AALM_TheatreReviewArchive

WORLD WITHOUT END
By Matt Cosper
Based on the classic "Antigone" by Sophocles
Directed by James Yost
Providence High School
Chaos Ensemble
Duke Energy Theatre at Spirit Square
April 25 - 28, 2012

Chaos Ensemble has tackled challenging work before, but this is the most complex so far. Based on the classic "Antigone" by Sophocles written centuries ago, we can recognize human frailties and faults in those characters that can, and still do, lead to tragedy.

In quick summary, Antigone's two brothers kill each other in battle, one defending the state, the other trying to overturn it. The victorious King Creon decrees that as punishment the defiant brother, Polyneices, will not be buried but will lie where he died (apparently not an uncommon practice at the time). Antigone finds this reprehensible and believes it to be morally wrong. She tries to convince her sister Ismene to help her bury their brother. When she will not help, Antigone rebels against Creon and is observed burying him herself, infuriating the king. Creon sentences Antigone to death even though she is to marry his son Haimon.

Playwright Matt Cosper (and haven't we missed him?), with suggestions from director Jim Yost and the Ensemble have re-interpreted the story of Antigone while keeping some elements audiences may question. For example, Antigone is now Annie (Reem Saed, well-acted as a strong, relatable heroine), Creon is Kenny (Andre Egas, at times a comical yet imposing king), Creon's wife Eurydice is the Queen (Olivia Dalzell, always watchable), Antigone's sister Ismene is not re-named (Kacie Roller effective as angry but scared), there is a Clown (Halley Freger, good job) who delivers bad news to Creon, and musicians Brian Froeb on guitar and Jon Michael Askew on drums who effectively underscore the play. The actors wear garish makeup because ancient Greek actors wore masks on stage, yet their clothes are contemporary shabby chic. The stage is bare, except for props like suitcases and yards and yards of plastic sheeting (which is also used as backdrop for the stage, and its translucence provides opportunity for some lighting effects).

While it may look different from the original, the crux of the story is the same. There is a power struggle between Antigone and her uncle Creon. As king he demands absolute obedience from his subjects, believing he knows what is best for everyone, which Antigone denies him. She maintains burying her brother out of family loyalty and love is the right thing to do, then becomes so immovable in that position she can't/won't back down. As a ruler, he could grant clemency but, even with the protestations of his son, remains determined that Antigone must pay for her insolence. Against this backdrop, the Chorus, representing most of society, are followers. They eventually come to appreciate Antigone for her brazen non-conformity but are too frightened to do anything but stand by and watch the story unfold. In the end, both Antigone and Creon are self-defeating, not only destroying themselves but others as well.

Antigone, the character, is fascinating and must have been controversial at the time the play was written, and remains so. Few stories had women who were heroic in some way of their own accord. For centuries, women were treated like property, deriving their limited status from their association or relationships to men. But here is one who is uncompromising to the end. Yet, it's also clear that Antigone has a tragic hero's fatal flaw and must pay for her hubris. The irony is that in our modern world women still struggle with issues of independence. The examples are too numerous to name as certain unenlightened men, and even women, are threatened by strong women and try to control them and keep them "in their place."

Kudos to director Jim Yost, his student director Brian Garcia, and his energetic and dedicated cast who effectively execute a complicated and intricate staging. The blocking and choreography seem to flow flawlessly, and the actors make good use of the various props they employ. You know you're in for an admittedly "weird" evening when the Queen begins the play with a low-key soliloquy that ends in a rageful gun-toting threat. And, in one scene, father and son are fishing while the chorus waves plastic sheeting to simulate a pond, enhanced by a shimmering lighting effect. Suitcases and umbrellas are featured in some interesting ways. The underscore provided by the two musicians perched in the balcony provides contrasting touches of understatement and jarring riffs, and Mack White blows a couple of bars from "Careless Whispers" on the saxophone during his entrances.

World Without End, is a thought provoking play that is purposely vague about many of the questions the play presents, much to Matt Cosper's credit. That allows the audience to decide for themselves what they think of the characters and how it all relates to our lives. Teenagers come out of a childhood of certainties about what is right and wrong, and must confront an adult world full of hypocrisy, contradictions, and moral ambiguities. They have to make choices and decide what kind of person they want to be. Can they learn anything from the mistakes and extremes of Antigone, Creon, and the Chorus? I believe so, and adults can too, if they are open. ("There is always a king, no matter what you call him.") But, there are no easy answers to what it means to be human. Review by Ann Marie Oliva

Ann Marie Oliva is a playwright, fiction, non-fiction writer, and reviewer. She is the theatre/film editor of ARTS à la Mode and a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

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THE BIBLE: THE COMPLETE WORD OF GOD (ABRIDGED)
By Adam Long, Reed Martin, & Austin Tichenor
Stephen Seay Productions
Directed by Stephen Seay
Musical Director Ryan Stamey
Petra's Piano Bar
April 19, 21, 22, 24, 26, 28 & 29, 2012

It's heartening to see a young producer/director whose first priority is to entertain an audience with good work rather than worry about the politics of theatre, popularity, and the bottom line, which unfortunately happens too often as they achieve more notoriety. The process begins to be corrupted as more (financial) success is achieved, though there's no doubt that is an important consideration. I bring this up because for Stephen Seay Productions, at this point in its development, those initial instincts seem to be working out just fine, and there should be acknowledgment of that fact so it can be encouraged.

Not that The Bible: The Complete Word of God (Abridged) is a heavy duty, Strindberg-like, piece of theatre. It's really more like modern day vaudeville with fast-paced skits, jokes, songs and scenes about a sacred text that makes you laugh, groan, and in general have a good time without it being mean-spirited. The irreverent "abridged" shows started by the Reduced Shakespeare Company, and first performed by them, take great pleasure in clever parodies of our most sacred cows.

For the Bible edition the audience gets the full treatment from Genesis to Revelations, but only in the smallest, most "reduced" doses. The sometimes frantic pace and wacky comic pieces keep the constant action moving along. The show is helped enormously by the talented three-person cast of Leslie Ann Giles, Caleb Sigmon, and Christopher Jones, along with musical director Ryan Stamey, an impressive comic actor in his own right. And I wish we could have had more from him in that regard in the show. Ms. Giles acting/singing gifts are well-known and on display as she always works well with other actors in ensemble pieces. Christopher Jones has an appealing quality that doesn't fail him in his many characterizations. It is Caleb Sigmon, though, who dominates the stage whenever he is in sight, picking up steam as the production goes on.

An amusing short video begins the fun. The scale of the production is just right for Petra's Piano Bar, which provides a good atmosphere for this kind of intimate show. The audience sits close to the small bare stage so you really get the feeling of involvement, and even some interactive moments in the second act. There are more props than set pieces which is the way these shows are usually presented. Yet an unexpectedly complex rendering of Da Vinci's Last Supper, with face cut-outs, provides a good bit of laughter. For the most part, the props, as well as the costumes by Darlene Parker, are not extravagant but more than fulfill their purpose.

Overall, the sheer energy, excellence of the cast, and jovial atmosphere provide great fun for the audience. If you like comedy in a relaxed comedy club-type setting, you won't want to miss this show. Review by Ann Marie Oliva

Ann Marie Oliva is a playwright, fiction, non-fiction writer, and reviewer. She is the theatre/film editor of ARTS à la Mode and a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

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BUSYTOWN
Adapted by Kevin Kling
Based on the books of Richard Scarry
Music by Michael Koerner
Lyrics by Kevin Kling & Michael Koerner
Directed by Ron Chisholm
Children's Theatre of Charlotte
McColl Family Theatre
April 13 - 29, 2012

Busytown is very, well, busy. The constant flow of characters, set pieces, and props keeps the kids in their seats focusing on the action, not an easy feat to accomplish with young children in the larger McColl Family Theatre. Based on the beloved Richard Scarry book “What Do People Do All Day” the tone of the show is just right for those as young as three to early elementary grades.

Huckle the Cat (Sam Faulkner) is curious about what people do, as children are when their parents leave to go to "work" during the day. The audience is quickly introduced to a number of the characters by the entire company: Sgt. Murphy (Sidney Horton), Grocer Cat (Tanya McClellan), Farmer Alfalfa (Jeremy Shane), Pig (Caroline M. Bower), Stitches (Rozlyn Stanley), Mouse (Casi Harris), Blacksmith Fox (Olivia Edge), and Lowly Worm (Steven Ivey). Most of the ensemble actors play multiple roles with numerous wardrobe changes.

Some jobs shown include how a house is built, a letter is mailed, and a doctor's examination. Transportation is shown as important for moving goods and providing services to citizens. Huckle Cat offers to help bake a cake for a birthday party for Betsy Bear's grandmother so there is the opportunity to learn about the connection between how a farmer grows corn that is processed and then used for baking. In Busytown everyone contributes to the well-being of the community.

The technical aspects of the show are notable for the wondrous visuals, from the vibrant colors of cartoon-like pieces of set designer Bob Croghan to the clever props of Peter Smeal, especially the multiple vehicles with cars, a boat, and train cars moving all around the stage. The colorful costumes by Courtney Scott allow for many quick character changes. Eric Winkenwerder's lighting disallows any harsh glare. The overall look of the show is harmonious, warm, and pleasing. All the while the peppy musical direction of Drina Keen keeps the clever songs and lyrics moving the show along.

Director Ron Chisholm has done it again. It helps that his choreography creates movements that are broad and sometimes silly but understandable, and appeals to the children in all of us. (Those rehearsals must have been something to see.)

As for the actors, they work well together as a unit and every single one is enjoyable to watch. The youngest actor, Sam Faulkner, continues to grow as a performer and here he is bright and appealing. Olivia Edge and Caroline M. Bower have strong singing voices to go with their expressive acting. Jeremy Shane brings a nice touch of goofiness to his characters that gives him audience appeal. Sidney Horton and Tanya McClellan tend to play characters that lead or have authority, but they can also be childlike when it's called for in the show. Casi Harris and Rozlyn Stanley are fun to watch as they play different characters, and Steven Ivey is comically animated as the non-verbal Lowly Worm who hops around in one giant red sneaker.

Busytown is a lively, fun, and entertaining way to introduce younger children to theatre. Review by Ann Marie Oliva

Ann Marie Oliva is a playwright, fiction, non-fiction writer, and reviewer. She is the theatre/film editor of ARTS à la Mode and a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

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CLYBOURNE PARK
By Bruce Norris
Directed by Dennis Delamar
Actor's Theatre of Charlotte
April 6 - 28, 2012

Remnants of identity exist in any home that's had multiple owners--as memories cling to the floor plan and walls. Actor's Theatre is presenting such a home onstage, a home fraught with family and racial tensions, from the 1950s to today. It appears (here in Charlotte, just prior to a Broadway debut) through a new, Pulitzer-winning script, which references a classic African American play from half a century ago, with deeply tragic tones and yet a comical comparison of manners.

Lorraine Hansberry's 1959 play, A Raisin in the Sun, showed Americans how a middle-class black family in Chicago faced a wall of prejudice in trying to move to a better home in a white neighborhood during that era. Clybourne Park gives another side to that story, showing the white family moving out of the same house, before the black family moves in, with a white character from Hansberry's play, Karl Lindner, trying to convince them, too, that such a change in his community is not a good idea. Fortunately, he fails in both plays. But much more emerges here than just the fears of whites that their home values will go down with the darkening of the 'hood.

There's a tragic flaw in Russ and Bev's marriage, which their neighbors contribute to. It involves a son who died after his return home from the Korean War. Thus, Russ's relaxing in his pajamas while eating ice cream, Bev's continued packing and chattering at her husband, the black maid Francine's darting eyes, and the many boxes strewn around--all rest uneasily on unspoken pain, two and a half years after the son's death. When a neighborhood minister, Jim, visits and then Karl Lindner and his deaf, pregnant wife, Betsy, plus Francine's husband, Albert (who's there to drive her home after work), more and more gets revealed about the wounded family, prejudices in the neighborhood, and the color of class conflicts, masked by Cold War respectfulness, at the edge of the Civil Rights Era.

The second act, after a remarkable scene change, flips the race barrier. It shows a white couple, new owners today, who plan to demolish and rebuild the house, meeting with a black couple, who represent the local community and the Landmark's Committee trying to prevent them, with a legal petition. Each side has its lawyer there also, as they sit on makeshift furniture in what became a torn-up crack house, with the burned padding of a chair in the fireplace and an Obama "Yes We Can" poster left on the wall. They mostly avoid the petition at hand, while measuring their common class references (such as European travel and skiing)--unlike the white and black couples a half-century before. Yet, through telling jokes, as a dare to prove they're post-racial, the ghosts of prior conflicts become current.

Chip Decker designed the amazing set and its inter-act transformation. Director Dennis Delamar and assistant director Polly Adkins skillfully guided the actors in their transitions from Act I to Act II. Craig Spradley plays Russ in the first act and Dan (a worker who digs up a chest that Russ buried) in the second--with deeply rooted fury and wonder. Mitzi Corrigan plays Bev and then the white couple's lawyer Kathy with an even sharper contrast between ditzy anxiety and arrogant toughness. Brandi Nicole Feemster performs the maid Francine with a very expressive face and then gets to say much more with her whole body in the second act as the petitioner Lena (a reference also to Hansberry's powerful "Mama" figure). Jeremy DeCarlos has the most similarities to play between his two characters, Albert and Kevin, as the black husband supporting (yet disagreeing with) Francine and Lena, but finds ways to give each a different bearing. Ross Merrick also shows a half-century's change in peacemaking tactics, from the minister Jim to the lawyer Tom. Robert Lee Simmons and Sarah Mack make for the most distinctive pairing, as Karl and Betsy, the nervous rep from the Community Association and his often clueless wife, and then as Steve and Lindsey, a yuppie couple who argue their right to change the racially historic house and its gentrifying neighborhood.

More interactions with the carefully detailed walls, stairs, doors, and fireplace, in each act, might have made the human drama more touching. Yet, the fine performances in various doubled roles, along with the script's witty insights, evoke many tragicomic, multilayered, historical meanings in this play--showing how current generations still have much work to do in respecting and understanding others' racial views. Review by Mark Pizzato

Mark Pizzato is Professor of Theatre at UNC Charlotte and author of Ghosts of Theatre and Cinema in the Brain, Theatres of Human Sacrifice, and Inner Theatres of Good and Evil. His plays have been published by Aran Press and his screenplays, produced as short films, have won New York Film Festival and Minnesota Community Television awards.

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BRING IT ON
Book by Jeff Whitty
Music by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Tom Kitt
Lyrics by Amanda Green
Blumenthal Performing Arts
Belk Theater
April 10 - 15, 2012

Bring it On, the Musical is based on the popular series of movies that feature (in various combinations) rich, over-privileged white cheerleaders making contact with disadvantaged African-American cheerleaders and somehow combining their respective cultures through competitive cheering. The first movie actually isn't that bad, and manages to do two surprising things--it subverts the teen movie genre by being very aware of the tropes it must follow (puppy love, sacrificing everything for your dreams, and the importance of friendship), and creating a fairly convincing case for the beauty of competitive cheerleading. Kirsten Dunst and Eliza Dukshu star in the movie. It's a good, often quirky, teen movie that's worth checking out.

So when I saw the artists behind this adaptation I was very excited. The creators include Jeff Whitty, who wrote the Tony-winning book for Avenue Q, Tom Kitt, who was responsible for the music of Next to Normal, and Lin-Manuel Miranda, the composer and star of Broadway's In the Heights. I expected a wry, funny, subversive musical with some great tunes. Unfortunately, instead Bring it On stumbles about trying to find its feet and never really stretches too far beyond the expected.

The musical follows rising senior, Campbell (Taylor Lauderman) who is hoping to make her mark as captain of the cheerleading squad. She is shown to be kinder than her more stereotypical teammates, and she votes for the inclusion of sophomore Eva (Elle McLemore) who clearly wants to be Campbell. Mysteriously, Campbell's home is redistricted, which means she must transfer to an inner-city school that (gasp!) has no cheerleading squad. Instead, the school has a hip hop crew led by Danielle (played by Adrienne Warren). There are no surprises, really, as to where the story goes. Characterization and any real conflict are more or less disposed of. There's some tacit conflict between Campbell and Eva, but it's easily resolved. The love interest to Campbell is a nerdy music kid played by Jason Gotay. He falls in love with Campbell for her bravery when she is forced to wear a leprechaun mascot costume and still manages to dance in it. The relationship progresses pleasantly throughout the show without skipping a beat. The musical seems to conscientiously avoid creating any real dramatic tension.

But is the cheerleading any good? Yes, it's amazing! The cast is amazing. Taylor Lauderman must sing confidently while being tossed several feet into the air. The cast as a whole makes us believe they have always been competitive cheerleaders, and there are some truly amazing stunts performed throughout the show. The audience burst into spontaneous applause several times. There is something joyous in watching such talented young performers; it's unfortunate that they were not served better by the script--especially from such talented writers.

The setting by David Korin is theme park generic. Consisting of three movable video screens and banks of lights, the setting is strangely industrial. The projections (some computer generated) are almost without imagination. It looks as if once this production is finished, they could just slap in some new images for the video screens and do another musical. Other than some fairly clever uses of moveable lockers (which were often tipped on their sides and danced upon), the set is lackluster and adds little to our understanding of any deeper themes the musical might hold. It is all function and little else.

Jason Lyons' imaginative lighting design fares a little better. The show fairly pulsates with the dozens of LED lights that surround the stage. I'm not sure I agree with concept (since all lights are completely visible to the audience and create a sort of rock concert feel to the evening), but the resulting multitude of lighting cues was extraordinary.

All in all I felt let down. There are some truly extraordinary artists who collaborated on this production, but the result is a by-the-numbers teen comedy. Still, if you want to see some truly amazing young actors performing some extraordinary cheers, it is worth seeing for that alone. Review by Tim Baxter-Ferguson

Tim Baxter-Ferguson is professor of Theatre at Limestone College and Chair of that program. He has had his plays produced throughout the United States and Canada.

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DON'T CRY FOR ME MARGARET MITCHELL
By Virginia Cate and Duke Ernsberger
Directed by Matt Cosper
Duke Energy Theater at Spirit Square
April 4 - April 14, 2012

Taking author Margaret Mitchell 10 years to pen, "Gone With the Wind" won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937. Mitchell began the novel in 1926 after her husband grew tired of checking out books from the local library during a stint of her being homebound with an ankle injury. He persuaded her to actually write her own novel instead of expecting him to lug books home for her to read.

This challenge obviously sparked something because for the next three years Mitchell worked exclusively on her Civil War-era novel that would eventually become one of the greatest works of all time.

Set in 1939, Don't Cry For Me Margaret Mitchell is the comical production by a mother and son duo, loosely based on real life film producer David O. Selznick and his undying goal of producing Margaret Mitchell's bestselling novel, "Gone With the Wind." For the play, Duke Energy Theatre at Spirit Square was decorated with a simple wooden desk, a wooden credenza, a bland looking couch with matching ratty pillows, a coffee table and a few chairs. There was also a typewriter where the magic would take place.

Film producer David O. Selznick (Nathan Rouse) and director Victor Fleming (James Flynn) playfully kidnap Hollywood writer Ben Hecht (Duke Ernsberger) to save what they think is a phenomenal flop. Selznick has gone through tens of the best writers and even filmed a portion of the film when he decides to scrap it, fire everyone, and burn all the leftover scripts that exist. His assistant Miss Peabody (Katherine Goforth) is his godsend when she later finds a treatment in her files that was written by Sidney Howard. This happens to be the only lead he has since Hecht has never even bothered to read the book like every other breathing body in the country. I did notice a slight discrepancy when Selznick mentioned having paid Mitchell $2 million for the rights to her novel, but the playbill quotes it as $50,000. Nonetheless, the trio are holed up in Selznick's office being deprived of all food other than raw peanuts and bushels of Chiquita bananas--and of course strong pots of coffee while brainstorming on how to blindly recreate the work better than any other writing team within the last three years.

The three gentlemen have approximately seven days to complete the entire script or the deal is off the table. Amidst requests to remove words such as lover, sex appeal, colored, and anything remotely resembling the oppression of slaves, the team manages to somehow eek out a few scenes to get them started. Halfway through the production it takes a weird turn when Selznick goes "torpid", a term used by Fleming to describe Selznick's unconscious-like state that appears with no warning to anyone. The next several minutes seem to be filled with Lucy and Ethel antics when Fleming and Hecht attempt to revive Selzick to no avail. This scene seems like nothing but filler and doesn't move the story forward. It actually stalls it and is quite confusing.

