A drive to see 'Daisy' worth the trip

By D. A. Blackburn

This season, the organizers of the Michigan Shakespeare Festival have chosen to do something a little different. Last season, the festival took its first stab at musical theater, with a fine production of Side by Side by Sondheim. This year, they've opted to branch into straight non-Shakespearean plays, with a fine production of Driving Miss Daisy. The move may seem a bit unusual for a festival whose bread and butter has been almost exclusively the Bard, but it's a wise and welcome one - given today's tough economic times and changing demographics.

Driving Miss Daisy is likely best known to audiences as an acclaimed 1989 feature film starring Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman and Dan Aykroyd. But before Hollywood came calling, Alfred Uhry had already made a success of the story, premiering it on the stage in 1987 and subsequently receiving a Pulitzer Prize for the work. In the 20-plus years since, the work has maintained a significant following and found its way onto many a stage.

Driving Miss Daisy has continued to engage audiences — and interest theater administrators — for all this time for a very simple reason: It is a thoughtfully written, genuinely endearing story, packed with socially relevant themes ranging from race and economic status to aging, friendship and family dynamics. And it doesn't hurt that it's pretty funny, too.

Set in Atlanta in 1948, it is the story of Daisy Wertham, an aging Jewish widow judged by her son Boolie to be incapable of driving a car. Not wanting to limit her mobility, Boolie hires Hoke Coleburn, an African American, as a chauffeur. Though Daisy is initially resistant to the idea, a 25-year friendship evolves, and together they combat a wealth of adversities. Uhry's ultimate message: It's never too late to change your world view.

It makes for some pretty heartwarming and sweetly funny theater. And the MSF has done this tale justice with their production. The show feels — for good reason — much like the last Driving Miss Daisy reviewed by EncoreMichigan.com (BoarsHead Theatre, January 2009). This owes much to the fact that both director (Katie Doyle) and Boolie (Bruce Bennett) are holdovers from that show. That said, the MSF has not merely a recycled a production.

Doyle's direction feels a bit looser and more fluid. It's very evident that her vision of the work has evolved in the interim. Characters come to life with less formality and, as such, feel quite natural. The play is structured as a series of vignettes, and Doyle has done a fine job in moving the story and the characters between them, while giving the work a steady, comfortable pacing.

She's also gotten some fine acting from her cast. Bennett's Boolie is consistent with the good work of his BoarsHead appearance, but again, a bit more relaxed and human. As Daisy, Sally Pesetsky provides the work with a perfectly endearing firebrand, and manages to make her character's evolution through the darkness of prejudice to the light of pseudo-acceptance believable. Rico Bruce Wade struggled occasionally at the opening, but ultimately delivered a strong performance. His on-stage transformation from middle age to elder, apparent only in his physical disposition, is point perfect.

Set design for Driving Miss Daisy is the most appealing of all of the MSF's 2010 offerings — all by Jeromy Hopgood. Its clean but attractive fixtures serve the structure of the work quite well, though it uses very little of Jackson Community College's Baughman Theatre stage.

Lauren Montgomery's costumes, too, are a fine fit for the play, as is Kate Hopgood's sound design, keeping with the fine execution that has marked this year's festival. Michael Beyer's lighting is sufficient, if a bit generic.

As this journey with Daisy draws near its end, it is worth noting one potential problem: its schedule. Festival administrators have opted to present the show only three times (two remaining), and only on Sundays. To compound the issue, there is but one Sunday (Aug. 8) that patrons can also partake in the festival's Shakespeare — and at that, only Romeo and Juliet. As Jackson Community College is a bit removed from the well-beaten theatrical path of Southeast Michigan, patrons — and the festival — would be better served with more opportunities to bundle this show with either or both Shakespearean offerings for a single day of theater. After reviewing all three productions, on three separate days, and driving about 150 miles each time (from Oakland County), I'm beginning to think that Daisy might not be the only one in need of a chauffeur.

SHOW DETAILS:

Michigan Shakespeare Festival at the Michael Baughman Theatre on the campus of Jackson Community College, 2111 Emmons Rd., Jackson. Sundays through Aug. 8. Tickets: $15-$35. For information: 517-998-3673 or www.michiganshakespearefestival.com.

