedules Daisy for nightly session.  Daisy, sensing Dr. Bruckner’s attraction, falls in love with him.  When she discovers he is more interested in Melinda, she flees.  The flood of images from Melinda’s tragic death prevents her from leaving.  She now has to face her true feeling.

Melissa Errico as Melinda Welles
Photo courtesy of Irish Repertory Theatre

Melissa Errico is heartwarming and likeable as Daisy Gamble.  Her portrayal of Melinda Welles is bold and outspoken.  Her singing voice is robust and full of heart.  In her first session with Dr. Bruckner she sing “Hurry, It’s Lovely Up Here,” where she explains how she talks to flowers to get them to grow.  It is a gentle, loving, and honest insight to her character.  In Act II, after she finds she is not the main object of Dr. Bruckner’s affection, she sings “What Did I Have That I Don’t Have?”  It is a passionately delivered, soul searching moment for Ms. Errico.

Ben Davis is bold and commanding as Dr. Bruckner.  His rendition of the title song in Act I is captivating.  His voice soars, filling the theatre with deep and truthful emotion.  In Act II, when he realizes his true feelings for Daisy, he sings “Come Back to Me,” where he beckons her to return.  It is a daring and humorous delivery.  He and Ms. Errico have a great romantic chemistry and comic timing.

Photo courtesy of Irish Repertory Theatre

The ensemble is amazing.  Music Director John Bell and Choreographer Barry McNabb keep them sharp and succinct.  On a Clear Day You Can See Forever has been extended through September 6.  There’s still time to see this beautifully done and rarely produced gem.

Domenick Danza