Before and after the oddball scene, the three do however stay true to the Hollywood-esque characters with their fast-talking, abstract, yet money-making mentalities the way one would envision Hollywood-ers to be. Selznick, the leader of the pack, knows what he wants and will not budge or barter on any idea that emerges from his brilliant mind. Even when it's not his idea, he has no problem taking credit for it, infuriating the other two.

By the time the deadline has reared its ugly head, Fleming has an infectious left eye and is wearing a patch, Hecht has threatened to quit and actually walks out, and Selznick fights off a gossip columnist as well as the head of the National Negro Committee - and miraculously they're all still standing. Review by Dawn Cauthen

Dawn Cauthen is a freelance writer in the Charlotte area currently working on a screenplay, a novel, and many freelance articles. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing with a concentration in Writing for Stage and Screen from Queens University of Charlotte. Her work has appeared in Uptown Magazine and Dawn enjoys reviewing theater productions, movies, and loves most things artistic.

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STOMP
created & directed by Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas
Blumenthal Performing Arts
Belk Theater
April 3 - 8, 2012

Rhythm is life: heartbeats, breaths, and the many other inner and outer bodily movements in our sleeping, sitting, standing, walking, talking, or making facial expressions and gestures, as well as the beats around us. But most of the sounds we hear or make we ignore. Stomp alerts us to the rhythms of life everywhere around and within us.

On the Belk stage, double-level semi-symmetrical backdrop, made of throwaway objects, changed signs, and trashcans, suggested the odd mix of improvised instruments to be used onstage. A single man in a black sleeveless shirt and paint-stained pants entered, sweeping the stage. But soon, his sweeps turn into music. Seven other sweeper-musicians (four male and two female) joined him, making a symphony of brushes, thumps, and knocks. They swirled, swung, tossed, and bonked their wooden broom handles together--in this wordless opera of percussive personalities.

Such surprises happened again and again: from fingers tapping and shaking matchboxes like castanets to body-slapping and step-dancing with sand on the floor, to a dustpan, brush, and dustbin orchestra, to rubber tubes of various sizes hitting the floor and human heads in symphony. There was also a sink quartet (with pan and cup water play), then a mop balanced on a chin, then paint-can drumming and tossing, and then a staff dance with shadow show. The backdrop came to life in the dark with performers hanging from it and banging on it,like a Caribbean steel-drum band, but vertical. Metal folding chairs also made music. And metal lighters flicked in various sets of rhythms, their flames playing the notes visually as well.

Many of the scenes suggested comical conflicts between the performers' personas, vying for leadership of the group, while stretching it in different directions, through individual experiments with objects as instruments. Arrogant attitudes and teasing mimicry showed that gestures, facial expressions, and repeated sounds may become a language of their own, in this dialog and drama without words--but with extraordinary energies onstage for 75 continuous minutes.

Newspapers rattled and throats cleared, as print media turned into clown tricks. Huge inner tubes became vehicles for bouncing bodies and beating sticks. Plastic grocery bags transformed into billowing and shaking instruments. And finally, in a signature climax, the Stomp performers used trashcans and their lids as drums and cymbals, making it hard for the audience to stay in their seats. Fortunately, a lively encore brought spectators' claps, stomps, and finger snaps into synch with the action onstage, creating a vast chorus throughout the multileveled auditorium.

This changed the world after the show, too, evoking the potential for music and drama in any ordinary sound that might repeat-and be shared through the echoes of our bodies.
Review by Mark Pizzato

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BAD DATES
By Theresa Rebeck
Directed by Elise Wilkinson
Duke Energy Theater at Spirit Square
March 14 - March 31, 2012

Show me a woman who hasn't had a bad date and I'll show you a man who doesn't think about sex more than half the day. In the one-woman show Bad Dates, Kim Watson Brooks plays Haley Walker, a young divorced mom of a teenager who decides to jump into the frying pan after more than a decade in a dating dry spell. She is also a former waitress who, by default, luck, and being in the right place at the right time, has managed to transform herself from a waitress into the head of a popular New York restaurant. If being a magnet for peculiar, pompous men weren't enough, Haley also has a shoe fetish that seems to feed her jones more than a man ever could.

The simple yet effective set, designed by Charlotte favorite Stan Peal, is very familiar to me. In fact, I could've found my way around the set with my eyes closed, because it is a bedroom true to a thirty-something year old woman who tries on every outfit in her closet and every shoe in its box, to impress a guy she doesn't truly know and will probably not like because of some hidden vice she can't detect over the phone. Both old and new dresses litter her bed and vanity chair while expensive shoes are mixed in with those snatched off the sales rack.

During the 90-minute production, Haley actually meets a single guy who seems to have potential, but she is convinced by her friend Eileen that her life is imitating art and compares her to the main character in the movie Mildred Pierce starring the infamous Joan Crawford whose life Haley eerily mimics.

Throughout the play, Haley manages to squeeze herself into too-tight stilettos, wiggle into too short dresses that would make her mother cringe and convince herself she is not crazy by longing for a handsome, heterosexual, humble man in New York City. In between being the laughing stock at a rained-out Buddhist book fair, and encountering an interesting man who she refers to as the "Bug Guy" at the same event, she somehow finds herself heavily involved with the Romanian mafia and funneling money into her own personal account to take care of her teenage daughter Vera. That curve seemed a bit odd, but I guess there had to be some sort of twist that helped moved the story.

Needless to say, one-person shows are difficult to pull off. You tend to have the character rambling the entire duration of the performance without a true end in sight. Kudos go to the director, Elise Wilkinson, for knowing how to add shape to an intermission-less event. Review by Dawn Cauthen

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STONES IN HIS POCKETS
By Marie Jones
Directed by Anne Lambert
Charlotte's Off- Broadway & Warehouse PAC
Warehouse Performing Arts Center
March 8 - 24, 2012

Oh, those Irish. With a lilt in their voice and lyrical phrasing you can easily be transported anywhere they want to take you. They can laugh and make you laugh, but there is always a resigned sadness in their stories; as there is here in Stone in His Pockets. Written by Belfast playwright Marie Jones in the late 1990s it has garnered high praise for using a two-actor cast playing 15 roles. It's easy to see why. This is a tour de force for the actors who transform before your eyes using simple props like hats and coats. Those actors now at the Warehouse PAC, Michael Harris as among others, main character Jake Quinn, and Hank West as Charlie Conlon also among others, are quite simply excellent.

The setting is a small Irish village in County Kerry, Ireland where a big Hollywood production is filming a movie. They have hired many extras who are badly in need of money as their farm land is being lost and no jobs are available. Charlie is more affable while Jake, having returned from America, is cynical. He catches the eye of the beautiful but self-centered leading lady Caroline Giovanni, played to perfection by Hank West, who likes to “go ethnic” on movie sets. Mr. West also shines as an assistant director, director, security man, father, priest, and a young local. Mr. Harris' other characters include a female assistant director, older local who was an extra long ago in The Quiet Man with John Wayne, a young local who tries to get into the movie, an accent coach, crew member and interviewer.

While it's true that no new ground is broken in the Hollywood storyline, you can't take your eyes off the actors who so vividly bring the familiar characters to life, one after another. We love the movies and everyone, it seems, harbors fantasies that somehow they will be discovered and escape a drab existence to create fantasies for others. This is no less true for the poor people in the village who endure the snobbery of Hollywood. As one muses after witnessing the crew at work, it can't be that hard to do, can it?

But the play makes a serious point that if it takes an illusion to be able to survive, it may be better than to lose all hope and give in to despair. The character who does is referenced in the title, and does what Virginia Woolf did when she could no longer go on.

Director Anne Lambert's work with her actors is exceptional, and brings out the best in both. The set is simple with a rural backdrop and rows of shoes, a bench, small table and props hung on two walls allowing easy access to the actors.

Stones in His Pockets is a show you should see if at all possible. It is definitely worth the trip for this production. Review by Ann Marie Oliva

Ann Marie Oliva is a playwright, fiction & non-fiction writer, and reviewer. She is the producer/editor of ARTS à la Mode and is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

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TALES OF EDGAR ALLAN POE
Adaptations by Cecilia Fannan, John De Lancie and Luella McMahon
Children's Theatre of Charlotte
Wells Fargo Playhouse - ImaginOn
March 9 - 24, 2012

Edgar Allan Poe,the original and poetic version of Stephen King,is being celebrated for the next two weeks at Children's Theatre of Charlotte. Poe, who was a popular poet, never wrote a play during his career, even with his parents having been traveling actors. However, on opening night, Poe's Prose was adapted into compelling short stories that came to life.

The dark, intimate theater was packed with adults as well as several children anticipating what was to come. Although not seemingly intended for children, the montage of poems was acted out but stayed true to the creepiness of Poe's rhyming words. The stage was swathed in what looked like black plastic trash bags. From the makeshift stage curtains, to the material that littered the floor, black plastic adorned almost every inch of the place, creating a haunting illusion of an empty deserted mansion or a moonlit graveyard.

After poems, Alone, Annabel Lee, and A Dream Within A Dream, the popular short story The Tell-Tale Heart began in a string of acts with interruptions of other short pieces. It told the story of a disturbed man who was haunted by the personal killing of a sleeping man in his own bed. He was harassed by the echo of the dead man's beating heart of which no one but him could hear. The design of the home of the insane murderer is incredible. The walls, floor and even minimal furniture is stained a lackluster gray while the murderer himself is adorned with black and red.

The production could not have been complete without the purposefully weary performance of Poe's most admired poem The Raven, (which caused my husband to recite many of the lines quietly to himself). Again, the simple set decorated with black and red created a somber atmosphere as the narrator mourned for his beloved Lenore, who appeared as a ghost dressed in a half-melted, blood red, lace dress.

The celebration of Edgar Allan Poe is much deserved for the writer who grew up and remained very poor throughout his life. His words are rich and littered with tons of symbolism. And the performers were wonderful in their respective roles. Still confused with the Children's Theatre location for the hour-long performance, I found the poems and short stories wonderfully adapted into a mosaic of scary moments, but definitely not for children. Review by Dawn Cauthen

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SLEEPING BEAUTY
By Marius Petipa
and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
North Carolina Dance Company
Choreography by Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux
after Marius Petipa
Knight Theater
March 8-11 & 16-18, 2012

Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux's staging of Sleeping Beauty (after Marius Petipa) premiered last night in the Knight Theatre at the Levine Center for the Arts. Sleeping Beauty follows the life of Princess Aurora, a little girl with a spell cast on her at her own christening: at the age of 15 years, it is foretold, she will prick her finger on a spindle and die. Or rather, after some finagling from a good fairy, she will fall asleep for a century, as will her whole court. Fifteen years pass, and as several suitors compete for Aurora's attentions at court, a creepy stranger arrives-could this be the evil fairy of Jealousy that cast a spell on her? The evil fairy gives Aurora a bunch of flowers. Hidden within is a large, sharp spindle, and before you can say "What would Freud do?," Aurora pricks her finger and passes out on the spot. In the next act, one hundred years have passed-everyone is wearing tri-corner hats and curly wigs-and the good Lilac fairy leads the handsome prince Florimond to the sleeping princess. He kisses her, she awakes, and in Act III they get married.

Bonnefoux's Beauty is a solid restaging of this Petipa/Tchaikovsky collaboration, but one that ends up being less than the sum of its rather impressive parts. The ballet's premiere production in St. Petersburg in 1890 would have been lavish, one of choreographer Petipa's last attempts to keep the avant-garde at bay with layered-on spectacle. The North Carolina Dance Theatre production aims at no less. The set looms like a cardboard cutout of an enormous scary pop-up story book, and the costumes (Peter Cazalet) sparkle and shine with gauze, sequins, and multicolored tulle. And the dancers are charming, some rather charismatic, especially Addul Manzano as Prince Floramond, and David Ingram as the Fairy of Jealousy.

But a rendition of Sleeping Beauty more or less faithful to the 1890 choreography doesn't come across as lavish in 2012; rather, it feels preserved. The story-based on the Brothers Grimm version with some wild additions to Act III-could be suspenseful, if each plot point felt as if it caused the next. Instead, the production's pacing and odd moments of stillness between scenes sacrifice narrative flow for choreographic episodes. And if the music must be recorded for lack of an orchestra, then it's a shame that the sound system isn't better. That said, attending the ballet always feels like a big deal, made more special by the beauty of the theatre space itself. The lush Knight lobby area with its welcoming open spaces, flattering light and grand staircase contribute to a pleasant evening out. I look forward to returning to the Knight for a different offering from this company of accomplished artists. Review by Jeanmarie Higgins

Jeanmarie Higgins is Assistant Professor of Theatre at UNC-Charlotte. Two of her plays-Science Fair and To Moscow!-are published by Playscripts, Inc., and her scholarly work has been published in Theatre Symposium and the Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism.

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RACE
By David Mamet
Directed by Charles LaBorde
Carolina Actors Studio Theatre
February 23 - March 24, 2012

Will we ever move beyond race--in how we view each other? Mamet's new play challenges its audience by showing the inner workings of the law and its colored lenses. White and black lawyers, Jack Lawson and Henry Brown (Lamar Wilson and J.R. Jones), along with their junior partner, the young black Susan (Nicole Danielle Watts), slip into a case they don't want to take. A rich white man, Charles Strickland (Christian Casper), is accused of raping a black woman in a hotel room. The race cards are stacked against him, even if she is a high-priced "call girl," who may have lied about the case.

In the CAST lobby, audience members first encounter a large "Lawson and Brown" sign behind a polished wood, standing desk, with box office personnel as attorneys' receptionists. There's also a beer bar (and free pizza on Fridays), which might be a boon to any law office. Inside the theatre, there's a conference table, plush chairs, and a single desk with appropriate clutter (in a set designed by Allen Cassell). The audience forms a societal ring around this inner sanctum, eavesdropping, judging, and being accused-through conscious and unconscious hypocrisies.

Director Charles LaBorde cagily hints at the entire plot before a word is spoken, as the two attorneys wait for their rich client to sit, but he hesitates and lets the young black female sit first. The chandelier above them also suggests the glass house they're in, figuratively, with panes enclosing its artificial candles.

The lawyers' banter, with and without their client present, reveals the artifice behind their legal decisions: first, about whether to take the case, then how to win it, and then how to deal with a potential traitor in the firm. The cocky Lawson displays a sympathetic, yet patronizing persona, dueling with his colleagues, client, and the audience. "Belief hamstrings the advocate," he says, when Strickland wants them all to believe his view of the alleged rape. Lawson makes many other challenging claims, as does his black male colleague, while they prepare their case--and send their young black associate to get further information. "Blacks are allowed to commit adultery" in the public mind, they reason, and so they decide not to go after the victim in court. Also, "blacks know that whites are always trying to screw them." And whites feel guilty about it, while blacks feel shame--so such psychological stereotypes become the keys to planning their defense and how it will play in jurors' minds.

But Lawson's confidence is turned inside-out by his partner, Brown, when he realizes they have been tricked. It's like a chess game on steroids, a keen intellectual drama in a three-ring boxing match, through these hired tongues. In his own tradition of well-made workplace plays (such as American Buffalo, Glengarry Glen Ross, & Oleanna), Mamet reveals psychological secrets here, with startling social implications, but in two tight acts of just 40 minutes each.

Given the fine performances across this CAST production, some spectators might be disappointed that there's not a third act--or want to see more of Strickland's guilt-ridden angst and cross-racial lust, sparring with his lawyers' views. Yet there's a great deal to catch and ponder, through this play's narrow focus, about what "race" means today, as a social construct that clings to our identities and unconscious fantasies, even with the intelligent discourse and competitive powers of these high-paid liars. Review by Mark Pizzato

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5 X TENN
An Evening of Tennessee Williams' One Act Plays
Directed by Brian Willard, Amanda Liles, Chris O'Neill,
S. Wilson Lee, David Loehr
Shakespeare Carolina
Duke Energy Theatre
Mar 6 - 10, 2012

There are many famous Tennessee Williams plays (and movies), such as A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Glass Menagerie, The Rose Tattoo, and Suddenly, Last Summer. They're filled with quirky (often Southern) personas, swirling poetry, and twisted hearts. Likewise, the five one-acts being staged in Spirit Square are little gems. But they need more polishing than they've gotten here.

In The Case of the Crushed Petunias, Dorothy Simple (Katie Bearden), proprietor of a small town Massachusetts shop, Simple Notions, gets upset at the flattened flower bed in front of her store. But young man (Colby Davis) bumps his head on a chandelier there, and breaks an antique chair. (Both must be imagined by the audience, while a few other objects in the shop are shown.) Strangely, Miss Simple does not become alarmed at such damage-despite her upset about the flowers. The young man diagnoses her problem as a petunia barrier, confesses he crushed it, and offers her wild rose seeds instead. He says he's a salesman for "Life Inc." and competing against "Death Unlimited." Gradually, he arouses her desire to embrace the wild side, even if it means insulting another customer and losing her prim reputation.

In This Property is Condemned, little Willie (Caryn Crye), who's quit school after the fifth grade, likes to balance on the railroad track, while wearing costume jewelry and holding a banana and her doll. Tom (Chris Herring) seems to be just a nice boy befriending this alienated girl. But then he inquires about why she danced naked for Frank Waters-and whether she'll do it again for him.

In Talk to Me like the Rain and Let Me Listen, a woman (Gayle Taggart) waits in her nightgown, in the blue moonlight of a curtained window, listening to the rain. Her man (Sean Foley) comes home, complaining about the cruelty of others, who put him in ice water when he was unconscious. She fantasizes about finding a hotel room where she can develop "a friendship with dead poets." Yet, such a longing keeps her from realizing the poetry she already has, when inviting her man to bed instead, to the rhythm of the rain.

In Lady of Larkspur Lotion, a young lady with white hair complains to her landlady about the flying roaches in her room. Though they're in the French Quarter, neither of them (Amanda Liles or Melissa Stevens-Steele) has a New Orleans accent. Even stranger, a young poet (David Hensley), who visits and claims to be Anton Chekhov, also lacks Russian accent. Yet, he defends the maid poetically, as "compensating for the cruel deficiencies of reality," when the landlady complains about the unpaid rent.

And finally, in the longest piece, The Strangest Kind of Romance, an "Italian" (S. Wilson Lee), who doesn't have that accent either, charms his landlady (Brianna Smith) and the stray cat left by the prior renter. He also says charming things like: "Nothing's unlucky that loves you." She helps him find a job at the local plant, but he develops a nervous shakiness, loses it, and leaves. Then, when he returns, her attitude toward him has changed-with the advent of another renter. Yet, her mother-in-law's presence, with insights and a song about the capitalist machinery, shines through, as Corlis Hayes succeeds beyond the other actors here, becoming fully transformed, in voice and body, by Williams' poetic realism. Review by Mark Pizzato

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THE FANTASTICKS
Book & Lyrics by Tom Jones, Music by Harvey Schmidt
Artistic & Musical Director Caroline Firczak
The Uwharrie Players
Dennis Vineyards - Special Events Center
March 2 - 11, 2012

Why is The Fantasticks a timeless musical? Because it's about love, of course. More than that it's about first love, when people give their hearts willingly and innocently, only for most, to have it crushed and handed back to them. The minimalist, non-realistic style cleverly breaks the fourth wall at times with plenty of humor, amusing characters, and poignant scenes of disappointment and heartbreak.

Often described as "a simple love story about a boy, a girl, two fathers and a wall," it is easy to follow yet contains within its structure wisdom about inescapable universal truths, which is why it has lasted so long. It helps that it is narrated by the suave El Gallo (Mark Stephenson). He tells the story of the girl Luisa (Chessa Metz), the boy Matt (Dustin Britt), her father Bellomy (Kent Harkey), and his father Hucklebee (Reed Furr). The fathers are at war and build a fence to separate their homes. The Mute (Emily Foutz) acts as the boundary when needed. Kept apart, predictably 16 year old Luisa and 20 year old Matt fall in love. The fathers are elated as they have set up the whole scenario. To complete the project they hire El Gallo to abduct Luisa so Matt can save her.

Act II begins when the light of day intrudes on the fantasy and Matt's father admits they set it all up. When the young lovers find out their love story isn't their own idea they suddenly notice each other's imperfections. Feeling cheated Matt leaves to experience life. Luisa runs away with El Gallo. Both return disillusioned.

The show opens with the haunting signature song "Try to Remember" that almost everyone has heard somewhere. The direction/musical direction by Caroline Firczak is particularly effective, with accompaniment by Assistant Musical Director Zachory Tarlton on piano and Winifred Garrett on the harp. Occasionally, the piano is too loud obscuring the singers' voices and lyrics, and the harp. This doesn't happen with the slower songs such as "Soon It's Gonna Rain."