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OTHER VOICES - REVIEWS: Driving Miss Daisy - Michigan Shakespeare Festival

Read TERRY POW's review in the Jackson Citizen Patriot (July 28, 2010)

MSF's 'Errors' a unique, confused comedy

By D. A. Blackburn

Sitting for the Michigan Shakespeare Festival's production of The Comedy of Errors, one is immediately struck by Jeromy Hopgood's sets. The impression they leave is that of a church's Easter pageant — of flat desert tones, oddly mixed architectural styles, and a quality of construction scarcely better than cardboard. They are hardly an inspiring sight, and certainly not what one might expect from a festival of this caliber.

The play's opening moments do little to bolster confidence in the production — a vivid string of pantomime performances with an overly-animated quality, and a variety of modern props juxtaposed against more traditional costumes. This flighty first scene is funny — even if only because it’s such a jarring affront to expectations. It's also a prelude of things to come.

In a nutshell, The Comedy of Errors is a tale of two pair of twin brothers, divided in youth. In the course of rediscovering each other, a series of mistaken identities, miscommunications and misfortunes befall all four. Chaos and hilarity ensue. But in the end, as is the norm in Shakespearean comedy, all is revealed, and happiness and romance triumph.

True to form, it is a far-flung story, full of beautiful language and clever word play. But directed by Kevin Theis, the MSF's production — albeit a unique and inventive take on the work — suffers from a single significant flaw from which lesser issues emanate. Theis has given the work such a brisk pacing that it runs rough-shod over the charm, nuance and humor of the Bard’s writing. In fact, it has such a rapid cadence that opening night, few performers made it the duration without tripping over their lines and becoming noticeably tongue-tied on occasion. Much of the work's inherent humor is lost in the fray.

To compensate, the director has developed a confused concept for the work, infusing it with modern touches in dialogue, properties and character persona — Antipholus and Dromio (of Syracuse) execute a Vaudeville dance number, the Second Merchant is a Mafioso with a New York accent, a tirade by Dromio (of Ephesus) concludes with an Oscar-esque award speech and the Abbess is surprisingly reminiscent of Mother Superior in The Blues Brothers.

While much of this does generate laughs, and while there's nothing wrong with manipulating a work to fulfill directorial vision, the elements of this production simply don't integrate smoothly. In the most basic of terms, modern catch phrases — "thank you Captain Obvious" — don't fit nicely into the rhythmic musical tone of Shakespeare’s eloquence.

That's not to say that there isn't some fine material within the production. As Dromio (of Syracuse), Jude Willis delivers a hysterical description of his twin brother's wife. And, both he and Brandon St. Clair Saunders (Dromio of Ephesus) provide some fine physical comedy. Maggie Kettering plays Adriana (wife of Antipholus) as a charmingly cruel shrew. As Luciana, Amanda Reader has a wonderful moment describing her seduction by Antipholus (of Syracuse) who she's mistaken for her brother-in-law, Antipholus (of Ephesus). But these fleeting moments of superb acting aren't enough to keep the work in clear focus.

Another high point for the work is its expansive sound design (Kate Hopgood), which swings from music to fog horns and rim shots with an execution most any theater could envy.

In the end, this production of The Comedy of Errors feels like Shakespeare-lite — a children's production masquerading as comedy for the masses. It's inventive. It's unique. But something's been lost in the whirlwind journey from curtain up to curtain call.

Michigan Shakespeare Festival at the Michael Baughman Theatre on the campus of Jackson Community College, 2111 Emmons Rd., Jackson. Plays in repertory through Aug. 7. Tickets: $15-$35. For information: 517-998-3673 or www.michiganshakespearefestival.com.

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Water Works' Verona: Two gentlemen of the swingin’ ‘60s

By Martin F. Kohn

The Two Gentlemen of Verona may not be among Shakespeare's better plays, but you can see them from here. Motifs that the playwright would employ more successfully appear in this early effort: the woman who disguises herself as a man, the two best friends in love with the same woman, the banished hero, the ring betokening a lover's fidelity that shows up in the hands of another woman.

But Water Works Theatre, purveyors of outdoor Shakespeare since 2001, and director Barton Bund haven't gone to the trouble of staging The Two Gentlemen of Verona as a mere fount of footnotes for Shakespeare fans. Bund detects a modern buddy comedy in there — even though one buddy will behave wickedly toward the other — and sets the first scene in a locker room with the two gents, Valentine and Proteus, shirtless, exchanging banter and snapping towels. (You keep expecting them to say "dude." They never do.)