The non-traditional venue of the Dennis Winery is both lovely and tricky. It is a large, warm room that gives off a golden reflection of the lighting, but the acoustics can be challenging. Fortunately, the well cast actors/singers have strong voices. Mark Stephenson anchors the show and is well-matched to the role of the enigmatic "Narrator". Chessa Metz, who is still in high school and closer to the age of the character Luisa, is multi-talented with an almost operatic voice. Dustin Britt, also in high school, has an outstanding voice as well. The two actors have a sweet, innocent rapport as the young lovers. Rounding out the cast, Kent Harkey as Bellomy, Reed Furr as Hucklebee, Emily Foutz as The Mute, Laura Wheeler as Mortimer, and the special comic timing of Engel M. Meister as Henry all contribute to a successful production.

The utilitarian set by Mark Stephenson is reminiscent of many productions yet also captures the unique intimacy of a side show-like setting. Good fight choreography by Craig Kolkebeck given the small space available. The show is the result of a carefully put together effort by a team who account for every detail in this production.

The Fantasticks ran for over forty years 1960 - 2002, was revived in 2006, and is still playing at the Jerry Orbach (who was the original El Gallo) Theatre Off-Broadway in New York City making it the longest-running musical. Less than three years ago we saw The Fantasticks there. It had been a long time since seeing the show. My aunt only wanted to see a "wholesome" play. The revival in the small theatre charmed my aunt who was moved and cried at the end. There were people of all ages in the audience and the reaction was just as positive. Despite some minor flaws, the Uwharrie Players do a terrific job with this show. I’m glad I made the trip to the Dennis Winery (and enjoyed their Merlot). If you've never seen The Fantasticks it's a good time and place to be introduced to this classic musical. Review by Ann Marie Oliva

Ann Marie Oliva is a playwright, fiction & non-fiction writer, and reviewer. She is the producer/editor of ARTS à la Mode and is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

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JERSEY BOYS
THE STORY OF FRANKIE VALLI & THE FOUR SEASONS
Book by Marshall Brickman & Rick Elice
Music by Bob Gaudio
Lyrics by Bob Crewe
Directed by Des McAnuff
Choreography by Sergio Trujillo
Music Direction by Ron Melrose
Blumenthal Performing Arts
Belk Theater
Feb 24 - March 11, 2012

Jersey Boys, the hit Broadway musical and winner of the 2006 Tony Award for Best Musical returns to Charlotte for an extended run. A jukebox musical that recounts the story of the rise of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Jersey Boys, is an infectious and entertaining pastiche of some of the most popular music of that time.

Each of the original members of the Four Seasons (played by some very talented actors) narrates this documentary-style musical, tracing the group's rough beginnings as a talented group of singers, many of whom spend time in and out of prison, have connections with the mob, and have varying troubles with the women in their life. The production doesn't pull a lot of punches with the rougher side of the quartet's lives. Though still light on plot and character development, the musical still manages to rise above being simply a "Beatlemania" and almost manages to become a legitimate musical.

The performers are universally excellent; especially Joseph Leo Bwarie as Frankie Valli. Bwarie's journey from sixteen-year-old hopeful to the more hardened, honorable man (without the benefit of makeup) is remarkably subtle and effective. Though no one can imitate Valli's distinctive tenor, Bwarie's beautiful tenor voice is nonetheless remarkable. He must carry the production (as Valli did himself) and he does so with grace and finesse.

Equally talented is Preston Truman Boyd as the wunderkind Bob Gaudio. Gaudio, who the musical tells us was a one-hit wonder at fifteen with "Short Shorts," cements the quartet and quickly propels them to stardom with hit after hit. Boyd's own earnestness and boyishness makes him likeable and an audience favorite.

John Gardiner plays Tomme DeVito, the founder of the singing group and Valli's mentor. He is a hero with feet of clay, and is the primary cause of friction within the group. Gardiner plays the smarm and cockiness of DeVito well without making him a caricature. The quartet is completed by Michael Lomenda as Nick Massi. Lomenda is the underdog of the group with a talent for harmonies.

All four men sing well together and stand out when needed. The production is dependent on their chemistry, and it is easy to believe these four have been singing together for years. The supporting cast are all excellent, too. Especially Joseph Siravo who plays Gyp, a kind of Mafioso with a heart of gold.

Klara Zieglerova's scenic design is brilliant. An industrial collection of catwalks and spiral staircases mixed with elegant drops, and the judicious use of wagons. Scenes flow easily from one to the next without missing a beat. Less successful are Michael Clark's projections which beam out of three giant monitors in a series of comic art-inspired panels. The glossiness of the screens seems out of keeping with Zieglerova's design.

The tour itself is lush and impressive. There's none of the cheapness and penny-pinching that is becoming all too prevalent in these tours. Jersey Boys is the real deal and mimics the Broadway production admirably.

Fans of Valli and the Four Seasons will enjoy favorites such as "Sherry," "Big Girls Don't Cry," "Walk Like a Man," and Valli's signature song, "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You." The musical numbers are varied, exciting, and enjoyable. The audience was palpably engaged in the entire evening.

Though it cannot be seen as anything but a jukebox musical, it has some really interesting moments. As the title suggest, the musical explores the importance of place and neighborhood in the development of these men. Valli and Bob Gaudio, in particular, represent a sort of nobility that lifts the musical out of standard theme park fair into an exploration of friendship and obligation. Valli and Gaudio remain business partners with nothing more than a handshake to bind them; Valli insists the group repay the mob debts of one of their members despite the fact he has every reason to hate the man. Though these plot points are lifted from truth, it is a tribute to the writers that they are framed so specifically.

Jersey Boys is a wonderful show and very much worth seeing whether you are a fan of the music or not. Review by Tim Baxter-Ferguson

Tim Baxter-Ferguson is professor of Theatre at Limestone College and Chair of that program. He has had his plays produced throughout the United States and Canada.

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CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD
By Mark Medoff
Directed by Sam Parker
Assistant Director Julianne Gold Brunson
Davidson Community Players
February 23 - March 11, 2012

More than thirty years after premiering on stage Children of a Lesser God is still emotionally powerful. Though too long and sometimes unwieldy, it's important to remember that it takes place entirely in the mind of speech teacher James Leeds (Mike Corrigan). It is his story, yet he doesn't spare himself, or the audience, learning about his flaws during the course of the play. Several lighter moments give the audience a chance to release some built-up tension, but by the end we are as emotionally drained as James is with his self-discovery.

James comes to the school for the deaf anxious to help students. Mr. Franklin (Douglas Martin), his superior, pushes a tough case on him: a former deaf student named Sarah Norman (Rachel Nicol) who would rather be a maintenance worker at the school than learn to speak. The character of 26 year old Sarah is at the heart of the story. Misunderstood, angry, rebellious, she retreats into a world she has created, not bowing to others' expectations or falling in line. James can't resist. A natural caretaker, he is intrigued by her independence but wants to bring her out of a sheltered life. Though he is warned not to get over-involved, he wins her over, they fall in love and get married.

Other characters complicate their relationship, such as Orin Dennis (Caleb Hardwick), a student training as a teacher who becomes angry at James for distracting Sarah and taking her away from political issues. Lydia (Brittany Grigg) is another of James' students who develops a crush on him. Sarah's mother (nicely done by Lauralee Davis Bailey), from whom she is initially estranged, has guilt issues but clearly loves her daughter.

This production as directed by Sam Parker strives to present the work as a straightforward dramatic performance that focuses on the universal need for connection, and while the cast includes hearing-impaired characters stereotypical caricatures of the deaf are eschewed in favor of focusing on relationships and the struggle to find those connections. During the performance, shadow interpreters (Lyndi Patton-Gura and Chance J. Sutton), are on stage "shadowing" certain characters and signing their dialogue simultaneously for any hearing-impaired audience members. This works quite well and is not distracting.

A small evocative scene in Act II occurs when James tries to explain what music is like. Sarah can only feel vibrations, but she sees the ecstatic look on James' face when he is listening. Likewise, James will never know the sensation of being in a soundless world. His reaction is different though. He doesn't want to be shut out. This scene is a microcosm of their relationship. He wants to say what is right and wrong for Sarah with what he thinks are his benign intentions; she rejects pity/control and wants to make decisions for herself. James believes he is acting out of love but Sarah feels stifled. This could be a situation in any romantic relationship, except it has the added complication of Sarah's deafness.

The hard work on this play has been heartfelt and personal. Director Sam Parker is not hearing impaired but has two deaf parents and considers himself part of that world. Mike Corrigan is an interpreter giving him insight as he fully understands and embraces the part of James in an excellent performance. Rachel Nicol, deaf since birth, has been an actor but is also a disability counselor, and of course, brings a convincing special understanding to the part of Sarah. Caleb Hardwick is impressive in that he has never acted before and learned to sign for this show. Brittany Grigg has a good turn as Lydia and she is also an interpreter. Jacqueline Dufour is a young actor with potential. She plays the naïve lawyer who learns not to shout at her clients.

Once again, Davidson Community Players presents a quality piece of theatre that demonstrates their capacity to select challenging plays and mount a serious and comprehensive production. The play makes a point that remains relevant: some are deaf because they can't hear, others because they won't listen. Review by Ann Marie Oliva

Ann Marie Oliva is a playwright, fiction & non-fiction writer, and reviewer. She is the producer/editor of ARTS à la Mode and is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

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CUTTIN' UP
Written by Charles Randolph-Wright
Based on the book by Craig Marberry
Directed by Chip Decker
Actor's Theatre of Charlotte
February 10 - March 3, 2012

Everyone knows that there are three major staples within the Black community where visitors can experience life, learn things they shouldn't, and fabricate their lifestyle without blinking an eye - church, the beauty salon, and the barber shop.

When young males can finally visit the barber shop and sit among their own, it's like a right of passage moment. The characters that frequent the hair hangouts are never short on comedy if nothing else. Most also tend to make great lifelong friends and even mentors between the buzzing clippers and snips of hair covering the floor.

The same is true of the production Cuttin' Up, curently at the Actor's Theatre of Charlotte. The play begins with Andre (Brian Daye) arriving in Charlotte and stumbling into Howard's Barbershop. Howard (Sidney Horton) asks to look at Andre's hands to determine what type of man he is. His hands must tell the story because he is hired on the spot and even given a free haircut.

Rudy (Jeremy DeCarlos) is the youngest of the three barbers and doesn't seem to take life seriously. He regularly arrives to work late, listens to derogatory rap music, and is always short on money.

Relationship breakups, hookups, family secrets, and lots of reminiscing are played out among the many characters that rotate in the supporting cast.

The set, designed by Stan Peal, is phenomenal. He replicates the shops that I remember in college that all of my male friends would hang out in. The walls are littered with photos of famous blacks and probably a few family members.

It is evident that the play is adapted from a book by the way the scenes jump around in a choppy fashion. However, being a writer myself I understand how difficult adaptations can be. Some questions are left unanswered, but the play is still representative of barber shops around the country and the atmosphere patrons encounter once inside. Review by Dawn Cauthen

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RAPUNZEL
Adapted by Max Bush
Directed by Nicia Carla
Children's Theatre of Charlotte
Wells Fargo Playhouse
February 10 - 26 2012

Anticipation for the production of Rapunzel, a Grimms Brothers' fairy tale may have been heightened by the 2010 Disney movie "Tangled". That animated feature certainly expanded on the original idea by giving Rapunzel a spunky personality even as she's been trapped in the tower, not to mention an appealing lively hero. This stage Rapunzel, adapted by Max Bush, at Children's Theatre of Charlotte is closer to what many children are familiar with and have had read to them.

It is a solemn version from the moment the actors, Leslie Ann Giles, newcomer Nick Kern, Darlene Parker, and Stephen Seay appear on stage. They perform a brief medieval dance and get right into the story, which is narrated in various turns by each of the actors.

Nothing is inherently wrong with this production. All the elements that make Children's Theatre of Charlotte outstanding are in evidence--except for the exuberant fun. It's problematic when too much adult sensibility is applied to a children's theatre production. The fairy dust is missing. In fact, the whimsical element that receives the most positive vocal response from the audience is the use of dolls as the characters climb up and down the braided hair on a panel painted like the tower with a window, and used to represent Rapunzel, the Witch, and the Prince.

Villains in fairy tales are always some of the most intriguing characters, yet the witch here is a little too human for my taste, and so ordinary right from the beginning there's no place to go for the actor, Darlene Parker, who is normally so vibrant and effective. The play ends rather abruptly, and there was polite applause at the end of the show, but nothing like the usual enthusiasm. It's not that different approaches shouldn't be tried, but I felt less than satisfied with the result. Review by Ann Marie Oliva

Ann Marie Oliva is an award-winning playwright with productions across the United States, a published fiction and non-fiction writer, and reviewer. She is the producer/editor of ARTS à la Mode and is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

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ALMOST, MAINE
By John Cariani
Ballantyne Community Theatre
Ballantyne Arts Center Blackbox Theatre
February 10 -25, 2012

It was a happy, festive atmosphere for the opening production of the Ballantyne Community Theatre last night. Located on the second floor of a shopping center off North Community House Road, you can't get more "community" than this. The small black box itself has a stage high enough for all to see the action and director of the program, Chip Caldwell, who knows how to make use of every inch of space.

Small theatre companies like to produce Almost, Maine because, among other things, though it has a large cast only two main actors are on stage at one time in the eight short plays. I have to admit it's not one of my favorite shows for various reasons, but this has to be one of the best productions of it ever.

The cheerful atmosphere includes a group of exuberant young female performers called the "Moose Paddy Waitresses", named for the bar mentioned and used as a setting in the show. They perform before, occasionally act during, and especially between the plays. This is a rather loose arrangement but entertaining to watch as they bound around with energy to spare taking props on and off the stage. They intermittently sing with guitar or keyboard, but mostly a capella, and several of them are exceptional singers.

As for the plays, the standouts are: "Her Heart" about a gentle, lucky chance encounter featuring Glynis Robbins as Glory and Bruce Long as East; "They Fell" about the limitlessness of love featuring Terry Gabbard as Randy and Chip Caldwell as Chad, literally falling hard on stage; and "Seeing the Thing" about looking with new eyes, with Angela Crenshaw as Rhonda and John Hartness as Dave both bravely stripping off layers of clothing and inhibitions. Yet, every single actor in this show is notable; it is the material that sometimes let's them down. But that doesn't make their performances any less satisfying for the audience.

This "family-friendly" show takes place in a small, quaint, Maine "sort of" town. The production values may be limited, but the heart of this new company is not. It is well-worth a trip to Ballantyne to see the show and give a lift to your spirits. Kudos and congratulations to this new theatre company. Review by Ann Marie Oliva

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MONTY PYTHON'S SPAMALOT
A New Musical (lovingly) Ripped Off from the Motion Picture
MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL
From the original screenplay by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin
Music by John Du Prez and Eric Idle
Blumenthal Performing Arts
Knight Theater February 17 - 19, 2012

Winner of the 2004 Tony Award, Spamalot is a musical adaptation of the 1974 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It's the movie every geek worth his or her salt can quote verbatim and ad nauseum. So if you can complete this sentence, "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of . . ."--then this might be the show for you. The musical covers all of the important aspects of the movie--the Black Knight, the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, the killer bunny, they're all here. If anything, the musical may be too enamored of its source material and rarely veers away from it. If you are a huge fan of Monty Python in general, and "The Holy Grail" in particular, then you are the targeted audience for this production; if, however, your tastes in musicals lean towards productions that include a strong musical score and compelling characters, you might want to sit this one out. Spamalot works primarily as a bit of nostalgia. It works best, unfortunately, when it borrows directly from the movie. More original material often falls flat. Spamalot's book and lyrics were written by former Python Eric Idle. For those not familiar with the original film (are there such people?), the production irreverently parodies Arthurian myth.

Spamalot borrows a lot from Arthurian legend--but with some unexpected twists. King Arthur (played well by Arthur Rowan) and his loyal servant Patsy (played by show stealer Michael J. Berry) embark on a quest to gather the Knights of the Round Table. On the way, he encounters the mystical Lady of the Lake (Brittany Woodrow) and the valiant, if closeted, Prince Lancelot (Adam Grabau.) Woodrow makes the most of her role, lampooning many an entertainment diva before her. The joke wears thin after a while, but Woodrow is always charming and enjoyable. Berry, as the coconut-clopping servant to Arthur, manages to be both broadly comic and engaging. Unlike many of the others, he manages to strike a balance between the Python sense of humor and a believable character. One might argue that such concerns are unnecessary in the Python universe, we are never supposed to believe in any character but simply enjoy the absurdity of their humor, but a musical is a different beast.

Technically the production is an enjoyable exercise in restraint. Phoenix Entertainment does an admirable job of scaling down the Broadway production without losing anything too vital. James Kronzer's "scenic design modifications" consist of two-dimensional set pieces that are a mix of the animation style of Terry Gilliam and what one might find in a church basement amateur production. It's a good mix and good fun. Less successful are Elaine McCarthy's projections which seemed dim and out of place with a show that eschews horses for coconuts. I realize projections are here to stay, but I've yet to see them used effectively in a production. Tim Hatley's costume designs steal the show. Several actors play multiple roles, and the costumes transform each actor, often adding inches to their height or to their waistline.

As I mentioned before, as a musical, I think ultimately Spamalot falls flat. Eric Idle's idea to retell the classic movie while lampooning musical theatre itself is a good idea, but it never really gets a good foothold. Although it captures the randomness and silliness of the best of Monty Python, it never really goes beyond that.

In short, if you love The Holy Grail and can quote it chapter and verse, this musical is a loving homage to that. It's silly good fun that doesn’t seek to really become anything greater than its source material. Review by Tim Baxter-Ferguson

Tim Baxter-Ferguson is professor of Theatre at Limestone College and Chair of that program. He has had his plays produced throughout the United States and Canada.

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THE MOST FABULOUS STORY EVER TOLD
By Paul Rudnick
Directed by Glenn T. Griffin
Queen City Theatre Company
Duke Energy Theatre
February 2 - 18, 2012

It was gratifying to see a packed house at the Duke Energy Theatre last night for the second performance of The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told. The production of this irreverent, yet oddly reverent, comedy by Paul Rudnick is not for those without a hardy, off-kilter, all-out sense of humor. Comedian Mel Brooks has said, "Humor is just another defense against the universe." Mr. Rudnick closely follows that line of thinking. In fact, this is one of the funniest shows Queens City Theatre Company has produced. This gay re-imagining of the Genesis story in the Old Testament is apparently profane to some, but turns out to actually be asking questions that people have wanted answered since the beginning of time, when human beings looked up in the sky and at the stars and wondered what it all means. Where did I come from? Who made me? Is there a God? If these questions have been answered to your satisfaction--great, but most people are seekers, like Adam in this play.

A clever device is the use throughout of the " Stage Manager" (Stephanie DiPaolo), or is she God, who calls the show from the beginning with, " House to half, go. " Adam (Scott Miller) shows up thrilled by the " fabulous" garden, but then adds " I would have put the lake over there. " Steve (Kristian Wedolowski) instead of Eve appears and their awkward, naïve, sweet relationship of discovery begins, including sex. And so commences eons of the two loving, disagreeing, leaving and finding each other. Adam is the fussy, questioning, softer one while Steve is about action, realism and denial. They come upon a lesbian couple Jane (Meghan Lowther), the tougher one, and Mabel (Karen Christensen), the caretaker/spiritual sort, who insist they were created first. Now the four of them navigate hundreds of years in time from Noah's Ark with bizarre seductive animals, to Egyptian times with a decadent Pharaoh.

Act II takes place entirely at Adam and Steve's apartment in modern day Manhattan at a Christmas Eve party. Mr. Rudnick's writing of these characters is remarkably consistent even as the tone turns darker. The men are still dealing with the same issues that have strained their relationship across time. The same is true for Jane, now very pregnant, and Mabel who wanted to carry the child but couldn't in a painful irony. Yet, there are still outrageous comic moments, especially when a lesbian Jewish rabbi in a wheelchair shows up to perform a ceremony.

This is a wonderfully fully committed cast. Scott Miller, a Jude Law look-alike, earnestly plays Adam who believes, or wants to, very much in the existence of God. Kristian Wedolowski has never been better in both his comic timing and dramatic moments. Meghan Lowther is always a strong presence in a cast. Karen Christensen does a nice job with Mabel, especially her free-wheeling spiritual dance. Stephanie DiPaolo has the authority to carry the Stage Manager role. Matt Kenyon is excellent in various roles, especially the hilarious Pharaoh. Amanda Liles likewise plays multiple roles but shines as the rabbi. Gayle Taggart contributes much as does Steven James who is suitably seductive when it is called for among his many parts.