That's one good way to get the audience's attention. Another is Monika Essen's day-glo bright set: a couple of giant hearts interspersed with Greek columns each topped with a big red lipstick, the latter a likely homage to pop artist Claes Oldenburg's noted outdoor sculpture of an upraised lipstick on caterpillar tracks.

The swingin' '60s, the age of pop art, is the setting of this production, both in time and attitude.

Valentine (Kevin Young) heads to Milan to further his education; Proteus (Rusty Mewha) follows, albeit reluctantly: He must leave his beloved, Julia (Sara Catheryn Wolf) behind. In Milan, Valentine spends his time studying Silvia (Jackie Strez), the duke's daughter (who reciprocates) and pretty soon Proteus is in love with Silvia, too.

It's pretty clear who is who and what is what, and if you aren't fluent in Shakespeare, Bund provides visual cues. One man has dark hair, the other is blonde, and the same goes for the women. Each of the actors handles Shakespeare's dialogue competently. And Bund does well to have his actors suggest that the relationship between the two men may go beyond ordinary friendship.

The play, though, becomes unrelentingly confusing because one actress, Jamie Weeder, plays two significant parts — Proteus' manservant, Launce and Julia's maidservant, Lucetta.

One hopes this is an economic choice, not an artistic one. No one wishes fiscal ills upon Water Works, but if this is an artistic choice it's misguided. Sure, Lucetta wears a pink wig and Launce has a live dog (he's in the text), but they speak with the same voice.

Another choice, to make Silvia's parent a duchess instead of a duke, is more satisfying. In the love-is-all-around ethos of the production, Linda Rabin Hammell, in a funny performance, shows off her legs and otherwise comes on to her daughter's suitors. But here again confusion raises its head when Silvia's parent, as the script directs, asks Valentine for advice about how to handle women.

Difficulties notwithstanding, whatever takes place onstage does so in a spirit of fun and, as Shakespeare proved with his subsequent comedies, we can always use more of that.

SHOW DETAILS:

Water Works Theatre Company at Starr Jaycee Park, 1101 W. 13 Mile Rd., Royal Oak. Thursday-Sunday through Aug. 8. Tickets: $18. For more information: www.waterworkstheatre.com.

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OTHER VOICES - REVIEWS: The Two Gentlemen of Verona - Water Works Theatre Company

Read ROBERT DELANEY's review from the New Monitor (July 29, 2010)

Read CAROLYN HAYES' review in the Rogue Critic (July 29, 2010)

Read JOHN MONAGHAN's review in the Detroit Free Press (July 29, 2010)

Murder opens the season in Eastpointe

By Donald V. Calamia

A comprehensive history of professional theater in Southeast Michigan has yet to be written, but one supposed fact certainly seems true: that blue collar towns are not supportive of the performing arts. And if you think about it, that COULD explain why efforts to produce live theater in the industrial neighborhoods of Detroit's east side and northeast suburbs have generally failed to build audiences and take root in those communities. But how, then, do you explain the anomaly known as Broadway Onstage Live Theatre, which has survived and thrived just north of the Detroit border in Eastpointe since 1994?

That's a question I've thought about for quite some time, and so on a very wet Friday evening I braved the elements and made my first visit to the storefront theater that's home to Dennis Wickline Productions, which opened its 30th season that night with the original comedy The Social Security Murders.

And what did I find?

For starters, a very friendly business! At the door, I was met by longtime audience favorite CeCe Lesner, who I found out later plays Bert in the production. She greeted me like we were old friends, and we had a lovely chat. (A couple of them, in fact.) In the box office was the equally chatty Elizabeth Rager, who plays Dorothy, who led me to my seat. And if I'm not mistaken, John Arden McClure (another longtime Broadway Onstage actor who plays Warren in this production) manned the refreshment bar. (I didn't wander that far into the theater and only saw him in the distance.)

As I glanced around the theater, I found a comfortable, homey place with what appears to be costumes and props from previous shows on display throughout the space. The stage is long, but not very deep, and the slightly raked theater-style seating provides every customer with a good view of the action. (Since there are only a handful of rows, no one in the house has a bad seat.)

Quite unique, though, is the patented TeeVeeStage Presentation System, which features a series of eight TV monitors above the stage. If you're sitting on the right side of the theater as I was, the monitors in front of you show you views from the left side of the stage - and vice versa. I didn't need to use them since I was sitting near the center and in the second row, but I did catch myself checking them out every now and then just to see if they added anything to the experience. (They didn't.)

What I loved even more, however, was their use before the show and during the intermission to relay messages to the audience (such as "10 minutes until curtain") and to show entertaining videos while the audience waits for the show to begin. (A Laurel and Hardy video was playing this past Friday.) Plus, the monitors were integrated into the show quite effectively. (Dorothy stars in a local access cable news show, of which we got a glimpse in the second act.)

Since the company's business model relies totally on ticket sales to stay alive, producer (and in this case, playwright) Wickline has analyzed historical data and patron responses and serves a healthy dose of comedies - especially murder mysteries - every season. The Social Security Murders is the latest, and tells the story of three sisters who have come to live with their niece because of a rash of murders - 19 so far over 23 months - that have one thing in common: The victims are female Social Security recipients. Since the police have been slow to resolve the case, the three decide to tackle it themselves - and what they discover stuns them: They're the next victims!

Wickline's script is typical of the genre, with mis-directions, red-herrings and stereotypes aplenty. But certain details are repeated too often, too much background information obfuscates what's important for the audience to remember, and the act one closer amounts to nothing in the second act. Yet it also provides plenty of ammo for the actors to use to build the fun and quirky characters audiences have come to expect from such shows.

Unfortunately, that's not what happened at the opening night performance. Plenty of lines were bobbled throughout the show - especially as the second act progressed - and the delivery of the dialogue rarely gelled into natural-sounding conversation. Plus, occasional traffic congestion found too many actors trying to share the same space at the same time.

My assumption? The rehearsal schedule was a week or two too short. So with more time spent with their scripts, I suspect NEXT week's performances will be considerably better. And I'll gladly be back to check out a future production in the theater's 2010-11 schedule.

I do have one last observation, however: If you're staging a murder mystery and the villain appears in disguise during the first act, make sure the costume doesn't accidentally reveal his/her identity. I knew who the killer was very early on because of a shock of hair that poked out of the mask - which made the rest of the unfolding plot less of a mystery and rather unnecessary!

SHOW DETAILS:

Broadway Onstage Live Theatre, 21517 Kelly Rd., Eastpointe. Friday-Saturday through Aug. 21. Tickets: $16. For information: 586-771-6333 or www.broadwayonstage.com.

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Run for your laughs, all the way to Tibbits

By Donald V. Calamia

At the conclusion of his curtain speech before the opening Thursday night performance of Run for Your Wife at Tibbits Summer Theatre, Artistic Director Charles Burr teased the audience by telling us this was the most fun he's had directing a show in quite some time. While grandiose statements such as that are usually nothing more than hyperbolic showmanship, I'm certainly inclined to believe him. Why? Because I probably laughed more during my two-hour visit with two-timing British cab driver John Smith than I have in quite some time!

Smith, you see, has achieved what many men have probably wished for, but never attempted - and for good reason: He's married to two different women and lives in two different apartments - and neither wife knows about the other. As you can imagine, it's a grueling schedule he maintains to keep up the charade: Tonight may be spent with Mary in Wimbledon, but tomorrow morning will find him four-and-a-half minutes away in Streatham having breakfast with Barbara (whom he met four months after his marriage to Mary).

All goes well until John plays Good Samaritan and intervenes in a mugging - only to end up in the hospital emergency room after the elderly victim mistakes him for one of the muggers and bloodies his head with her purse. Concussed, John gives the attending nurse his address in Streatham, but to the cop who takes him home he gives his Wimbledon address. And once the discrepancy is discovered and looked into, John's life spins totally out of control!

That's an understatement, to be sure, as playwright Ray Cooney's delightfully improbable plot gets screwier and crazier with every twist and turn he delivers. So much so, that you almost need a scorecard to track which of many lies is known by whom. And that, of course, leads to the hysterically funny conclusion, thanks in large part to Burr's fine direction and a superb cast of comedic actors.

Since pretty much all British sex farces are filled with mistaken identities, politically incorrect stereotypes and plenty of slamming doors, Run For Your Wife requires a couple of things from its talent: clockwork timing and the ability to play their roles with total believability - which, given the highly unbelievable plot, is tough to pull off.