Director Glenn T. Griffin expertly brings the production all together. The technical elements are well done, including: kitschy costume design by Jamey Varnadore, lighting by Emily Eudy, natural-looking wigs by Jeff Capell, and functional set design by Tim Baxter-Ferguson.

The play is long, about two and a half hours, but moves along quickly. It doesn't purport to give any answers, only echoes some serious questions the audience might already have, with a liberal sprinkling of one-liners, quips, jokes, visual humor, and funny dialogue. The show is riotous fun, but if the material isn't a good fit to your sense of humor, be forewarned there is plenty of skin and kissing. Review by Ann Marie Oliva

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THE ALL-NEW ORIGINAL TRIBUTE
TO THE BLUES BROTHERS
Written & Directed by Brad Henshaw
Musical Director Steve Parry
Choreography by Debbie Jenner
Blumenthal Performing Arts
Knight Theater
February 11 & 12, 2012

Musicians know all too well about thwarted passions and the slow, miserable death that can turn those passions into great music. And, the ache they leave behind. Brad Henshaw has an ache, too. His is the kind that performers experience when they know they've done exceptional work and want to share it with as many audiences as possible. Mr. Henshaw was gracious enough to invite us backstage after the show to talk about The All-New Original Tribute to the Blues Brothers, the show he took over in 2005. Dressed simply in jeans and a black t-shirt, hair still wet, he looked tired but not exhausted as you would expect from his high-energy, on-stage antics of cartwheels, choreography, and all-out style of singing. He gave his insight into the development of this show and also expressed appreciation to Dan Aykroyd and Judith Belushi Pisano (John Belushi's widow). Yet, I was already convinced the show is a must-see by the performances of Mr. Henshaw, who plays Jake Blues, Daniel Fletcher who plays Elwood Blues, the "Bluettes" back-up singers, Luke Jasztal, and, of course, the Band.

You certainly get your money's worth with sixteen songs in Act I and seventeen in Act II, not to mention multiple encores to end the show. Charlotte audiences, even with a full house like this, have a pattern of starting off a little shy, but soon everyone is on their feet (with a little prompting at first) and having a spectacular time because the music takes us all to another place. The range of songs is a treasure trove of great blues/rock/pop musical history from Cab Calloway to Tammy Wynette to Otis Redding, not to mention Lieber & Stoller, Windwood & Davis, Isaac Hayes, and Berry Gordy. All the while, Mr. Henshaw and Mr. Fletcher stay in character as Jake and Elwood. With his costume and dark glasses I would have believed it if someone swore it was Dan Aykroyd on stage instead of Daniel Fletcher; he's that good.

The show wastes no time in getting the mood set by opening with the "Peter Gunn Theme", which evokes the retro-theme of this show as well as the quasi-criminal element of Jake and Elwood's past. The music proceeds non-stop with a roster of no fewer than fifteen more numbers that include a diversity of musical styles mostly from the sixties/seventies era. Jake and Elwood belt out the tunes while performing many of the comic choreography that devotees of the Aykroyd/Belushi duo will remember from the seminal Saturday Night Live performances. Mr. Fletcher stays true to his Elwood character by including some deft blues harmonica solos and a soulful delivery of "Under the Boardwalk", and he also delivers on the amusing "Rubber Biscuit" novelty number.

Jake (Henshaw) is no slouch on his solos either. His rendition of Randy Newman's "Guilty" is right on. The two sustain their high energy during the crowd pleasers that include such songs as "Sweet Home Chicago", "Soul Man", "Gimmee Some Loving" and a patriotic "Living in America".

The tight six-piece band behind the leads provide a steady and vibrant stream of music. All musicians are solid and a few are given some solo opportunities, in particular guitarist Ian Ruffell who smokes his blues riffs with uncanny ease. Trumpeter David Mian is also a standout.

Luke Jasztal plays multiple roles, all well, but the most fortunate for the audience is an Elvis-like Reverend in purple and gold suit wearing a diamond studded dollar-sign belt buckle. The Bluettes: Jocasta Almgill, Victoria Ekanoye, and Victoria Goddard have powerful voices, great style, and are stunning in their slinky costumes. As one man near me said, "Who cares if they can sing? " The Bluettes give their all on a rendition of Aretha Franklin and Teddy White's "Think". Each one has a solo that allows her to shine.

The choreography by Debbie Jenner, set design by JaKeBu, costumes by José Schenk, sound by Ciaron McKenna, and especially inspired lighting by Tjeerd Hendriks all add to the Blues Brothers mystique.

Want to hear a kick? Mr. Henshaw is British, and Mr. Fletcher is Australian. Others associated with the show are German and Dutch. Maybe it takes a distant perspective to appreciate how great this music is, and not take it for granted. Brad Henshaw certainly doesn't.

There is one performance left at 7 pm tonight. People of Charlotte, go see this show, and feed your souls. Review by Ann Marie Oliva

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JACK GOES BOATING
By Robert Glaudini
Directed by Michael R. Simmons
Carolina Actors Studio Theatre (CAST)
January 12 - February 11, 2012

"Sex is a slot machine" wrote John Dos Passos. Sometimes you get two out of three, sometimes it's a total loss, rarely do you win the big jackpot. Yet gamblers keep trying; they always will. And aren't we all gamblers? We're so strange (to each other) in our own particular ways that trying to make a real sustainable connection, with love thrown in the mix, puts people in the minus column more than the win column. You can see some of this folly manifested on stage now at CAST in Jack Goes Boating.

The story of two couples who try to find Nirvana through sex, drugs, and boating is a romantic comedy that gets off to a slow start as the audience is introduced to the ensemble cast. By the time it"s over you realize how much you like it. Jack (Brian Willard) is a shlumpy, neurotic with unfortunate dreadlocks prone to breathing issues when his anxiety level rises. He listens to Rastafarian music on a cheap tape player playing "Rivers of Babylon" whenever he gets too upset. He and his fellow chauffeur driver Clyde (Tony Wright) have become such good friends that Clyde and his wife Lucy (Marcie Levine Jacobs) decide to fix Jack up with Lucy's fellow worker at a mortuary business named Connie (Greta Marie Zandstra). She is a free-spirited scatterbrain in mismatched clothes. Though Clyde and Lucy appear to be the more stable couple at the beginning of the play, things aren't always what they seem.

Playwright Robert Glaudini brings authenticity to this New York based story with details of apartment living, driving in stop-and-go traffic, hard-sell marketing to deceaseds' relatives, and an off-stage character named Cannoli (a favorite Italian pastry). Why are we drawn to stories/movies about New Yorkers? Are they crazier than others? Probably not. For one thing, there are so many more of them that the variety of people and situations yields a big number. Living in a high pressure environment forces those people to adapt in, shall we say, creative ways.

Director Michael Simmons has a good eye for choosing actors. Brian Willard is well-matched in his role as Jack eliciting sympathy as the lost friend who needs special help with women/life. We are never told exactly why Jack is so wounded, but it's not essential to the storyline. Tony Wright is also well-cast as the slick, uninhibited friend (spending more than a few scenes in nothing but a skimpy speedo) trying to help Jack learn to swim to impress Connie. Greta Marie Zandstra is appealing as the sweet yet not altogether ditsy girl looking for a certain type of guy. She tests Jack, not trusting that he is the right one for her. Marcie Levine Jacobs does a nice job with Lucy, the most nuanced character in the piece, account-balancing her husband's cheating against her own.

The set design by Allen Cassell is pleasing and functional for the many scene changes allowing the director to give his actors full use of the space. The various reggae/rock music cuts help sustain the mood, and sound is used effectively to convey the above/under water moments during the pool scene.

The second act definitely pays off with some funny group/couples scenes as each character begins to reveal his/her real self. The play is amusing, but makes a point. Never give up hope of finding your soul mate, gamblers. You never know when you're going to pull the lever and win big. Review by Ann Marie Oliva

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THE BORROWERS
By Mary Norton
Adapted for the stage by Charles Way
Directed by Mark Sutton
Children's Theatre of Charlotte
McColl Family Theatre
January 20 - February 5, 2012

What does the world look like when you are a child? You are small and everything else is big, oversized, and often scary. Writer Mary Norton used that point of view for the characters in her award-winning book. This stage adaptation by Charles Way of the The Borrowers, gives both children and adults a way to imagine that circumstance.

These little beings called the Borrowers live under the floor of a regular size house. They are not just small, they are so tiny that a doll house size tea cup looks gigantic in their hands. The Clock family consists of the mother Homily (Nicia Carla), father Pod (Chaz Pofahl), and 14 year old Arietty (Casi Harris). The family survives by forays upstairs by Pod to "borrow" items they need to survive. The upstairs people don't know about the existence of the Borrowers until a Boy (Daniel O'Sullivan) visiting the cranky Mrs. Driver (Debra Mein) spots Pod who returns in a panic.

Arietty, being 14, wants to experience more than the confines of their small home so she convinces Pod to take her upstairs. There she encounters the Boy herself and gets into a conversation with him. This leads to consequences that could mean disaster for the Clock family as they must leave their safe surroundings to find other Borrowers or live on their own in the real world of grass and bugs that dwarf them.

The play is a bit slow in the beginning, English accents and all, but not because of director Mark Sutton or cast. The visuals/props make it fun in Act I, but the real pleasure comes in Act II when the Clock family is out on their own. They must find a way to live with the elements of nature. Their problem-solving becomes gratifying for the audience who develops an investment in their survival. Danger is everywhere without much protection, except for a broken scissor, for the defenseless small beings.

This is a first-rate cast. Regulars Nicia Carla, as the over-dramatic mother, and Chaz Pofahl, as the stuffy but tender father, deliver reliably strong performances. Casi Harris strikes just the right note as a young teen wanting to break away and find her own path. Daniel O’Sullivan ably conveys a youthful innocence. The villain in the piece, Debra Mein is right up there with the nasty best of them. As for Gerard Hazelton, who plays multiple roles including the crowd-pleasing Spiller, he is a natural entertainer. Nice job casting, director Sutton.

Adding significantly to the pleasure of the show are the clever technical elements including: set design by Kerry L. Chipman, scenic art by Tim Parati, costumes by Bob Croghan, props by Peter Smeal (great bugs), sound by Jason Romney, and lighting by Eric Winkenwerder.

Overall, The Borrowers is a delightful production not to be missed. Take your children, and the little person inside you will be grateful as well. Review by Ann Marie Oliva

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LOVE, LOSS, AND WHAT I WORE
By Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron
Based on the book by Ilene Beckerman
Directed by Karen Carpenter
Blumenthal Performing Arts
McGlohon Theater
January 24 - 29, 2012

Love, Loss, and What I Wore is a polished piece of theatre with a superb five-women cast that grabs the audience from the moment everyone sits down and Loretta Swit, playing Gingy, a grandmother recalling her life through the clothes she wore, starts talking. We even get visuals of the dresses Gingy wore to various events, along with her sly commentary. Yet this is no exposition on haute couture. Every woman can relate to the riotously funny/poignant/traumatic moments associated with certain clothes.

We remember that special dress our mother bought us, the prom dress with matching prom date tuxedo that made us cringe, the boots, the first "training" bra, or the closet from hell that has caused every woman to cry out in frustration, at one time or another, "I have nothing to wear!" It all rings true because it's written by women, about women, and performed by women.

The five actor cast is excellent representing various shapes, sizes, and attitudes. The women sit at music stands as though it's a play reading, but the performances are so much more with the self-effacing Ms. Swit playing Gingy throughout, and also acting as narrator announcing the various scenes. The remaining four actors play multiple roles. (The contributors of the stories/scenes are mentioned in the program.) Along with Ms. Swit, Emily Dorsch, Daisy Eagan, Sonia Manzano, and Myra Lucretia Taylor give us an evening to remember. Emotions triggered run from riotously funny to nostalgic to heartrending.

The format is close to The Vagina Monologues, yet the subject matter here is more humorous, and allows us to laugh hardest at ourselves. The more serious moments about traumatic events or the losses we suffer just by living are moving and real. Yet, the show is more joyful than sad because although it points out our anxiety over our appearance, how we make fools of ourselves trying to live up to some ideal, ultimately we do figure out what is right for us.

The McGlohon Theater was packed with women, and a few "brave" men. And you can guess what all the actors were wearing, can't you--yes, black? This is a treat women of Charlotte, do not miss it! Review by Ann Marie Oliva

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THE AMEN CORNER
Written by James Baldwin
Directed by Ruth E. Sloan
On Q Productions
Duke Energy Theatre
January 13 - 28, 2012

James Baldwin was an African-American poet, novelist, playwright and social activist most popular during the Civil Rights movement. Raised in Harlem and influenced by his preacher stepfather, David Baldwin, James joined the Pentecostal Church at age 14 and soon became a preacher.

The Amen Corner, penned in 1954 by Baldwin, is an obvious testament of his experiences and struggles with religion and his worldly desires outside of the church. As in many poor African-American communities, there is typically a strong presence of worship and faith, and it holds true in this production. Set in a 1950s Harlem church, female pastor Margaret Alexander is a devout Christian and a by-the-word pastor who rules her seemingly dedicated congregation as well as her unsteady home with an iron fist. Singing, literally, nothing but the praises of the Lord, morning, noon, and night, Sister Margaret, played by award-winning actor Terry Denise Henry, thinks all of life's problems will be solved by quoting scriptures from the bible and doing only the Lord's work. Unfortunately, her sanctified world comes to a gospel halt when: her estranged and sickly husband Luke shows up at her doorstep; her confused church pianist son David is tempted by a secular life as was his father years ago; and her church family begins to doubt her leadership ability due to recent discoveries of past and present decisions.

The production begins, as many On Q productions do, with a booming musical number by the mixed choir and eventually commands the congregation to join in. This idea usually works well because it gets the immediate attention of the audience and causes them to tune in from the moment the lights go up. The opening musical number is inspiring and would challenge any professional church choir to rehearse more after witnessing their performance. The tiny set, divided into an intimate church upstairs and a quaint apartment downstairs, fills the space perfectly and the costumes are simple but effective. In addition to the main character Sister Margaret (Henry), lively moments give the show hope when Sister Moore played by On Q favorite, Lashea Stukes, displays her talents by eventually becoming Sister Margaret's nemesis after being one of her biggest followers early on.

The Amen Corner mirrors so many church communities due to the ongoing struggle with faith, the false sense of reality that often plagues some leaders, and the desire to believe that the Lord will heal all ailments, physical, mental, and spiritual. By the end of the show, attempting to lead a God-like life brings hard-working Sister Margaret to her knees and truly tests her faith and dedication.

Originally estimated by the producer at two hours and thirty minutes, on this night The Amen Corner actually ran unexpectedly close to three hours and thirty minutes and left a few patrons sleepy, tired, and frustrated by its closing at nearly midnight. Although the production is driven by beloved gospel hymns, and comical as well as serious moments, be prepared for a lengthy ride. Review by Dawn Cauthen

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PAULA POUNDSTONE
Blumenthal Performing Arts
Knight Theater
January 21, 2012

Conflict and collaboration are crucial forces in theatre—as in the evolution of nature and culture. They're also vital elements in the stand-up comedy of Paula Poundstone. Appearing onstage with just a stool, soda, and microphone, Poundstone directly engages her audience, creating tension, cooperation, and the eruptive release of laughter, with many insights for a packed auditorium of hundreds in Charlotte's Knight Theater.

Dressed in a man's suit (black coat and pants, white shirt, with red and white tie), her stooped shoulders and intense stare made her look a bit like a cartoon buzzard, until she cracks a wry, mischievous smile. The curls of her black hair, directed forward at the sides of her cheeks, almost seem like horns when she challenges the audience with complaints and questions. Yet, she twists each idea in her flow of associations to invoke hilarious camaraderie, even with her "atheist" or political positions.

She starts by commenting on the local TV news, the dead body found behind the Flying Biscuit, and the "wedge" the weather-person warns about on the map. She describes the Republican presidential race as the tumbling laundry in a dryer, with candidates going up and down—and makes fun of various quotes, such as Gov. Perry's about evolution as "a theory that's out there." ("So is gravity," she said.) She talks often about her struggles in raising three adopted kids, now 20, 17, and 13. But she says that showing them the movie One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest made them think "Mom's not so bad."

When a woman near the front cheers, Poundstone engages her in conversation about her job, which "ratcheted down," as the woman explains it, from singer to music director at a local Christian church. Poundstone finds a similar adjustment from a man with an injured shoulder, whose job goes from architect to code inspector to manager of an automated system. So she mimicks how he might have injured his shoulder by pushing a button. She also mocks the man's wife, an architect who moved to Montana for college because of the mountains there—with Poundstone pointing out that the school probably did not design them.

Such interrogations made others nervous about participating, including a woman who said she planned to leave town during the Democratic National Convention this fall, then delayed in admitting she will be renting her home to visitors. With these challenges to local identities, Poundstone pounds questions at certain spectators. Yet, she manages to win over the crowd with laughter, through the peculiar images that she mirrors of them and various media figures.

She makes fun of herself, too, stretching her face while complaining about puffy eyebrows, cruel jowls, and other surprises of aging—-along with the AARP cards she keeps getting in the mail. She points to ridiculous details in consumer product packaging, like staples that require 50% less effort, or a paragraph of explanation on the bottom of a tissue box. She repeatedly uses the phrase, "I just don't understand," drawing the audience comically inside her conflicts with kids, society, religion, media, and her own body. She even teased the crowd that she had OCD about talking, and couldn't stop, going almost a full two hours onstage and lying on the floor near the end (with her feet becoming puppets), until she found a final joke. But by then, she'd made us her friends, expressing gratitude to us for sitting through it all—-and leaving us reluctantly as a "great audience." Indeed, we'd been much improved by her wonderful improvisations. Review by Mark Pizzato

Mark Pizzato is Professor of Theatre at UNC-Charlotte and author of Ghosts of Theatre and Cinema in the Brain, Theatres of Human Sacrifice, and Inner Theatres of Good and Evil. His plays have been published by Aran Press and his screenplays, produced as short films, have won New York Film Festival and Minnesota Community Television awards.

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MEMPHIS: THE MUSICAL
Book & Lyrics by Joe DiPietro
Music & Lyrics by David Bryan
Directed by Christopher Ashley
Music Producer/Music Supervisor Christopher Jahnke
Choreographed by Sergio Trujillo
Blumenthal Performing Arts
Ovens Auditorium
January 3 – 8, 2012

How does a play/musical come into existence? It certainly doesn’t spring fully-formed onto a stage. It starts with a playwright’s and/or musician’s idea and gets developed over time with many of hours of work. The award-winning Memphis: The Musical is impressive in putting all the elements together for a rousing/troubling/touching perspective on 1950s musical history. It’s not that long ago that a play with an interracial relationship at its center wouldn’t have had much of a chance of being performed in Charlotte. We can thank the Blumenthal Broadway Lights Series for giving us the opportunity to see these kinds of highly professional if controversial Broadway traveling shows. Yet, audiences today are more sophisticated and difficult to shock. What the play tries to convey, though, is the implication of that relationship in the 1950s.

Huey (an excellent characterization by Bryan Fenkart) is a none-too-smart, manic hillbilly, but what he can’t articulate in words is expressed in the soulful black music of Memphis. He makes his way to a black nightclub where he becomes fixated on Felicia (Felicia Boswell who can belt out those songs), the featured act, both as a powerful, talented singer, and as a woman. Felicia’s brother Delray (Quentin Earl Darrington easily projecting a commanding baritone voice) can’t stand Huey even though he promises to promote their singers. Delray accuses Huey of trying to steal their music, but Huey is undeterred because he is, in fact, a true believer, hence the first big number of the night “The Music of My Soul”. Huey becomes a disc jockey and despite the racism of the time begins to play black music on air. Humor is used extensively here as we laugh with and at Huey’s clumsy attempts to win over both groups. But white kids, and more importantly, the young demographic, tired of their parents’ constraints, start listening and the music becomes popular much to everyone’s surprise except Huey.

The character of Huey is thought to be loosely based on several disc jockeys of the time, including Dewey Philips of Tennessee, who promoted black music and helped ready the world for rock ‘n’ roll. The writers add some clever references, such as naming Huey’s disapproving mother (Julie Johnson another singer/actor with a big voice) Gladys, Elvis Presley’s mother’s name. Elvis is the man who some say actually did “steal” the music.