Entrances and exits, for example, must be tightly coordinated so as to make total sense to the audience - especially since the show's single set functions as two different apartments. Here, Burr's planning pays off, as every arrival and departure occurs like clockwork - even when the action takes place simultaneously inside both apartments. (Each half of Andy Broomell's set reflects the tastes and personality of the occupying housewife; Mary's is fairly "common," while Barbara's is colorful and contemporary.)

But the company especially shines with actors' reactions and responses to the rapidly deteriorating situation around them. The comedic bits come fast and furious, and the hard-working thespians barely have time to pause or catch their collective breath!

One can't help but empathize with and root for Greg Pragel's John, described by Mary as "sort of common place," who simply couldn't say no to Barbara's advances - despite the wedding ring already on his finger. As John digs himself deeper into trouble, Pragel's eyes, facial expressions and body movements reminded me of an energetic puppy dog who is only trying to please its master - but instead keeps finding itself deeper and deeper in the dog house. It's a fine performance from start to finish.

Of the wives, Kiersten Vorhies (Mary) is given a far broader range of emotions to explore by the playwright - and she does so with a joyous mix of wifely concern and "deer-in-the-headlights" confusion. (And rightfully so!) And Amy Lamberti (Barbara) makes it easy to understand why John couldn't resist her charms and attention.

Then there's Stanley Gardner, Mary's upstairs neighbor who is unexpectedly roped into the Smith family drama. In the hands of recent Hilberry grad Brian P. Sage, Stan comes vividly to life. It's a masterful portrayal, as Stan tries his honest best to help his buddy keep his secret - but as a result, only makes matters worse. Watching two fine comedic actors feed and play off one another is always plenty of fun, and the madcap interactions between Sage and Pragel are among the show's highlights!

The remaining handful of supporting characters all add to the general hilarity. Detectives Troughton (from Wimbledon) and Porterhouse (from Streatham), as played by Ryan McDonald and Paul Kerr, are the typical stereotypes one expects in a farce. Kerr, however, has the more delicious role of the two - and he proves his comedic chops wearing a pink apron and serving tea in the second act while totally oblivious to the double entendres flying all around him.

Way over the top - and delightfully so - is Dick Baker as Barbara's new gay upstairs neighbor Bobby Franklin. But his high-pitched delivery sometimes overpowered the clarity of his words on opening night.

Meanwhile, Jared Wietbrock has the highest paid acting job in the show - if you base it on verbiage and the amount of time spent on stage. He makes a quick, two-minute appearance as a newspaper reporter near the top of the show, delivers a few lines, and he's never seen again until the curtain call almost two hours later.

All of the production's technical elements are fine, but sound designer Shaun Reis earned the first chuckles of the night by using the familiar tune Love and Marriage to open the show. It certainly set the tone for what was yet to come!

SHOW DETAILS:

Tibbits Summer Theatre, 14 S. Hanchett St., Coldwater. Wednesday-Saturday through July 31. Tickets: $24-$26. For information: 517-278-6029 or www.tibbits.org.

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Dixie does Saugatuck: Tupperware for adults only

By Bridgette M. Redman

After going to Dixie's Tupperware Party, you may never look at a child's sport and play ball the same way again. For that matter, you might never look at any Tupperware the same way again.

While the second show in the Mason Street Warehouse summer season is a raucous, improv comedy, it is also just what the title says — a Tupperware party in which the hostess, Dixie Longate, demonstrates Tupperware, conducts raffles, leads party games, and yes, sells Tupperware. Taking her show around the country, Longate has become one of the top-selling Tupperware salespeople in the country. She also won a Drama Desk Award Nomination in 2008. On opening night at Mason Street Warehouse, the party played to a packed house with nary an empty seat.

It's a show that has delighted spectators in major metropolitan cities on both coasts and in the theater-city of Chicago, but left some members of the Saugutuck audience a little shell-shocked about a show that shunned bawdy naughtiness for X-rated hilarity that was scandalously specific. If the comments in the lobby and the bathroom after the show are any indication, the Mason Street Warehouse may be getting some letters of complaint.

Which isn't to say the theater shouldn't be commended for taking the risk on a show that is wickedly funny and is filled with heart behind all the harsh language. There's even the whisper of a plot amongst the stand-up comedy-style sales pitch.