As for the love between Huey and Felicia, the play emphasizes how dangerous it could be for both the man and woman. Both make sacrifices to be with each other though the damage from a harsh, judgmental community, their friends, and families begin to add up. There is a realistic arc to the relationship: the giddiness of first attraction, the passionate commitment to each other, and the inevitable differences and problems that can tear any two people apart. Add to that the pressures of fanatic racism and it’s easy to imagine what can happen.

Kudos also to the large first-rate cast of supporting singer/dancer/actors, who perform energetically throughout including: Will Mann as Bobby, Rhett George as Gator, and William Parry as Mr. Simmons. The choreography by Sergio Trujillo is one of the highlights of the show. Also impressive is the multi-purpose set design by David Gallo that has a black and white “television” screen view projected above the stage in Act II reminding us how new it all was then. The colorful costumes by Paul Tazewell nod to the times but are vibrant and showy.

The musical numbers carry the storyline along in typical fashion for this form, giving each principal cast member his/her turn to shine. While the songs are delivered with gusto, only a few emerge that you may be singing to yourself on the way home.

Though the 1950s were known as a time of stifling conformism, people were secretly rebelling in various ways, and one way was music. How true this play is to the spirit of its historical era, and whether disc jockeys had that much influence is open to interpretation. The music would have eventually come to be acknowledged because it’s that good. Still, Huey and his fellow travelers must be recognized for what they risked for the love of the music, which is the universal language and continues to break down barriers. It does feel stereotypical in places, but it may be that we’ve heard about this struggle for so long now that we’ve become familiar with the stories, but that doesn’t make them any less moving.
Review by Ann Marie Oliva

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ROCK OF AGES
Book by Chris D'Arenzio
Directed by Kristin Hanggi
Blumenthal Performing Arts
Belk Theater
December 26 - December 31, 2011

Do you remember where you were in 1987? What tunes did you blast in your car riding down the highway searching for yourself ? Did you and your best friend share a can of Aquanet on a Friday night while lip-syncing to Guns 'n' Roses, Poison, or maybe even Pat Benetar? Although a pre-teen, I was certainly old enough to enjoy a select few of these groups, minus the hairspray.

On December 26, 2011 in the heart of downtown Charlotte, the Belk Theater was transformed into The Bourbon Room, a popular Los Angeles bar in the 1980s where Rock 'n Roll's famous and 'wannabe' famous rolled through and left their mark. Plastered on every inch of grimy wall space were signed pictures of heavy metal rock bands, neon signs advertising live nude girls, and probably tons of things that we wouldn't want to know about. Lonny, played by an animated Justin Colombo, serves as the narrator as Drew, played by Dominque Scott, a busboy and big dreamer from Detroit, is ready for fame when he meets small-town waitress Sherrie, played by Shannon Mullen. They're both young, impressionable and naive, and seem to both want love and to live a big life in L.A. Then a German land developer and his confused son want to break up the party and create a strip mall right where The Bourbon Room is standing. The German father and son duo convince the mayor that the Rock 'n Roll lifestyle is not becoming and a more wholesome existence is better for the city. This creates mayhem with the city planner, and a huge fight ensues.

In the meantime, between long drives up the coast and writing tribute songs, Drew professes his longing for a "friendship" with Sherrie that seemingly grounds her feelings for Drew to a halt and drives her into the arms of another man. During a visit to The Bourbon Room, she becomes yet another groupie in love with a rocker after the famous Stacie Jaxx played by Matt Nolan (who has a stunning resemblance to another blonde late '80s rocker that penned "Wanted Dead or Alive") who showers her with the best love she's had--in a bathroom stall. Shortly after, Sherrie and Drew part ways and try to find fame on their own.

From beginning to end, heavy guitar-driven tunes such as "Nothin' But a Good Time", "Don't Stop Believin'", "We're Not Gonna Take It", "We Built This City" and many others blasted throughout the theater causing grand sing-a-longs among the patrons. It didn't take long for me to see fingers thrown in the air, tongues extended and heads bobbing up and down. During the show I was also guilty of commanding a few looks by loudly singing along to the more subtle ballad, "More Than Words" by Extreme, which was actually released in 1990.

Being a bit younger during this time, I did manage to miss a few jokes and references that received hearty laughs and outbursts from patrons. However, if you were a child of the 1980s and a fan of Rock, you would kick yourself by passing up this show. There was even a guy during intermission peddling the Rock of Ages soundtrack, which many purchased and probably blasted on the way home. Big dreams, loud music, and wild hair was the theme of this production and it will have you partying hard long after the curtains close.
Review by Dawn Cauthen

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CHAPS! A JINGLE JANGLE CHRISTMAS
Book by Jahnna Beecham & Malcolm Hillgartner
Vocal Arrangements by Malcolm Hillgartner & Chip Duford
Directed by Patrick Tansor
Music Director Ryan Deal
Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte
December 13 – 23, 2011

It’s Christmas Eve 1944 in London at the BBC Radio Studio. A singing cowboy group is booked to entertain the World War II troops and put on a show for the studio audience. But only the stage manager Mabel (Lauren Segal) shows up. Oh no! What to do? That gives you the flavor of the broad comedy style of Chaps! A Jingle Jangle Christmas .

On display is the old adage about show biz people that “the show must go on,” no matter what. So the staff of the radio team, mostly cranky Brits, dress up in them thar cowboy duds and miraculously perform their hearts out. Yes, it’s a thin premise, but the singers/actors on stage make it all worthwhile. The voices of this talented, cohesive group blend perfectly performing the harmonies of these classic Western songs. Some are not familiar, but almost everyone has heard of “I’m An Old Cowhand,” “Jingle Jangle Jingle Balls,” “Tumblin Tumbleweeds.” Then there is also a nod to the sentimental “White Cliffs of Dover”, a favorite of the British during World War II for its symbolism, paired with “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” written at that time for American soldiers wishing they were home.

This is a top notch cast with Lauren Segal appealing/perky carrying the lone female part. Joe Klosek is always watchable here playing Archie who finds he is a good match for the Western vibe. Kevin Roberge is droll and campy as the stuffy, hung over announcer. Brett Gentile is humorous as Stan the silent sound man on set adding the sound effects. Ryan Stamey is the prissy/asthmatic producer who has some funny bits as the stand-in “dummy.” Beau Stroupe has a stand out vocal range as Clive.

Really impressive is the set design by Chip Decker. Not only is the wide stage made believable as a radio studio with its own glass enclosed control room, it is functional and provides some fun surprises for the audience. The costumes by Jamey Varnadore, and the lighting by Hallie Gray are also effective. Music director Ryan Deal’s three musicians provide exactly what is needed as they perform on the set as the Tex Riley Band: Forrest Brown on bass, Brandon Buckmaster on fiddle and Jeremy DeCarlos on guitar.

Director Patrick Tansor does a nice job conveying the tenor of simpler, more innocent times. The 1940s radio shows recall good old-fashioned values and heartfelt feelings amid what has become sometimes cynical takes on the season. It’s a fun ride, buckaroos.
Review by Ann Marie Oliva

Ann Marie Oliva is an award-winning playwright with productions across the United States, a published fiction and non-fiction writer, and theatre and film reviewer. She is the producer/editor of ARTS à la Mode and is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

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LIVE FROM WVL RADIO THEATRE: IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
Adapted by W.V.R. Repoley
Directed by Charles Flynn-McIver
Blumenthal Performing Arts
Booth Playhouse
December 6-19, 2011

Some have said the country has stepped back in time and fallen into a modern-day depression. Limited jobs, unemployment on the rise, and major crises in the home mortgage and banking industries. It's inevitable that history repeats itself, even if it's art imitating life and vice versa. The classic Christmas special, It’s a Wonderful Life returns to the airwaves yearly and is a staple in many homes across the country. I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve never watched it in it’s entirety. While doing something to get into the Christmas spirit, I’ve caught glimpses of it on the tube but chalked it up to an old black and white that I couldn't relate to.

How wrong I was. Live from WVL Radio Theatre: It's a Wonderful Life, is a slightly twisted adaptation of the movie It's a Wonderful Life produced in 1946. It is brilliantly performed by four radio actors held up in a studio on Christmas Eve with the fate of the station resting firmly on their shoulders. Radio actors Lee Wright, played by Nathan Crocker, and Mays, played by Michael MacCauley, both bring an element to the stage that I have not witnessed or appreciated in recent productions. Having to play several characters, live, has to be extremely challenging, but they pull it off seamlessly, as does Kathryn Temple as Evelyn Reed and Rachelle Roberts as Kitty Dale, transforming into several other characters throughout the reading.

The stage, is actually backstage, and is converted into a radio station with everyday household items manipulated for sound effects. An egg-beater twirling on a glass bowl for the ring of the telephone, a graduated chime for scene progression, and what seems to be a duck-calling instrument to emulate a taxi-cab ride. The audience, is, well, the live audience for the evening. Nearly sitting on stage, we applaud when the "applaud" light illuminates as the cast scrambles to beat the "On-Air" cue each segment.

In essence, we are witnessing four actors playing actors, playing many characters in a production whose two narrators are spying on the life of others who may have been affected had the main character never been born. It is fascinating to watch a play within a play unfold as we follow the main character, George Bailey, from an adolescent boy with big dreams to a defeated man with worries who has given up on himself.

Although the production was actually penned more than half a century ago, the issues still ring true today for many people. This adaptation is clever in many ways; talented actors playing actors, the love affairs that unfold between pages of a script, and a 1940s set make for a very innovative and engaging production. Review by Dawn Cauthen

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JUNIE B. IN JINGLE BELLS, BATMAN SMELLS!
By Allison Gregory
Adapted from The Books by Barbara Park
Illustrated by Denise Brunkus
Directed by Ron Chisholm
Children’s Theatre of Charlotte
McColl Family Theatre
December 2 – 22, 2011

For all those precocious tomboyish little girls, Junie B. projects a feisty, ambitious, but essentially kind nature that we don’t ordinarily see. Most children’s stories and plays have little boy “heroes.” Yet Junie B. is not your grandmother’s idea of a fairy tale type girl who just wants to look pretty, marry a prince of a guy, and be taken care of for life. No, Junie B. wants be the boss, and probably will be a very competent one when she grows up. Author Barbara Park captures just the right balance of Junie B. Jones’s lovable and exasperating traits in her books, and it works on stage, too.

Most of the action takes place in the classroom right before the December holidays with the teacher Mr. Scary (an excellent Josh Looney) trying to corral his energetic students. School activities like putting on a play and assigning secret Santa gifts that try to provide lessons to kids--like working together and learning the spirit of giving--mostly go, happily for the audience, uproariously wrong.

Junie B. (Caroline Rigby, a good fit as the spirited Junie) has an ongoing clash of wills with classmate May (Casi Harris, superb). Junie doesn’t really like Casi, and Casi harasses Junie with her annoying habit of tattling on Junie. The other personalities in the classroom include Lucille the rich girl (nicely parodied by Mandy Moss), Sheldon the sweet but not altogether too bright kid (made an audience favorite by Jeremy Shane), Jose, another exuberant student (well-played by Kendall Payne), and Herb, Junie B.’s best friend whose quiet demeanor balances her lively spirit (Daniel O’Sullivan, who has to be calm amidst all the raucous action.) Drina Keen, usually in the orchestra pit as musical director, manages that function again, but is also on stage this time in two supporting roles.

Director Ron Chisholm knows how his actors should move, and move around on stage, and brings a sense of fun with various musical touches that you shouldn’t miss. The revolving set by Anna Sartin is clever, and with help from the lighting of David Fillmore, props by Pete Smeal, costumes by Jennifer Matthews, and sound by Colin Powers, Junie B. in Jingle Bells Batman Smells is an all around delightful show that both children and adults will enjoy. Review by Ann Marie Oliva

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WALLACE AND WOMEN
By Jonathan Marc Sherman
Directed by James Yost
Original Music by Maddie Shuler
Chaos Ensemble
Providence High School
Duke Energy Theater at Spirit Square
December 7 – 10, 2011

A little boy’s first love is his mother. His worst fear? Adandonment. That’s the situation for the title character in Providence High School’s Chaos Ensemble production of Wallace and Women. This provocative autobiographical dark comedy was written by playwright Jonathan Marc Sherman when he was just eighteen. The character of Wallace (Jake Laxer, conveying mixed emotions well) is confused, guilt-ridden, smug, awkward, and ultimately so real it is difficult for the audience not to root for him.

The legacy of suicide colors everything that happens to Wallace after he leaves for school one day a happy second-grader only to come home and find his mother’s (a well-cast PJ Boyajian) body in a pool of blood. Suicide is an act of desperation, but can it be a selfish one as well? That is left for the audience to decide since we never learn the cause of her depression. Yet, Wallace makes no judgments against his mother, he only achingly misses her throughout his young life wishing he could have changed the inevitable.

Wallace’s steady support from his Grandmother (a humorous Olivia Dalzell) helps him go through the motions, but his mother is never far from his mind. Needless to say his relationships with women are strained. From his middle school girlfriend Victoria (the hilarious Kacie Roller), to the high school intellectual Sarah (Amanda Berkowitz), to the older college woman Lili (an appealing Dana Story), and his true love Nina (an earnest Madi Claus) (after a detour with Wendy, Savannah Hamilton), Wallace longs for, but is fearful of giving into love. The psychiatrist (Katherine Daly) is no help initially because Wallace uses caustic wit to keep her at arms length.

Director James Yost again shows his special touch with young actors, and his expert vision even with limited resources. The uniformly good ensemble cast remains on stage as Wallace goes through the phases of his life, each one entering and contributing to his pain/growth. They sit in a semi-circle watching the action (and occasionally and cleverly work in various prop items). Visual projection above the stage announces the girls/women’s names, as well as showing photos of Wallace as he goes from the boy to young man. Student directors Brian Garcia, Natalie Lane, and Kara Spangler are to be commended, and Maddie Shuler’s haunting original music is especially helpful and touching, adding an extra dimension to the show.

Despite the subject matter, Wallace and Women is less grim and more hopeful and funny than you would expect. It is well-worth the trip to the Duke Energy Theater to see this talented ensemble. Review by Ann Marie Oliva

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MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET
Book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux
Musical Arrangements and Supervision by Chuck Mead
Directed by Eric Schaeffer
Blumenthal Performing Arts
Knight Theater
November 22 - December 11, 2011

Based on an impromptu jam session that took place at Sun Records Studio on December 4, 1956 with iconic musicians Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash, Million Dollar Quartet is a jukebox musical that vividly brings this unlikely collision of stars. More than anything the musical is an homage to Sam Phillips, the man who discovered all four men who would shape American music for so long. The production lets the audience witness this playful, sometimes combative, always fascinating meeting of these demi-gods of music.

The evening is ostensibly for Carl Perkins (played with share cropper gusto by Lee Ferris). Perkins, once at the top of the charts, is looking for another hit and feels abandoned by his mentor, Phillips. Sam Phillips (played by Christopher Ryan Grant) acts as narrator throughout the musical, and recounts that evening where he must decide whether to stay with his tiny studio or move on to RCA with his discovery, Elvis Presley. Phillips brings in his new discovery, Jerry Lee Lewis (a scene-stealing role played with comic brilliance by Martin Kaye) to add some much-needed life to Perkins’ increasingly lack luster tunes.

The evening is made all the more dramatic by two things: the impending visit of Elvis Presley returning to Memphis to visit his family and stopping by to pressure Phillips to join him at RCA; and a visit from Johnny Cash who has been avoiding Phillips for some time. Phillips throughout the show struggles with his decision, but still desperately wants to get Cash to re-sign with him once his contract expires. Presley is played by Cody Slaughter who manages to embody everything we remember about “the king,” while still creating a dynamic and believable character. Derek Keeling’s Johnny Cash is also mesmerizing and Keeling’s deep baritone voice is astoundingly accurate and evocative. Rounding out the cast are Kelly Lamont who plays Elvis’ girl friend, Dyanne, who has her own dreams of music stardom (Ms. Lamont brings down the house with a very hot rendition of “fever”); Chuck Zayas as Perkin’s older brother who plays bass; and Billy Shaffer on drums.

All of the actors, we are told, are actually playing the instruments while they sing, and there is some truly accomplished playing going on. The musical is most successful when the men are performing. They manage to channel these icons at the height of their prowess and the stage almost sizzles with electricity as we witness these giants of music playing, creating, and struggling. What plot there is, is handled well enough. Phillips betrayal by almost everyone he discovered is poignantly handled; the individual conflicts of each character add depth and interest, but it’s still mostly there to try to elevate the production from the likes of “Beatlemania” to something more profound. I’m not certain that is completely successful.

But as a recreation it is stunning. The performers are top notch and we are sucked into this astounding moment in time. Rock favorites like “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” and “Great Balls of Fire” bring the house down.

The musical is energetic and brought the audience to multiple standing ovations near the end. Though I’m not the biggest fan of jukebox musicals, I thoroughly enjoyed spending an evening with these legendary men. Review by Tim Baxter-Ferguson

Tim Baxter-Ferguson is professor of Theatre at Limestone College and Chair of that program. He has had his plays produced throughout the United States and Canada.

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TIME STANDS STILL
by Donald Margulies
Directed by Robert Lufty
Collaborative Arts Theatre
Duke Energy Theatre at Spirit Square
November 17 to December 3, 2011

When we're moved by news stories or photos of others suffering in distant parts of the world, are we exploiting their pain for our pleasure? Margulies's 2009 play brings this question home—as a photojournalist returns to New York with her boyfriend, after surviving a roadside bomb in Iraq, and experiences emotional explosions at home despite familiar comforts.

For this show, the Duke Energy Theatre has been turned into an intimate thrust stage with chairs on three sides. Onstage are elaborate shelves with many knickknacks, a bathroom door, a globe, couch, chairs, lamp, Persian rug, coffee table, kitchen counter, and fridge—in an artfully designed set by Elizabeth Allmon. Sarah (Elise Wilkinson) enters, wearing a leg brace, arm sling, and facial scars (on the opposite side from her limb injuries). She is helped to a chair by her longtime boyfriend and war-correspondent colleague, James (Eric Tucker). He hovers over her lovingly, but she's impatient to be healed, independent again and back at work taking photos of war victims.

There are many sides to Sarah, as a tragicomic hero and photographer, not all of which are fully explored in this production. Despite an eight-year relationship with James, she fell in love with the local "fixer" (a guide and interpreter) in Iraq, who was then killed by the same bomb that injured her. She's even more in love with the adrenalin rush of her job, with the art of photography, and with her mission in which "lives are at stake." Yet, she also loves James, who cannot take any more terror in his work and apathy from magazine editors, especially after surviving a marketplace explosion when a victim's brain matter splattered in his face. He admires and competes with Sarah's courage, yet tries to lure her into accepting the comforts of home.

The conflicts between them, and within each, are mirrored in curious ways by the couple who visits them in their Brooklyn home, from winter to spring to summer. Richard (Joe Copley) is Sarah's former flame and current photo editor. At midlife, he decides to enjoy the rest of it with a young woman half his age, and to have a child with her—while still traveling vicariously through the photos and stories of his journalist friends. His girlfriend and then wife, Mandy (Ali Bill), brings a youthful energy, naiveté, and yet uncanny wisdom to the darkness that haunts the journalists' home.

The actress who plays Mandy is the most delightful and comical feature of this production, embodying a new generation's optimistic struggle with the horrors of the world. Ironically, she shows more compassion toward the victims in Sarah's photos, or even to animals in a nature show on TV, than the toughened traveler. And yet, she defends Richard well, in arguing against James that there must be a balance of joy in our lives (as she becomes a new mother), and in our mass media, along with occasional awareness of others' suffering.

Flashes and shutter clicks between scenes (with lighting and sound design by Trista Bremer and Samuel Fisher) remind us that theatre, like photography, both exposes and distances, communicates and exploits the victims of real violence elsewhere. The "cinema of cruelty" book that James is writing, while watching horror movies at home, becomes a way to understand and yet avoid the true horror of his Schadenfreude. As Sarah eventually realizes, she's "made a living off the suffering of strangers."

Perhaps this play will also challenge the Charlotte audience to question how our national interests and media appetites, through crusades around the world, bring us security and excitement at home, yet destroy homes, families, and cultures "over there"—and here when soldiers return, injured for life, or in body bags that we no longer see.
Review by Mark Pizzato

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CIRQUE DE LA SYMPHONIE
Conducted by Jacomo Rafael Bairos
Blumenthal Performing Arts
Belk Theater
November 25-26, 2011

One of the pleasures of "seeing" the Charlotte Symphony perform is watching the various instruments being played, to the movement of the conductor's baton. But with this performance there's much more to watch. Aerialists hanging on silk, a cube-frame being twirled, hoops and pins juggled by a clown, magical costume changes, couples dancing in air, and golden strongmen—all to the rhythms of a dozen symphony favorites.