The show begins the moment the audience enters the theater with Dixie moving around the seats passing out Jolly Ranchers from her crystal Tupperware candy bowl. She addresses everyone by name as if they were personal acquaintances — a feat made possible by giving everyone a name tag and a Tupperware catalog before they entered. The name tag — with its corresponding number — became everyone's entry into two raffles conducted during the show.

Dixie was joined on stage by two couples occupying love seats on either side of her Tupperware demonstration table. One she dubbed the "sinning Christians" after discovering that they lived together and telling them that "Jesus doesn't approve, but I think it's cute." The occupants of the other couch became "lesbian and friend" after Dixie cajoled the woman into applauding on Dixie's behind. She then became the launch pad for a whole string of lesbian jokes scattered throughout the show.

The fast-talking Dixie could give Catherine Tate's Lauren Cooper a run for her money with her repetitious, in-your-face patter, especially when questioning hapless audience members while never giving them a chance to respond.

Dixie claims to be a single mom of three and trailer park resident who took up Tupperware sales as a condition of her parole in order to get her kids back from the state. She pumps the redneck angle for all it was worth, and delivers it with a vulgarity suited to a brothel bedroom or an all-night Asian spa.

Her rapid slurred speech (courtesy of copious alcohol consumption) and Southern drawl build atmosphere without being so thick as to make her difficult to understand. It certainly isn't the speaking style that makes one do a double-take to determine whether Dixie really just suggested taking Jello shots to church to share with the pastor or having a refreshing margarita on hand for when the 17-year-old neighbor boy comes to "mow the lawn."

Some of Dixie's banter relies on the audience's willingness to get wild with her. At times they did, at other times they resisted. She held a question-and-answer session in which, after some hesitation, valiant audience members readily stepped up to the inevitable skewering. It was here that Dixie moved from talking about the "plastic crap" on the table to the more sanctioned Tupperware-speak, which she delivered with a disdain revealed after much repetition of "That's a great question" and "Have I answered your question to the best of my ability tonight?"

Her interaction most delighted the audience when she appealed to their complicity in wildly explicit descriptions of naughty behavior with the sly question, "Remember?" She met the most resistance when trying to get a woman to rebuff those who would belittle her with a hearty, "Fuck you!" The woman told her she didn't say that word, and even Dixie's attempts to get her neighbors to take her hands and cheer her on failed as the woman next to her said, "No I won't — I'm her mother."

If you are faint of heart when it comes to overt sex talk and coarse language, be forewarned that "bite me" is as genteel as things get, and political correctness is as foreign a language to this show as Sanskrit is to most non-scholars. Dixie doesn't hesitate to call things "retarded" or to whip the audience into chanting "Rim it" when she engages her on-stage guests into a rimming contest. Nor would her suggestions of vodka-soaked fruit for her children's lunches or the non-spillable cup to hold the martini while driving sit well with the average soccer mom or MADD member.

Yet, this is no flaw, especially when she uses it to ask why we'll shy from saying the two simple words "fuck you" and yet say so many more words that hurt much more. And it is there that the heart of the show can be found — in Dixie unhesitatingly presenting every reason to be contemptuous of her and then pointing out that she, like everyone in the audience, matters. As she narrates the story of Brownie Wise, the genius behind the Tupperware party and shares her own forlorn tale, she transitions from late-night cable channel comedian to inspirational speaker determined to imbue her audience with a sense of empowerment.

It's a change in tone that comes just in time as the constant barrage of sex jokes had started to weigh the show down and violate the precept of leaving your audience wanting more. The interactive nature of the show makes it difficult to hold to a particular length, but a two-hour presentation with no intermission can be a bit challenging to sustain.

Dixie was indefatigable in her energy, but the briefly more serious undertone transformed the show from an overlong stand-up act to a courageous comedy that challenges its audience to change the world no matter what anyone else thinks of them.

SHOW DETAILS:

Mason Street Warehouse, 400 Culver St., Saugatuck. Runs daily July 21 through Aug. 1 (excluding July 26). Recommended for mature audiences. Tickets: $26-$36.50. For information: 269-857-4898 or www.masonstreetwarehouse.org.

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A summer’s tale: ‘Tis a lovely season at Stratford

By Martin F. Kohn

In its better seasons, and this one certainly qualifies, Canada's Stratford Shakespeare Festival lives up to its name: It's Shakespearean and it's festive. From the glorious froth that is John Doyle's production of Kiss Me, Kate, to Gary Griffin's largely familiar but surprisingly gripping realization of Evita, to Des McAnuff's visually dazzling As You Like It, to Marti Maraden's lucid staging of The Winter's Tale, Stratford 2010 delivers big-time.