For music purists, it might be distracting. To fans of full Cirque du Soleil shows, the performances here are minimal, with just one act at a time, involving one or two people in a narrow strip of the stage, about 15 feet in front of (or flying over) the orchestra. Yet, for most in the audience, as shown by the standing ovation on the first night, and after-show interview enthusiasm, it's a perfect match. Like Disney's original Fantasia, this show blends fantastic imagery with beautiful music—but it also adds live, circus-theatre excitement.

Several pieces, from Ravel, Smetana, and Strauss, are performed by the orchestra without circus acts. This allows the audience to watch the dancing bows, waving brass, flying drumstick heads, and swirling baton, as direct illustrations of the music. Perhaps such traditional viewing is even more enhanced, though, with Cirque spirits haunting the stage.

Olympic gymnast Christine Van Loo climbs two purple silk ribbons and then continually transforms her body, like a caterpillar-butterfly. She ties the ribbons around each of her limbs, in various ways, hangs upside-down, turns the silk inside-out, poses, twists, and spins—to Khachaturian's "Dance of Ayshe." Then, Aloysia Gavre and Sagiv Ben Binyamin (veterans of many Cirque shows) dance a contortionist tango, holding each other with handstands, one-foot balancing, and impossible intertwining, to Marquez's "Danzon Number 2." And then, Vladimir Tsarkov, in a red, black, and silver Harlequin suit, with white-face and red-cheek makeup, juggles three to six, large, yellow rings to another Khachaturian dance from Gayane. Russian aerialist Alexander Streltsov also spins a cube-frame, making it fly over his head, during another Gayane piece.

Elena Tsarkova, in sparkling white tights, performs a contortionist balance dance on two tall stools to Tchaikovsky's "Valse," as a beauty who's not sleeping. She also does a magical series of costume-change tricks, with the help of Tsarkov and Abreu's music. Gavre stuns viewers, too, with an aerial hoop dance to Rimsky-Korsakov: twisting, spinning, and flying over the orchestra and audience, even hanging by just her feet.

To Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries," Binyamin performs another strength-displaying, gymnastic feat, climbing and hanging from a single thick rope, which he also makes dance below him. To Dvorák's "Slavonic Dance," Tsarkov and Tsarkova juggle colorfully lit batons and dance with a long pink ribbon on a stick. To Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake Valse, Streltsov and Van Loo do a duo, red-silk climb, hang, and fly—with their silk turning into wings. In the finale, with Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor," Polish strongmen Jaroslaw Marciniak and Dariusz Wronski become the golden icons of muscular artful balancing–in impossible and amazing ways, such as one doing a handstand on the other's head.

Charlotte's Bairos does a wonderful job, too, as circus master and orchestra conductor, sharing his personal enthusiasm for the Cirque performers and encouraging those new to the symphony to attend again. Hopefully, they will, with memories at the stage edge enlivening their view of the music. Review by Mark Pizzato

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THE MAGIC FLUTE
Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Text by Emmanuel Schikaneder and Carl Ludwig Giesecke
English translation by Ruth and Thomas Martin
Conductor: Alan Yamamoto
Director: Rebecca Cook-Carter
Musical Director: Dr. Roxanne Holt-Watson
Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC)
Halton Theater
Nov. 18-20, 2011

With over 40 performers onstage, elaborate scenery, fantastic costumes, and many strong voices, CPCC's The Magic Flute offers a fine introduction to Mozart's famous fable about love, magic, and destiny. This three-hour opera, translated into English, also gives insights about eighteenth-century values in Europe that formed a legacy still with us today—as a bonus to Mozart's delightful music.

Prince Tamino (John Kaneklides) meets the bird-catcher Papageno (Thomas P. Hughes) on a rocky crag, beautifully depicted with a tall painted canvas (in a set designed by Julie Landman). Through the powerful magic and eloquent singing of three lovely Ladies (Grace Kidd, Marcella Smith, and Daidree Tofano), they escape a dragon-serpent with a "Where the Wild Things Are" head and 11-person body, including 2 cute kids at the tail. (Costumes are designed by Emily McCurdy.) They then go on a quest to rescue Princess Pamina (Melinda Whittington), who's been captured by Sarastro (Dareion Malone), high priest of the Egyptian gods, Isis and Osiris.

They are given this mission by the Queen of the Night (Heidi Kirschenheiter Vega with a magnificent voice), who appears out of a large full moon and down a grand golden staircase. From the Three Ladies, Tamino also gets a magic flute and a portrait of Pamina that makes him fall in love with her. Papageno gets magic silver bells. And they both get three spirit guides for their journey (performed quite well by the boy singers: Andrew Dale, David Benton, and Ryan Merritt). Such a quest by men to save a beautiful maiden has many parallels in various cultures. But when Papageno, who's covered in feathers and can't stop talking, meets the Moor, Monostatos (Thabang Masango), they each see the other as a "devil." This reflects a specific fear of the animal-like or dark-skinned Other, that we inherit (and are still working through today) from the dominant European ideal of the heroic white male—despite Enlightenment values of universal rights and democracy.

Likewise, Tamino sings about the ideals of "man and wife" leading a "godly life" through romantic destiny. But that requires that Tamino and Papageno be trained to control their passions—by the benevolent despot Sarastro, who, it turns out, kidnapped Pamina to save her from her possessive, murderous mother. Thus, the lyrics in Mozart's music sometimes reveal patriarchal fears and projections, as with the warning, "beware of women's crafty scheming," under the watchful scheming of Sarastro. A beautifully painted backdrop illuminates this patriarchal legacy—with huge wings of an Egyptian figure turning into notes on a staff, underneath an Eye of Power with golden rays shining over the pyramids.

And yet, Papageno's clownish charms (well played and sung by Hughes) provide an almost rebellious parody against such "be a man" demands. In this production, the Moor also gets a laugh by licking his lips for "one little kiss" with Pamina. (Both the Moor and Sarastro have interesting African features and accents, through the casting choices here.) Eventually, Papageno learns to hold his tongue and the hand of his destined match, Papagena (Brianna Valencia), though he first meets her as an old woman, before she transforms into an ideal young female, bringing babies as further mirrors. Pamina also learns to not give up, or kill herself, after Tamino refuses to speak with her, in his trial under Sarastro's divine orders.

So, the couples end up happily and wisely together, as "the sun's glory vanquishes night." We might believe in that, given the beauty of the music here (despite some uneven singing by the male chorus of a dozen priests, who also have uneven borders on their robes). Yet we might also wonder how the eye atop the pyramid on our dollar bills watches over our values today, through operatic, romantic, mystical, and political desires. Review by Mark Pizzato

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SKETCH-A-RAMA
Written by Tom Olson, Kim Irene Barker, & Ben Sliker
Dysfunctional Figurines at
Carolina Actors Studio Theatre (CAST)
November 11-12 & 18-19, 2011

For fans of sketch comedy, like the brief satirical pieces on TV's Saturday Night Live, there's another lively treat available from a local company that first performed at CAST last summer. This assortment of laugh bites has many satirical flavors in a more complete package—with projected slides, set pieces, props, costumes, and a short movie that show a further degree of professionalism, along with the actors' delicious performance twists.

Lee Thomas (a new Figurine member) offers several monologs, sprinkled throughout the show, as the cheerful stoner Kaleo. He recites his poem about celebrities with food names, then wonders about ordering Swiss cheese in Switzerland and a Danish in Denmark, and then considers how "cool" it would be to have women wear food-odor perfume. The food, identity, and romance themes then continue with "Pick Up Artist," in which Jack (James Walker II, another new member) uses tears and stories about losing his beloved wife to get hugs from women in a Starbucks.

Likewise, identity tricks are explored in "Jesus' Makeover," when writers for the Trinity Broadcasting Network are pressured by their dominatrix boss (Julie Janorschke-Gawle) for new show ideas, to make Jesus more popular with today's TV audience. Then, in "The Bank Took My House but Not My Soul," Tom Olson (the Figurines' fearless leader) plays a destitute stock broker panhandling on the street, yet still trying to wheel and deal for money, as his wife finds a new man to keep her in pearls.

Even more intriguing, "OMG" explores how friends can meet in person, yet speak in an exclusive, cell-phone texting code. And "What Can Brown Do For You?" parodies the UPS ad slogan with a superhero deliveryman (Walker), demanding the recipient's signature.

Gayle Taggart plays various interesting roles, including an Old Woman in a retirement home, who changes her mind about whether to enjoy the high life of gambling, boozing, and sex—at life's end. Lee Thomas also shape-shifts from the stoner Kaleo to religious TV writer to befuddled friend to businessman to a send-up of Tom Brokaw to a lonely man in his attic, lying while in an online dating game. Glynnis O'Donoghue (a new Figurine) shines, too, in many distinctive roles, especially as a nun and female president. So do Walker, Janorschke-Gawle, and Olson, as all six Figurines create hilarious caricatures of current dysfunctions in different social environments.

Some of the strongest parodies appear in the second act. In "The Blackenator Saves the Catholic Church," Father Paul (Thomas), Sister Katy (O'Donoghue), and a Jesus statue are saved from irrelevancy by the pimp-magic of a mystically hipster (Walker), with a long fur coat, "soul injector," and bling-bling crucifix. In "Demon Be Gone," Sister Katy appears again to confront a mischievous 5th-grader who's possessed by the dead spirit of a salty, greedy, sex-starved sailor (Olson). Olson also shows his prowess at sudden personality switches onstage in "Layover," playing a man with a karaoke form of Turret's Syndrome, who still manages to charm a lady in an airport. And other ladies (O'Donoghue and Janorschke-Gawle) become fierce contenders in a televisSKETCHed presidential debate (with Thomas as Tom Brokaw), showing the logical, yet absurd extremes of current political positions.

The show might have a better rhythm if it ended with one of these four, riotously funny pieces, instead of offering three more. But the final piece, "He Said/She Said," does give some timely jabs at the Renaissance Festival now in our area. And the overall effect of this assortment of tasteful parodies proves that Dysfunctional Figurines has grown a step, as a quality satirical review. Fortunately, they've also gained a second weekend of performances, for those who miss the first. Review by Mark Pizzato

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BEYOND THERAPY
By Christopher Durang
Directed by Stephen Seay
Stephen Seay Productions
Petra's Piano Bar
November 10, 12, 17, & 19, 2011

It may be the funniest show of the year. Durang's comedy, about a 30-something couple finding new love beyond the absurdity of therapy, bears many references from decades ago, but it gains a new vibrancy on the small, piano-bar stage of Petra's.

Prudence (Leslie Ann Giles) answers a personals ad, meeting Bruce (Stephen Seay) in a restaurant. He says precisely the wrong things, while idealizing her, especially when he mentions his male lover. Prudence and Bruce each seek help from their therapists, then meet again in the restaurant, and eventually in Bruce's home, where Prudence also meets his lover Bob (Jay Russell)—and everyone talks with Bob's mom on the phone. All three in this love triangle, plus the two therapists, go for a final round of farce in the restaurant, with a gun firing, water throwing, hilarious climax and potentially happy end.

Funniest of all is Tania Kelly as Mrs. Wallace, Bob's therapist, making cathartic sense out of her character's absurdity, by finding wonder in her frustrations. She gets stuck on saying the wrong words and needs her Snoopy doll as a consultant. Yet she's tickled with delight at objects in her desk drawer and cheers the odd directions of her patient's (or porpoise's) positive-thinking and assertiveness. Christopher Jones, as Dr. Framingham, is less likeable and often too loud for the intimate audience space—with his hollow macho poses and his overblown rage at his patient, Prudence, who won't submit anymore to his seductions. Austin Houdek is a bit too quiet, on the other hand, as Andrew the waiter, who gives a little more attention to his customers when threatened by a gun.

Yet, the play is finely directed throughout—with minimal set pieces working well and scene changes executed smoothly by the actors. They also use silent moments and scene transitions perfectly, for comic effect and meaning. Even the offstage space becomes significant, when Bruce and Bob fight loudly there, while Prudence waits on the couch, cringing in uncertainty.

Bob eventually finds hope for change, as the zany Mrs. Wallace encouraging his self-expression with a cap-gun. And Bruce, as a "partial crackpot," helps Prudence to stare "into the abyss" of the audience. Together, with the good and bad effects of their treatments, they turn ridiculous failure into a new awareness, through trust in love's possibilities, as the best therapy, along with laughter. Review by Mark Pizzato

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NEXT FALL
By Geoffrey Nauffts
Directed by Dennis Delamar
Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte
October 28 to November 19, 2011

This play's focus on a gay couple might be off-putting to some in the Charlotte community—given the tumult here over Angels in America 15 years ago. But the current production of Next Fall explores issues of concern to all of us: life, death, and the possibility of an afterlife, human and divine judgment, illness and health, parent and child communication, and the desire to save or change the person one loves.

In the present, the play takes place in a hospital waiting room (decorated in a striking mix of natural wood, garish green, and silver trimmed rectangles)—and then around the bed of Luke (Josh Looney), who is in a coma, after being hit by a taxicab in New York City. His friends are gathered to support each other in this time of crisis: Luke's partner, Adam (Christian Casper); Luke's boss at a candle shop and Adam's good friend, Holly (Sheila Snow Proctor); and Luke's ex-boyfriend, Brandon (Scott Alexander Miller). Luke's mother, Arlene (Polly Adkins), and his father, Butch (Jerry Colbert), have come from Tallahassee to be there, though they've been divorced from each other for over 20 years. While they're waiting and getting bits of news, while Adam tries to get inside Luke's room although he's not a family member, and while he fights for more time with his comatose partner, against the father's authority, periodic flashbacks are shown.

In the flashback scenes, we get to see Adam and Luke's initial meeting, their breakfast together after a first night of lovemaking, their moving into an apartment together, Butch visiting that apartment, Adam, Holly, and Luke conversing there, Adam meeting with Brandon in a park to discuss his relationship with Luke, and Adam confronting Luke about wanting him to change. The main conflict between Adam and Luke, throughout these scenes, is that Luke is an Evangelical Christian, who continues to pray, despite his repeated "sin" of homosexual activity, and who believes he will spend eternity without his partner in heaven, because Adam does not believe in Christ.

The two leads are sometimes dressed in their underwear, but signs of affection are kept discreet (with a kiss on the forehead, for example, rather than the lips). Both actors are superb in their roles, as is the rest of the cast. The set, designed by Chip Decker, is also excellent, with amazing transformations from the hospital rooms (even showing Luke in bed with his vitals' monitor) to rooftop reception, to home kitchen, to apartment entryway and living room. Comic spices are added to the recipe throughout the show, through the dialogue's ironies and actors' choices.

It becomes more and more apparent, through flashbacks, that Adam is a hypochondriac, fearful of his mortality, feeling guilty about his sexual orientation, even imagining God's punishment—while refusing to believe in a Christian cosmos. Luke is in conflict with himself, as well as with Adam, about needing to believe in Christ, heaven, the Rapture, and the Last Judgment, while sinning through his love for Adam. As Adam points out, Luke believes that a killer of homosexuals could go to heaven, if he's a Christian, though Adam goes to hell. Brandon eventually helps Adam, and the audience, to understand that Luke has "moved the line" in becoming his gay partner, thus living in sin—through love and loyalty. And yet, the physically fearful Adam seems to envy (or find consolation in) Luke's certainty about his destined afterlife and God's ordering of the world, especially as the play returns to the present crisis.

Luke is also in conflict with Butch during the flashbacks, as Adam is in the present. Luke's father seems to know, yet refuses to discuss that his son is gay and that Adam is his lover. He does acknowledge that he changed his mind about his son becoming an actor, feeling pride while seeing him onstage. Yet Butch condemns his son, indirectly, by saying that an actor in a photo with Luke was too gay and "swishy" for the role.

The characters' names are meaningful, in this regard, with Luke as young and smiling brightly, Adam as older and earthbound, Butch as traditional and severe, almost a "red neck," though the actor has long gray hair, suggesting another side to him. So are references throughout the show to Our Town and its nostalgic ghosts, as well as Huckleberry Finn here, with the photo of actors in Luke's play.

Arlene tries to mediate, but has her own inner conflicts with addiction, with Butch having left her for another woman, and with her nostalgia for Luke as a child. (The play stalls a bit during a hospital chapel scene, when Arlene reminisces.) Holly shows inner conflicts as well, but keeps her spirits up, as a nurturing friend that each of the others turn to, for wisdom and hope. And this play offers both to the audience, through its engaging web of past and present conflicts, about this life and the next, about the fallen and the believers. It may be especially meaningful to those who are dealing with similar conflicts among friends or family members. But it could be valuable to all who are trying to understand, and sometimes laugh at, the dramas that humans cause (unlike other animals) through not being sure, collectively, why we exist and what we should desire.
Review by Mark Pizzato

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FOR THE LOVE OF HARLEM
Book, Lyrics, & Original Songs by Jermaine Nakia Lee
Directed by Sidney Lee
Musical Direction by Tyrone Jefferson
Choreography by La'Tanya Johnson
The Duke Energy Theatre
October 28 - November 12, 2011

Though I'd learned about The Harlem Renaissance era in school, people like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston were the front runners whose names were plastered between the pages of history books and on the minds of literature lovers. Rarely did I hear of Wallace Thurman, Richard Bruce Nugent, Aaron Douglas and Countee Cullen, to name a few. For The Love of Harlem recounts the lives of these and several other brilliant minds that contributed to the legacy of the era and the many issues they faced existing in such a racially charged society.

The show explodes onto the tiny set with dancers skipping on stage to ragtime beats and the main cast harmonizing a beautiful ode to Harlem. Though the space is limited, the crew makes good use of it by crowding the cast around in a semi-circle to simulate a cotton club dance floor. The musical intro commands finger-snapping and shoulder-bouncing from most of the audience, but is a bit too long. After a few minutes my guest and I were eager for the actual show to start.

Often congregating in the upstairs apartment of writer Wallace Thurman, the group affectionately known as "The Negro Literati" would discuss the woes of being the colored rebels of their time and how to handle the harsh criticism they received from their white counterparts because of their non-conforming ways.

The entire production displays the talented and diverse voices of the characters as well as the perfect sounds from the accompanying band. The tunes are so spot on that I could close my eyes and feel like I was standing on a Harlem street corner inhaling the musical tunes from a hole-in-the-wall speakeasy.

In addition to focusing on the rebelliousness of Negroes during the Harlem Renaissance, the play makes much mention of the sexual confusion of many in the group. Subtly visiting this topic in the first act, it seems the second act focuses solely on the characters that were troubled and torn between the love of their careers and the taboo sexuality they were trying so hard to renounce.

While the musical performances are just as entertaining throughout the entire production, it quickly shifts from social battles to internal ones and ends with a quick history lesson about the deaths of certain members. I would love to have known the accomplishments of each character and how their fascinating lives ended.

The set, mostly provided by 1510 Antiques, creates a true 1920s ambience as do the costumes, complete with flowered headpieces and short dresses that shimmied when the actors shook.

The show left me with more knowledge and appreciation about this era that pioneered what I love most - the arts. The musical performances are phenomenal, even one from a player that is extremely comical but purposely tone-deaf. Outside the issue of a major shift from societal battles to sexual struggles, For The Love of Harlem is extremely entertaining and inspiring for those who have a passion for creativity. Review by Dawn Cauthen

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JOHN TARTAGLIA'S IMAGINOCEAN
Created & Written by John Tartaglia
Blumenthal Performing Arts
Booth Playhouse
November 11 – 13, 2011

How do they do that? The ingenious set for John Tartaglia’s ImaginOcean is a happy underworld sea inhabited by brightly colored talking creatures. The black lights used bathe set, characters and audience with an iridescent glow that includes the bubbles that float down on the audience. With lights off and the black back drop, the audience can’t see the actors manipulating the characters or swirling the various fish, fauna and other objects of the ocean moving happily around the stage.

The story focuses on a treasure hunt by the three main creature-characters: Tank (Jonathan Carlucci), Bubbles (Haley Jenkins), and Dorsel (David Colston). As they follow the treasure map they have adventures and meet other inhabitants they would otherwise not have known. The message is to not be afraid to take chances, use your imagination to take you places you wouldn’t otherwise go, and be a good and loyal friend.

Several of the young children in the audience responded by calling out the name of the characters when they seemed lost, including one little boy who was especially worried about Bubbles – very sweet.

The actors’ voices are distinct enough to distinguish them even when singing. The songs are catchy theatre-type music that children like and can accompany. Vocal responses and clapping are encouraged by Mr. Tartaglia so that children are not expected to be inhibited, but they do have to remain in their seats because it is dark in the theater.

The show is less than an hour long, an ideal length for young children who respond to puppets, singing, and visually stimulating stage shows. Review by Ann Marie Oliva

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WEST SIDE STORY
Book by Arthur Laurents, Music by Leonard Bernstein, & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Original direction & choreography by Jerome Robbins
Directed by David Saint
Choreography reproduced by Joe McKneely
Blumenthal Performing Arts
Belk Theater
November 1 - 6, 2011

The Jets vs. Los Sharks? A bilingual Broadway revival of the classic musical, West Side Story? What's our country coming to? Well, this new (2010) version of a 1957 musical, based on Shakespeare's tragedy of "star-crossed lovers" (Romeo and Juliet), evokes more of the Latin side—of Maria, Anita, Bernardo, and the Sharks—reflecting a change in our cultural awareness today. The Jets are not the dominant gang anymore.

Only one scene might be confusing for those in the audience who do not know Spanish: when the Puerto Rican youths debate the merits, wants, and compulsions of being in America. But new meanings are explored in a Spanglish context here, around a familiar song and its refrain, "I want to be in America." This dream means, to the boys, that their gang must meet in a "war counsel" to fight for territory in New York City, while their girlfriends question that compulsion to fight. Despite the nostalgic quaintness of this musical, showing all-male gangs (without drug-dealing), in smoothly choreographed dance-fights, using their fists or switchblades and cute terms from the 1950s, it gains a current, edgy resonance at this and many other points.

Spanish lyrics and dialogue throughout the show are couched with English terms to help all in the audience, even those not familiar with the original, to follow the plot. And much is gained by having the Sharks speak or sing in both English and Spanish. Maria sings, for example, more genuinely and movingly in her mother-tongue about feeling "pretty" ("Me Siento Hermosa") after falling in love with the white-boy Tony.

Distinct dance styles in the gangs—the Jets' high kicks and pop-up leaps versus the Sharks' suave Latin swirls—also show the cultural gulf that the lovers must cross. The violence that erupts from the boys' "extra feelings," in both styles, evokes a visceral sense of how contending ethnic values continue to cause harm, across many generations. That's still true today, not just in New York, but also here in Charlotte and throughout the "New South," with our rapidly growing Latino and other minority populations, plus recent white immigrants, crossing "Old South" families and customs.

Spectacular sets and lighting effects (designed by James Youmans and Howell Binkley) place this musical in New York a half century ago: under a highway bridge, in alleyways, in a bridal shop, in Doc's drugstore, at a dance in a high school gym, or in Maria's bedroom. But they also make it contemporary to us. The shadows of the bridge, high above the young hoodlums, with jagged fire-escapes and eroding buildings around them, frame their conflict in an extended poetics of social structures. A chain-link wall at the stage edge, with a solid, weighty angle of the bridge looming overhead for the "Rumble" between the gangs, shows how they've been confined by their social contexts and turned into animals. Tony must climb a fortress-like, wrought iron balcony to reach Maria's bedroom. Yet the lighting also provides more abstract, symbolist touches at certain points, painting shards of purple across the gang groups or a shocking brightness behind Tony and Maria as they approach the audience, emboldened by their love.

The performances are superb—with excellent choral dances, eloquent singing voices, and finely tuned acting as well. Ross Lekites, as Tony, is especially poignant in dwelling on his new love's name, singing "Maria" high and low, loudly and softly, expressing both a fierce passion and reverent prayer. Evy Ortiz, Michelle Aravena, Gizel Jimenez, and Kathryn Lin Terza, as Maria, Anita, Rosalia, and Fernanda, also hit the high notes—and long extended ones—in sweetly touching and boldly impressive ways.

Doc at the drugstore, Glad Hand at the high school dance, and the cops, Krupke and Lt. Schrank (played by John O'Creagh, Wally Dunn, and Mike Boland), all reveal, in distinctive ways, the failure of adults to mediate or provide a cure for the violent energies of "delinquent" boys in both gangs. The Jets sing comically about being fated by such a view of them—with lyrics about a "social disease" gaining new meanings through the actors' gestures.

After that, the musical moves again toward its tragic end, exposing how youthful passions, insecure identities, and miscommunications, lead to honorable but vengeful demands. And yet, the cultural mix here, with more Latino influences, encourages the hope that love and awareness will continue to change hearts and minds, toward new unions and respectful distances, between individuals and groups (hoy y mañana), even more than in the past. Review by Mark Pizzato

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YOU SAY TOMATO, I SAY SHUT UP
Created and Written by Annabelle Gurwitch & Jeff Kahn
Additional Writing by David Koteles
Directed by Darren Katz
Produced by Off Broadway Booking,
Blumenthal Performing Arts, &
Anthony DiNapoli and Downstairs Cabaret Theatre
Stage Door Theater
October 19-November 6, 2011

Just when the economy is down and the rate of divorce is up, Annabelle Gurwitch and Jeff Kahn, a mismatched married couple from Los Angeles, create a quirky true-to-life comedy about their life together and what the future holds, if they don’t kill each other first.

Set in an intimate restaurant in the heart of L.A., Jeff Kahn, played by Scott Richard Foster, awaits the arrival of Annabelle, his always late, always on the phone wife of 10 long years. On this particular evening the two are celebrating their wedding anniversary but it can’t seem to begin until the other half arrives. Annabelle Gurwitch, played by Antoinette LaVecchia, barrels into the eatery like a Jersey Shore brunette, with a Smart Phone super-glued to her ear and her booming voice bouncing off the wine glasses. Shortly after winning the cell phone fight, the night begins with Jeff's account of the torturous but lengthy attempt at courtship he forged with Annabelle over a five year period.

Jeff is a regular guy who wants what every man wants out of life--sports, sex, and beer. If he can experience them within seconds of each other and happen to involve his gorgeous wife, he can die a happy man, as long as she croaks first. Before slipping into an ordinary life, Jeff persuades Annabelle to slip him her phone number at a potluck dinner. For the next five years he chases her, stalks her, even babysits her cat, all while she forgets about him like foreign currency that has depreciated. Jeff constantly professes their destiny to be together, even though she can’t remember his name.

Annabelle, an obvious savvy but scatter-brained busybody jumps in and out of relationships and hasn’t noticed the wonderful guy that she runs into every couple of years named Jeff Kahn. One day, after another failed relationship, it dawns on her that Jeff is worth a third, maybe fourth look. The two marry and years later, the relationship tables surprisingly turn slightly when she has a peak at Jeff’s Facebook page that reveals his popularity with the ladies. This prompts Annabelle to follow suit and do what most beautiful, secure wives would do--join the club.

As the night continues over glasses of sacred but plentiful Pinot Noir, and completely different accounts of the coming of ages of the Gurwitch/Kahn union, patrons seemingly identified with the bitter truths of how children, families, and careers can interfere with the sustainability of what they perceive as an unbreakable merger between different worlds.

During this candid look at the inside of a marriage that may have reached its peak, Jeff and Annabelle find humor in the truth about themselves, their parenting skills, and what it really takes to survive marriage and cross the finish line with a wine glass in one hand and your sanity in the other. Review by Dawn Cauthen

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DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE
Story by Robert Louis Stevenson
Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher
Directed by Audrey Alford
Carolina Actors Studio Theatre (CAST)
October 13 - November 5, 2011

Each of us has a dark side. Each of us is viewed in different ways by different people in various social contexts. Hatcher's adaptation of Stevenson's 1886 novel shows the good and evil personality of its main character—with four actors playing various alter-egos of the doctor, as he becomes the violent criminal Hyde.

For this play, CAST has created a second performance space in its new location in NoDa, a theatre in the round with a stage larger than in its former Plaza-Midwood home, yet still with the intimacy of two rows of seats. With a much larger lobby and bar area as well, CAST has not recast the entire audience experience with a full make-over. But miniature mystery doors are given as tickets and creepy paintings hang over the audience heads. Inside the performance space, grey bricks and pale windows appear around the audience seats. A dirt and brick pathway wraps around the central raised stage, with benches and tables rising ingeniously out of that platform (designed by Elizabeth Shanks), at various points during the show.

The costumes (by Wendy Yang) also reflect inner things being exposed in ghostly ways. The men have period suits, faded toward a dull white, with subtle stains that show wear, like pages in an old book. The fronts of the women's bustle skirts are eroded away, showing cage-like hoops and crossties around their legs and undergarments, again all a pale white.

Director Audrey Alford has choreographed multiple Hyde figures, as various intense body types (Robert Crozier, Tom Moody, Bruce Florence, and George Pond) merging with and spinning off the agonized Jekyll (Jon Bowlby). The audience also gets a role at times, as actors perform along the edges of the wall behind their seats and above them, transforming the space into a nineteenth-century anatomy theatre—or a London street with second and third-story observers. Video projections on the stage floor and jarring music around it put ironic, postmodern spins on the show as well.

Intriguing transformations are offered by Zendyn Duellman, as Jekyll's loyal servant Poole and various edgier characters, and by Michelle Fleshman-Cross as Elizabeth, who falls in love with Hyde and then sees Jekyll, trying to warn her about him as a freak. Full physical intensity and sharp distinctions are given in the multiple male roles also, as Crozier, Moody, Florence, and Pond portray various friends and victims of Jekyll—along with the monstrous and yet human aspects of Hyde. Ian Fermy adds several significant figures to the tale.

But the origins of Jekyll's passion are left unexplored by the script—or left to audience psyches to uncover. Is he a scientist experimenting with the life and death drive in nature, and thus endangering those he loves, like Dr. Frankenstein with his monster and Elizabeth? Is he a doctor who becomes addicted to the wonder drug he's created, being its first test-subject? Is he a psychologist exploring the roots of brutal crimes by finding their potential in himself? (Hyde pours acid on one victim and cuts the words "wrong one" on her back. He kills another victim with his cane, beating him over 50 times.) The play shows the quaint horror of a well-educated man, over a century ago, turning rabid toward his friends and lover. Yet, such crimes still occur today. Maybe we deserve more insight about the potential for Hyde in each of us during this Halloween season of spooky masquerades.
Review by Mark Pizzato

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THE ADDAMS FAMILY: A NEW MUSICAL COMEDY
Book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice
Music & Lyrics by Andrew Lippa
Choreography by Sergio Trujillo
Original direction by Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch
Supervised by Jerry Zaks
Blumenthal Performing Arts
Ovens Auditorium
Oct 11 - 16, 2011

Many generations of Americans have experienced the Addams Family, in various media: New Yorker cartoons since the 1930s, TV sit-coms and animated shows in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1990s, and two movies in the 1990s. But what are the Addams characters—Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Grandma, Wednesday, Pugsly, Lurch, Thing (the hand), and Cousin Itt (the hair)—doing in a Broadway musical in the 21st century? What is the continued meaning of these comically creepy creatures, and their generational struggles, beyond just nostalgic entertainment?

Audience members can snap their fingers along with the original TV tune, as the red satin curtain is opened by Thing as a disembodied hand. The show shifts from a family reunion in the graveyard with ancestral ghosts (wearing gray and white costumes of different periods) to various interior rooms of the Addams mansion in New York's Central Park, to a tree and swing there, and back to the graveyard. There are spooky, fun, and fantastic backdrops and scenic devices, such as cartoonish portraits of ghoulish relatives in the home, Cousin Itt crossing the stage (like a possessed wig chasing a piece of curtain tie that looks like "it"), and Fester floating toward and dancing with the full moon he's in love with. (Set and costumes are designed by Julian Crouch and Phelim McDermott, puppetry by Basil Twist, special effects by Gregory Meeh.) The music, songs, and dances are very eclectic, combining Latin beats, old-fashioned show tunes, bunny hops, the twist, tango, flamenco, and even a bullfight finale as the Gomez v. Morticia conflict resolves.

Gomez (Douglas Sills) charms the audience with his suave sensuality, mischievous wit, and passionate voice, giving the stereotype of the Latin Lover intriguing twists. His asides to the spectators increase their sympathy, especially through his songs about feeling "trapped" between his wife and daughter. Yet, the stronger poses of Morticia (Sara Gettelfinger) are also appealing, with her stern concerns about their teen daughter, Wednesday (Cortney Wolfson), falling in love with a boy from Ohio. Gomez promises Wednesday that he won't tell her mom her secret that the boy, Lucas (Brian Justin Crum), has given her an engagement ring. But Morticia eventually draws the truth out of them all, as Lucas and his parents visit the Addams mansion for dinner and the traditional family game of "full disclosure," based on the Spanish Inquisition.

Uncle Fester (Blake Hammond) speaks and sings wittily to the audience, as a partial narrator across the stage edge. He becomes a focus, too, through his passion for the moon and his organizing of the phantom ancestors to help Wednesday and Lucas prove their love for each other. Lurch (Tom Corbeil) is charming as well, as the stiff, zombie-like butler, who only speaks with evocative non-verbal sounds—and then surprises the audience toward the end with his articulate singing voice. Pugsley (Patrick D. Kennedy), as the youngest in the family, has many mischievous and artful moments: being joyfully stretched on the rack by his sister, using a potion to keep his sister from leaving with her boyfriend, and hitting the high notes while expressing such fears. Grandma (Pippa Pearthree) is just as intriguing as she flirts with the 80-somethings in the audience or shows off her potion collection.

All of these characters, wonderfully performed, have their meaningful moments, offering a perversely comical view of the traditional extended family, which has been lost in many American homes today. Indeed, Morticia's threat to leave Gomez, because he hid the truth from her, as well as Wednesday's ironic rebellion in desiring a "normal" family, may resonate with current concerns about our fractured home lives. Lucas's parents, Mal and Alice Beineke (Martin Vidnovic and Crista Moore), may also reflect today's aging boomers, as they rediscover lost passions—with happy, hippy attitudes emerging from the no-nonsense business man and his superficially rhyming wife.

Some of the songs and plot points seem overly simple and predictable, even as parodies. Alice tells Mal to let their son Lucas "follow his heart." Wednesday sings of her teen angst as being "pulled in a new direction." Yet, the witty twists at these moments, along with insightful lines, lyrics, and relationships throughout the show, make these comical horror characters from prior decades reconnect with today's hopes and fears. They also show us the perennial, mysterious conflicts of young lovers, aging relatives, ancestral spirits, and a long-term marriage, with sex and death drives disrupting the "illusion" of what's normal. Thus, we might learn, as the Addams wryly sing, to "move toward the darkness and smile." Maybe even become more aware of the ironies in our fears of our own weird neighbors.
Review by Mark Pizzato

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XANADU THE MUSICAL
Book by Douglas Carter Beane
Music & Lyrics by Jeff Lynne & John Farrar
Based on the Universal Pictures film
Directed by Glenn T. Griffin
Queen City Theatre Company
Duke Energy Theatre
October 6 – 22, 2011

If you want to have fun in Charlotte leave your deep philosophical thoughts at home and head to the Duke Energy Theatre at Spirit Square to see Xanadu The Musical. Based on the 1980 film Xanadu, which did not do well with audiences, the material has been reworked by playwright Douglas Carter Beane who brings his own comic sensibility to the show, making sly references to the flopped movie and building up the Greek muses/gods angle to parody us foolish mortals. Though the movie wasn’t a hit the music was, and the movie has since become a cult favorite.

The Greek Muses come down from Mount Olympus to Venice, California in 1980. The “sisters” all have different functions. (In the show, as written, several of the muses are played by males.) The youngest, prettiest muse Clio (Lauren Marlowe Segel) wants to help a struggling artist named Sonny Malone (Joe McCourt), who has decided to end it all. Instead she convinces him to persevere and follow his dream, and in turn he falls in love with her. He has no idea who she is and knows her as Kira. The oldest sister muse Melponene (Lisa Smith Bradley), and another sister Calliope (Kristian Wedolowski) are jealous of Clio because their father Zeus has promised her Xanadu, some kind of paradise, if she fulfills her mission. They are determined to get her banished from Mount Olympus by having her fall in love with the mortal Sonny.

Coincidentally Sonny wants to take over the Xanadu Theatre in Venice to have live shows, art gallery openings, etc. He meets with owner Danny McGuire (Billy Ensley) who had previously met Clio years ago and had fallen in love with her, then known as Tangerine. After they parted, he became a cold-hearted businessman, but this episode awakens his long distant feelings.

Cleverly directed by Glenn T. Griffin, the show contains many humorous, whimsical touches. The sister muses often stand observing the action as the “Greek chorus” posturing and sometimes commenting either verbally or non-verbally. Flip one-liners about the movie and even the present show are hilarious. Mr. Griffin winks at the audience and lets us in on the joke, making it that much more enjoyable.

The utilitarian one-set design by Tim Baxter-Ferguson provides room for roller skating, the outside structure of a theatre, or Mount Olympus. The costumes by Jamey Varnadore are lush and colorful, the lighting by Emily Eudy complements the action, and the choreography by Robbie Jaeger is simple but effective taking into account the non-professional dancers in the cast. Music director Marty Gregory and band members Alex Mauldin, Jeremy DeCarlos, Don Jaeger, and Kaio DeSouza provide consistent accompaniment for the singers/dancers with the well-known songs.

As Clio, Lauren Marlowe Segal anchors the show. Her singing voice is bright and vigorous, not to mention she spends much of the show on roller skates. Joe McCourt brings a California speak to the naïve artist Sonny. He and Ms. Segal are well-matched as a young couple. Lisa Smith Bradley is in good voice and finally gets a role where she can vamp it up as one of the evil sisters. Kristian Wedolowski goes all out as Calliope--a big man, he is over-the-top funny playing girly girls. Billy Ensley not only brings his considerable acting smarts to the role of Danny, but his elegant tap dance with Clio is one of the highlights of the show. In fact, the entire cast works very hard to please the audience and includes: Steven James, Jenn Quigley, Iesha Hoffman, and Ian Johnson.

It’s obvious that much hard work went into the show. The cast have varying degrees of expertise in different areas. And there are some hiccups and glitches. Some of these may improve as the show goes on, but it’s not an issue in a campy show like this. Everyone is there to have fun, and you will have fun, too, when you see Xanadu.
Review by Ann Marie Oliva

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SEUSSICAL
Music by Stephen Flaherty
Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens
Book by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty
Co-Conceived by Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty, and Eric Idle
Based on the Works of Dr. Seuss
Directed by Alan Poindexter
Children’s Theatre of Charlotte
McColl Family Theatre
September 23 – October 23, 2011

Have you heard the expression, “pulling out all the stops”? Well that’s what director Alan Poindexter and Children’s Theatre of Charlotte have done with Seussical. They provide a fantastical sensory jaunt via Dr. Seuss’ trippy imagination and the talents of the cast and tech/crew.

It would be difficult to imagine childhood without Dr. Seuss now, given how beloved his books are with kids and adults, and the way some of his words and phrases stick in the mind. “Thinking” was a big thing with Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss). He apparently thought we did too little of it, and thus suffered at the hands of those suspicious of it. But reading to children who make no judgments (not yet anyway) and are open to new ideas can help adults hold onto that quality. It’s there. We all carry inside us the children we used to be, but some push that childish wonder away while others let it enhance their lives.

As the creators of this musical intend, Seussical takes the stories a step further, and the audience sees the characters come alive before their eyes. The familiar tales are here, though some pass swiftly in this jam-packed show, and Act I can leave the audience somewhat dazed.

There could be no better Cat in the Hat than Mark Sutton. As narrator, he prowls the stage witnessing and explaining the action with constant vigilance. The show immediately opens with the Cat leading the cast in the musical number “Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!". This production number is a good indication of what the audience is in for with this energetic show. Much of the action centers on Horton, (Chaz Pofahl, in good voice and with an affecting performance) from the story “Horton Hears a Who” as the tender elephant that wants to save the speck called Whoville and all the little Whos. He bonds with JoJo (Sam Faulkner, great job/voice) who is the Mayor’s son and also an outcast. This bonding leads to one of the musical highlights of the show, “Alone in the Universe.”

What a cast. Each actor brings a certain sensibility to his/her character including: Susan Roberts Knowlson as the lovesick bird Gertrude, Andy Faulkenberry as the Mayor and Olivia Edge as Mrs. Mayor of Who, JoJo’s perplexed parents, Lucia Stetson as the wayward party bird who takes flight from responsibility, Caroline Farley as Cindy Lou, Beau Stroupe as Schmitz/Yertle, Nicole Watts as Sour Kanagaroo, and Katlyn Gonzalez as Baby Kangaroo. Working together in admirable unison are the Bird Girls Casi Harris, Caroline Chisholm, and Mandy Moss, and the bad-boy Wickersham brothers Jonathan Adriel Watkins, Ashton Guthrie, and Mekhai Lee. Also Julia Kelly as Thing 1, and Susannah Upchurch as Thing 2. Annabel Lamm is adorable as elephant-bird Baby Ellie.