And let us not forget this year's brochure cover boy, Christopher Plummer, mingling humor with humanity as Prospero in McAnuff's production of The Tempest.

That's not the whole season, of course, but there are only so many plays you (or at least I) can see in a weekend. Based on that substantial sampling, though, one is tempted to declare this the year of the designer at Stratford. Rarely have the costumes been more colorful or expressive, the scenery more inventive, the sounds more a part of the action and, in the plays, the music more than background.

What about the acting? As that estimable thespian Sparky Anderson has theorized: Once you've chosen your lineup your work is pretty much done. Happily, Stratford's lineup is strong up the middle, at the corners, even on the bench: Understudies filled in seamlessly in two or three of the five performances I saw last weekend.

As for themes — again, based on just five of the eight shows currently running — the idea of power, its uses, misuses and abuses, seems common to all, even a kind of personal power where Kiss Me, Kate incorporates The Taming of the Shrew.

With a lot of summer still before us and the folks at Stratford offering deals on tickets, it may be time to consider a jaunt up the road. Don't forget your passport (or enhanced driver’s license).

Now, the reviews.

Evita

Not exactly a new Argentina, neither is Stratford's Evita the same old one. Directed by Gary Griffin (Broadway's The Color Purple), Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's sung-through rumination on demagoguery (among other things) seems freshly relevant in a political season when all sorts of folks claim to represent the voiceless and powerless.

While hewing to the conventions of Evitas past (would anyone ever stage it without the armpit scene?), Griffin introduces a few innovations, the best of which occurs in The Art of the Possible as members of Argentina's military junta vie for supremacy. Usually staged as a literal game of musical chairs, Griffin re-imagines it as a poker game, with the winning hands projected card-by-card above the stage.

Voiceful and powerful is Chilina Kennedy in the title role, convincingly playing Eva Peron's transitions from ravenously ambitious teenager to idolized first lady to critically ill husk of a woman.

Josh Young is a perfect counterweight as Che, who tells the story with all the cynicism the real Che Guevara (born and raised in Argentina) might have mustered. Juan Chioran plays dictator Juan Peron with the authoritative confidence that could well fool all of the people some of the time.

The Tempest

Christopher Plummer may put audiences in the seats, but he's not the only reason to remain there. An engaging, contemplative Prospero, he projects a wizard-like aura as the old sorcerer, aided by some spiffy special effects (the playbill credits a magic coach), but his greater accomplishment is presenting Prospero in all his human complexity.

In a neat trick of her own, Julyana Soelistyo nearly steals the show as the spirit Ariel. A limber, diminutive woman, she seems otherworldly, zooming about the stage dispensing benevolent mischief, propelled by her own energy and, sometimes, by wires a la Peter Pan. Soelistyo also has a superbly impish laugh.

Otherworldly from the opposite direction is Dion Johnstone as Prospero's island's other native, the earthbound Caliban. Not until Caliban's reformation, near the very end of the play, does Johnstone ever get to stand upright.

Trish Lindstrom and Gareth Potter make more than the usual cardboard cutouts out of the young lovers: Prospero's daughter, Miranda, and the shipwrecked prince, Ferdinand.

Bruce Dow and Geraint Wyn Davies provide the funniest scenes as Trinculo and Stephano; Wyn Davies with a funny Scottish accent and Dow playing his character somewhere between the Cowardly Lion and Curly from the Three Stooges.

Kiss Me, Kate

The opening scene, Another Op'nin', Another Show, features laundry baskets big enough to hide a person, and on wheels, no less. This augurs well. It does indeed, although nobody ever hides in a laundry basket in John Doyle's staging of Cole Porter's best musical.

Who needs people in laundry baskets when you have Shakespeare as a co-author (The Taming of the Shrew is the play within the play) and such great Porter songs as Too Darn Hot, So In Love, Always True To You in My Fashion and Brush Up Your Shakespeare?

And the story, book by Sam And Bella Spewack, isn't bad either. It's the out-of-town opening of a musical based on Shrew, starring ex-spouses Fred Graham and Lilli Vanessi who are, you guessed it, still in love but only one of them realizes it. Another couple in the company, Bill Calhoun and Lois Lane, also have a stormy relationship. Add to the mix a pair of gangsters come to collect a gambling debt and things get interesting.