Kudos to everyone in the large cast for the hard work it must have taken to coordinate choreographer Ron Chisholm’s inspired dance numbers. Drina Keen and her band are likewise to be commended for excellent musical accompaniment. Impressive too, are the colorful costume designs of Connie Furr, outstanding lighting design with multiple projections and effects by David Fillmore, sound design by Elisheba Itloop (important in a musical), props by Pete Smeal, and the stark yet striking scenic design by Ryan Winegar with help from scenic artist Tim Parati. This production even managed to get dry ice on stage!

Suessical is playing through October 23. Do not miss this experience.
Review by Ann Marie Oliva

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STREB: FORCES
Action Architect and Choreographer: Elizabeth Streb
Blumenthal Performing Arts
Knight Theater
Oct 7-8, 2011

Extreme dance and theatre. That's what this is. Experiments that move bodies beyond their limits, finding centrifugal tricks in large steel machines and scaling walls to defy gravity—with nine dancers who leap, fall, tumble, and flip to make intertwining collective forms.

They're from Brooklyn and their techno DJ tells the audience to make noise and take photos, post them on the Web and spread the news. Their choreographer won the MacArthur "genius grant" 14 years ago and then developed SLAM (Streb Lab for Action Mechanics). Slam they do now, often and hard. But they also fly, just as impressively.

There are large steel frames around them and, throughout most of the show, live video on a huge screen behind them, intercut with clips of Streb explaining facets of her work. In the piece called "Impact," dancers climb, hang from, and bang into a Plexiglas wall, while it rotates. They do flips off the top, or slide down upside-down. Thus, Streb says, they explore forces and directions in the dynamics of space and the human imagination.

In "Rebound," they do more flips and body slams, timed to interweave or make multiple person piles, on a flat padded board and short springs. In "Crush," they play with a steel I-beam hung on a chain, spinning and swinging it, while running and leaping around it, dodging and diving under it, hanging from it, and keeping their heads barely out of harm's way.

In "Fall," the dancers do just that—stunningly—from 10, 15, and 20 feet above the mat. (One might wonder, though, about the potential for eventual brain damage in such macho displays, as with American football players.) In "Artificial Gravity," they run, fall, and leap on a revolving stage, timing their flips to land between one another. A few even lean backward, as if sitting on an invisible chair.

The second act involves larger machines. There's a counterweighted arm on which one dancer flies in a circle, while others fall like dominos and rise again under her. Or a rectangular box in which the dancer contorts and reshapes her body against its walls. Dancers also hang from wires to walk up a wall and climb vertically down against it. Then the wall is set at a 45 degree incline and they run up and slide down, making various patterns. They make even more fanciful designs with the wall horizontal, while video of it is projected on a vertical screen, as if they're on a low-gravity moon walk and acrobatics adventure.

The finale includes a huge, metal, rotating hamster-wheel, with dancers running inside and out, doing flips within it and flying off it. Throughout this show, the "action artists" convey amazing energy and fierce concentration. They share their intensity with the audience, not only in physical feats of strength and beauty, but also with expressive faces, gestures, and vocalizations. They explore spaces, shape forces, play with machines, and inspire dreams—in the numerous stages of the minds of those watching as well as the one they're performing on. Review by Mark Pizzato

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IN THE NEXT ROOM
or THE VIBRATOR PLAY
By Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Ann Marie Costa
Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte
Sept 14 - October 1, 2011

It’s upstate New York at the end of the nineteenth century. Middle class homemaker and new mother Catherine Givings (Hanley Smith) can’t produce enough milk to feed her daughter. Her husband (Christian Casper), a progressive doctor who administers electric therapy to “nervous” women, can’t express enough love for his wife to fulfill her romantic dreams. His patient, “hysteria” sufferer Sabrina Daldry (Lauren Dortch Crozier), can’t sleep, can’t play the piano, and doesn’t want anything to do with her frazzled husband (Lee Thomas).

No one in Sarah Ruhl’s In the Next Room seems capable of letting go – until, that is, they discover Dr. Givings’ vibrator therapy, and the services of the play’s working class characters, nurse Annie (Julie Janorschke-Gawle) and wet nurse Elizabeth (Tanya McClellan). Dr. Givings’ vibrators – one for women and a different, more draconian model for the male hysteric, artist Leo Irving (Catori Swann) – revitalize the Daldry’s marriage and inspire Leo to paint again. Dr. Givings is visited with visions of new, better electric inventions, while his wife, Catherine plays doctor with Mrs. Daldry, and Mrs. Daldry does the same with nurse Annie.

If this sounds like a fun, farcical romp, it is, at least in the play’s first act and the first scene of the second where we meet the self-absorbed, bohemian Leo. After this last, hilarious scene, though, the play’s comedy inexplicably ends. Where we expect things to spin out of control, they do just the opposite, as the play begins to focus on its message, how our own society is perhaps just as repressed as that of a middle class homemaker’s in the 1880s.

In fact, set the play in Norway, and you might see shadows of Ibsen’s A Doll's House, with Smith playing a sharper, more eccentric Nora Helmer. Chip Decker’s set most certainly references the 1879 play, as does Smith in Catherine’s monologue about the weight of the things in her domestic space standing in for a life. Unlike Nora, though, Ruhl’s character wants her husband’s love and affection, not his money and protection. And this is the key to Ann Marie Costa’s production’s relentless charm. The performances, the set—even the dramaturgical research displayed in the lobby—are at once serious and fun, filled with energy, and well worth your attention. Review by Jeanmarie Higgins

Jeanmarie Higgins is Assistant Professor of Theatre at UNC-Charlotte where she teaches Theatre & Society and Dramaturgy. Two of her plays—Science Fair and To Moscow!—are published by Playscripts, Inc.

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STIGMATA
Written & Directed by Don Cook
Warehouse Performing Arts Center
September 8th - 25th, 2011
Duke Energy Theater at Spirit Square
September 29 - October 1, 2011
Special Regional Review

In the first moment of Don Cook’s ambitious new play, Stigmata, Carmen Ruiz (Divina Cook)—high-powered Wall Street broker, inveterate heartbreaker, and Forbes Woman of the Year—wakes to find herself incarcerated in a gray cell. We, along with Ruiz, spend the next 90 minutes figuring out how and why she ended up there. She demands to know where she is, but gets no answer. So she settles in, appealing to her unseen jailors for creature comforts—her Rolex, a bathrobe, and a proper breakfast. When it becomes clear that her captors are not going to torture her, Carmen figures out that in order to get free, she must simply explain herself, defending the selfish life choices she has made. In the process, we follow her hard-won rise to wealth and fame despite years of suffering at the hands of her real torturers, that is, her mother and other bullies. Each successive object the guard passes her through a flap at the bottom of her door pulls Carmen back to her childhood, where she tells stories from her life. When these stories are particularly difficult to tell, she transforms into the character of her hopelessly abused teenaged self, locked in a closet by her mother over a secret we spend the play puzzling out.

Cook’s script is suspenseful and taut. But even so, some of the most moving sections of the play are simply descriptive, filled with lush detail. On a train out of town—fleeing her nightmarish childhood—Carmen describes the “kind woman with forks and spoons” who teaches her how to use a formal place setting in the dining car. She describes the first kind strangers she has ever met with the uncanny detail of the simultaneously foreign and familiar. Meanwhile, the Nebraska landscape passes by, days pass, and Carmen steps into the Chicago summer, remembering: “the heat hit me like the steamy towels my father used to soak his face in when he shaved.” Divina Cook makes these scenes active, one of many aspects of her performance that harmonizes with Mr. Cook’s writing. Less successful are “business speak” sequences devoted to Carmen’s exploits in the financial world, leading me to question whether her character needs to be so extremely successful, so preoccupied with money, or so hated by the public.

As intimate as the line-by-line writing is, so is the performance space. The Warehouse Performing Arts Center is intimately set with perhaps 40 audience seats, a small stage, and no backstage at all. Ray Maloney’s set design works with rather than fights these limitations, and he takes advantage of every possible inch of stage space without crowding the scene. This intimate, simply staged play might well read better with more space between Carmen and the audience, so that she might look more trapped in limbo, and less as if we are sharing her cell. The Warehouse space allows us to take the emotional journey with Carmen, but doesn’t let us think much about her plight, so close are we to the action. Divina Cook, too, faces (and meets) the challenge of playing intensely emotional scenes with very little breathing room. A larger space also might afford Mr. Maloney more opportunity to use light to make transitions between past and present clearer.

Overall, this script, actress and production are thoughtfully wrought and, quite simply, impressive. In this critical climate of post-feminism, it is refreshing, even important, to experience work that wrestles with feminist issues without apology and head on. The challenges of growing up a Latina girl from a strictly Catholic household, in family and work worlds that have been historically dominated by men, Carmen reminds us that not so very long ago, industries traditionally run by men didn’t have a “glass ceiling,” but, as she puts it, “a double thick iron door.” Review by Jeanmarie Higgins

To Top of Page CRYSTAL BALLROOM: THE MUSICAL
Music & Lyrics by Joe Jackson
Book by James Vita & Elizabeth Peterson-Vita
Directed by Elizabeth Peterson-Vita
Actors Scene Unseen
Booth Playhouse
Sept 15 - 17, 2011

Lovers of pop rock, ballroom dancing, and New Age ideals may find this unique combination in a new musical presented by Actors Scene Unseen in Charlotte. Act One occurs in the Crystal Ballroom of Memphis, Act Two at the Royal Classic Competition in London. The songs of Joe Jackson are used throughout, with fine performances by the "Blaze of Glory" Band, led by Alan Kaufman and with choreography by Candace Jennings.

Story lines and dialogue scenes are loosely tied to the Jackson songs, with occasional narration by Luke (Matt Carlson), who leads the audience into a realm where "dreams are made and shattered." Carlson's great voice and smooth moves are welcome highlights to the show. So is the moving mini-drama of David (Steven B. Martin), a traumatized, alcoholic, Afghan-war vet, and his courageous wife Deirdre (Kara M. Martin) who tries to save him through dance. David sings about his confusion and alienation: "What's a man now?" And he's reprimanded by the ballroom instructor for "dirty dancing." Later, Deirdre sings powerfully about trying to reach her husband, as he drinks multiple shots, showing that "bitterness is a black hole."

A survivor of Sarajevo, Valentina (Cynthia Farbman Harris, another powerful voice) presents more hope about transcending the loss of her husband there. But the stringing together of various Jackson songs does not allow for a complete story line to any of these characters, nor to the others involved in the dance lessons and competition. Combining rumba, waltz, and tango with pop rock music is oddly innovative, but again constrains the opportunities for artistic expression.

The set design is minimal, using signs above the stage, enlarged photos, and other projections. Yet it helps to hold the various pop tunes and dance numbers together.

This show is mostly a revue of Jackson's songs. The resulting mix of music, dance, and drama—with various levels of expertise among the performers—may need a generous audience to value the many efforts involved. Review by Mark Pizzato

To Top of Page AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY
Written by Tracy Letts
Directed by Michael R. Simmons
Carolina Actors Studio Theatre (CAST)
August 25 - Sept 24, 2011

Why do family members become cruel to one another? In Tracy Letts's new Pulitzer-winning play, over a dozen complex characters battle for supremacy, self-control, or the possibility of love—while meeting in an Oklahoma home, due to the patriarch's disappearance. And this three-act, ensemble tragicomedy allows CAST to show that they have moved to a higher level of quality in their new home in NoDa, with an impressive, multilevel set and fine acting throughout the cast.

It's amazing how funny this play can be, and how many psyches it explores, while showing family situations that are so painful. Beverly Weston (George Gray), a retired academic, poet, and alcoholic, speaks to the audience at the start of the play, as if with an afterlife view of things. He then interviews a young, parentless, Native American woman (Karina Roberts-Caporino) and hires her as a live-in nurse and cook for his pill-addicted and mouth-cancer plagued wife, Violet (Polly Adkins).

Bev mysteriously disappears after that—and various family members come from across the country to help the matriarch cope. Passions intensify when Bev's drowned body is found and his funeral wake turns into a vicious truth-extorting ritual. Both the weak and strong, kind and cruel characters become sympathetic in this play, through its multiple tragic arcs of women vying for power and yet wanting men to stabilize the scene, while the men fail to fill a patriarchal hole.

In a tour-de-force performance by Adkins, the elderly Violet becomes childishly playful, babbling incoherently yet meaningfully, while lost in a fog like the drug-addicted mother in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night. But she also takes command at the dinner table, pinning each of her three daughters and their men with fierce questions, like a female King Lear. Her sister, Mattie Faye (Anne Lambert), is just as stinging, throughout the play, as she picks at the insecurities of her full-grown, yet emotionally immature son, Little Charles (Peter Smeal). Letts's well-made play, with CAST's casting, offers a lovely irony and then tragic twist, as Little Charles, a huge man, summons the courage to admit and even sing his love for Ivy (Jennifer Hubbard), the most diminutive of Violet's daughters, although a dark secret is eventually revealed about their heritage (as in many Henrik Ibsen plays).

Mattie Faye's husband, Charlie (Charles LaBorde), fails to take charge as the oldest male at the dinner table, but he does give his wife an ultimatum to protect their son, appealing for generosity from her, even as we learn of the guilt that fuels her meanness. The youngest of Violet's daughters, Karen (Frances Bendert), discovers that her fiancé, Steve (Tony Wright), might do more than smoke pot with her 14-year-old niece, Jean (Madeleine Moore). Yet Karen still leaves with Steve to continue her desperate romantic dream. Her older sister, Barbara (Paula Baldwin), shows greater strength in confronting their mother and intervening in her pill popping. But her heart melts when Sheriff Deon (Dervin Gilbert), a prom date from decades ago, reappears in her life, after her husband Bill (Brett Gentile) finalizes their separation, while also trying to protect their daughter Jean from her wrath.

Although placed in Oklahoma, and exploring how "the plains" mood is like the blues, this show relates to what many in the audience might experience in their Southern homes and extended families. CAST has put teepees and large, Native American dream-catchers (with pill and liquor bottles) in the lobby. Spectators also get prescription bottles as tickets to their seats. And yet, the three-floors of the Weston home, along with several stairs and landings, many rooms, and a front porch with screen door, work in very specific ways during this play—in a set beautifully designed by Dee Blackburn.

As in the 1983 Lawrence Kasdan film, The Big Chill, the various characters here resituate their identities by revealing surprise relationships and painful secrets after the death of someone who connected them in various ways. But August: Osage County also explores our current anxieties at the waning of patriarchy—through the microcosm of one family and its extensive dramas. CAST provides an excellent opportunity to experience this, with realistic traumas and hopeful dreams that catch many insights, at the right theatrical distance. Review by Mark Pizzato

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GONZO: A BRUTAL CHRYSALIS
Written by Paul Addis
Directed by Tom Ollis
Citizens of the Universe at The Mill
August 10 - 17, 2011

Many of us are nostalgic for the Sixties era, whether we lived then or not. James Cartee's one-man show, portraying gonzo journalist and novelist Hunter S. Thompson, presents various comparative points between our time and that era, beating the drum of history for 90 passionate minutes.

An American flag forms the backdrop for the small set, with a desk onstage, typewriter, phone, newspapers, pill bottles, carafe, shot glass, and pistols, much of which goes to the floor during the show. Cartee is a whirlwind of energy, often changing moods, shirts, and hats, though perhaps peaking too early with his outrage at society and challenges to his audience. And yet, he portrays many poignant points in his character's story, while tearing up the stage and interacting with his imagined readers beyond it.

The play covers the years 1968-70, and also represents Thompson's suicide in 2005 at the age of 67. The character explains his gonzo attitude for getting at the heart of a story by throwing himself into it, blurring the lines between non-fiction, fiction, and political activism. Likewise, Cartee throws himself into the role, showing Thompson's personal and professional battles.

Thompson tells about the birth of his son, but also how he and his wife lost several other pregnancies. He reenacts his private interview with Richard Nixon in the back of a limousine, showing both sympathy and hatred for this political nemesis. Thompson evokes Mayor Daly's brutal "army of cops" at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where he was beaten along with others in the crowd. He describes the seductive edges of insanity, alienation, intoxication, and political provocation—recounting his wife's miscarriages, his articles being banned, his drug use (with speed as a safer "pick me up" than acid), and his leadership of the "Freak Power" party in his run for Sheriff of a Colorado county.

Thompson criticizes liberals as being too comfortable to fight for "fundamental and necessary change." In a similar way, Cartee offers a disturbing portrayal of this famous character from the Sixties. His Hunter S. Thompson is funny and scary, creative and destructive, while representing the truth-seeking, revolutionary idealism of the Sixties and its bad-trip dangers. Review by Mark Pizzato

THE IRISH CURSE
By Martin Casella
Directed by Glenn T. Griffin
Queen City Theatre Company
Duke Energy Theatre at Spirit Square
August 4 - 20, 2011

Set in a cluttered Catholic church basement, Martin Casella’s The Irish Curse, follows in real time the heartfelt trials of a small group of men who all face one problem—they find themselves lacking physically in one particular way. Billed as the “Vagina Monologues” for men, Casella’s men bemoan their shortcomings in sometimes poetic, usually hysterical, and often thought-provoking ways. It’s a tribute to the playwright, the cast, and the excellent direction of Glenn T. Griffin that this subject doesn’t wear out its welcome—though it comes awfully close. Ninety plus minutes of frank discussions of all things penis could have proven to be a crude and tedious bore. However, Casella treats his subject matter with a light hand, and Griffin’s taut direction keeps the play moving.

The conceit of the play is simple enough. Father Kevin Shaunessy (played with affable charm by John Hartness) and contract lawyer Joseph Flaherty (another tragic figure played with affection by the always wonderful Hank West) form a support group on a dare for the under endowed. Though the play doesn’t really make it clear, it apparently is also a stipulation that one be of Irish descent to be part of the group. It is a very small group (in more ways than one); the only other regular members are Rick Baldwin, a student of sports medicine played by QCT regular Justin Younts, and Stephen Fitzgerald, a tall, gay cop who is willing to give but not receive, if you get my meaning. Fitzgerald is played with frenetic intensity by James Glinski. The group’s routine is interrupted by the entrance of Keiran Reilly, a true Irishman complete with a thick brogue and Irish charm. Aaron Mize plays the stranger and manages this innocence and despair of the character very well.

The ensemble plays well together and keep the patter light enough to gloss over some of the clunkier moments in the script. Casella is best when playing broad. His humor is spot on. Some of the longer political diatribes are particularly clever. It is when the play seeks pathos that it is most difficult to believe. There are two references to attempted suicide brought on by tiny penises that, had they been played for laughs, might have been successful, but both mentions yanked me out of the world of the play. When the playwright ratchets it back a bit and speaks more frankly about the self doubt the men feel because they cannot measure up, it works a little better.

Kristian Wedolowski’s set design makes good use of the space. The theatre’s own stained glass windows are exposed, as are the existing exits. The detritus of an upcoming rummage sale litter the basement, and folding chairs and tables complete the space. It is a deeper and wider configuration than Queen City usually uses, and it was nice to see the characters explore the space. Alfie B. Griffin’s costumes are subtle yet extraordinary.

The Irish Curse explores everything from love, to politics, to religion, all through how it relates to man’s fascination with his penis. Though the structure of the play is formulaic, it tackles a subject matter that many have shied away from, although the play’s conceit that lives are destroyed by the lack of a few inches might be difficult to grasp. It would be hard to argue that men are not obsessed with penises and terrified of how they measure up. In a world where we are bombarded with advertisements for “natural male enhancements,” and men subject themselves to dangerous vacuum devices, weights, fat injections, and surgery (all of which are discussed in the play), it is clear that any discourse should be welcome, and Martin Casella’s charming play is a good start.

Obviously, this is not a play for children, from beginning to end the play is pretty clearly focused on one thing. I encourage all men to go see this. It’s nothing you haven’t heard before and it might be comforting to know that though you may be larger than baby corn or a cocktail weenie (as some of these characters compare themselves to), all men at some point in their lives are insecure about their bodies and about what it might mean to be a man. Women might also find some comfort in the fact that men are just as messed up as far as body image goes as they might be. Perhaps more. Review by Tim Baxter-Ferguson

Tim Baxter-Ferguson is professor of Theatre at Limestone College and Chair of that program. He has had his plays produced throughout the United States and Canada.

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