One of the particular joys at Stratford is the opportunity to see the same actor in two, or more, shows. So here is Juan Chioran, no longer a dour fascist but a lusty and genial Fred (and Shakespeare's Petruchio). Monique Lund, blending in with the rest of the company in Evita stands out as Lilli (and the Shrew) in a terrific performance combining a glorious voice with a flair for physical comedy. Note the original way she slinks off the Festival Theatre stage.

For real aficionados of one actor/two performances, the biggest reward is Chilina Kennedy, yesterday's Eva Peron, today's Noo Yawk-accented Lois (and Shakespeare's Bianca). If you didn't see her name in both programs you wouldn't believe she's the same person.

As You Like It

Rosalind is a painter; Touchstone, the fool, wears a three-piece suit; Orlando, the dispossessed aristocrat, is attired like Tom Joad in the movie The Grapes of Wrath.

And that's just the beginning of Des McAnuff's production of As You Like It, set in an era when both fascism and surrealism are ascending. The fascism is certainly in the text. The rightful duke has been overthrown by his brother and has taken refuge in the Forest of Arden. Easygoing, kindly Orlando has been evicted by his bully of a brother and goes off to join the free spirits in the forest.

Incidentally, Paul Nolan, as Orlando, conjures the late William Hutt, not in voice or appearance but in the way speaks Shakespeare's language as if it were conversational, comprehensible English.

Brent Carver makes sardonic Jaques truly melancholy and delivers the Seven Ages of Man speech as if he were making it up on the spot. Andrea Runge captures all the apprehension adventurousness of Rosalind who flees to the forest dressed as a man, and Cara Ricketts is quite nicely more apprehensive and less adventurous as Rosalind's friend and companion, Celia.

If the actors weren't serving Shakespeare so well, it would be tempting to call the production over-designed. The old duke's merry band in the forest includes an actual jazz band to accompany the many songs in the play and the lively Charleston at the finale. And it's difficult to take your eyes off the floor, a beautiful abstraction that lights up from below, sort of kaleidoscope meets disco floor.

The Winter's Tale

If they know it at all, most people know The Winter's Tale for the most famous stage direction in all of Shakespeare: "Exit, pursued by a bear." The play has more to recommend it than ursine pursuit, and Marti Maraden's staging makes one of Shakespeare's less-frequently performed plays comprehensible and compelling.

It tells the story of King Leontes of Sicily who unjustly accuses his pregnant wife, Hermione, of sleeping with his best friend, the King of Bohemia, who has been visiting for the past nine months. Leontes also believes the baby is not his. As judge, jury and executioner, not only does the enraged Leontes condemn his wife, he orders that her baby daughter be carried off to some remote and deserted place and left there to fate. By the time he realizes how wrong he's been, it's too late. Or so he thinks.

Fast forward 16 years, as Shakespeare does, and there's a lot more story to be told. For one thing, guess who's grown up.

As Leontes, Ben Carlson is the glue that holds the story together, but neither his rage nor his repentance is completely convincing. Faring better is Seana McKenna as Paulina, who stands up to Leontes in defense of her best friend, Hermione; like Paul Nolan in As You Like It, McKenna proves adept at conversational Shakespeare. Yanna McIntosh, as Hermione; Brian Tree and Mike Shara, as the shepherds who find the baby; and Tom Rooney as an itinerant balladeer and pickpocket, add brightness to the proceedings.

Shakespeare has a big surprise in store, which will not be revealed here even if it is 399 years old. And director Maraden has one of her own. Let's just say that in this production, "Time flies" is no mere adage.

SHOW DETAILS:

Evita runs until Nov. 6 at the Avon Theatre.
The Tempest runs until Sept. 12 at the Festival Theatre.
Kiss Me, Kate runs until Nov. 6 at the Festival Theatre.
As You Like It runs until Oct. 31 at the Festival Theatre.
The Winter's Tale runs until Sept. 25 at the Tom Patterson Theatre.
For tickets, contact the Stratford Shakespeare Festival box office at 1-800-567-1600 or visit www.stratfordshakespearefestival.com.

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MSF brings ‘Romeo & Juliet’ back to life

By D. A. Blackburn

Saturday night the Michigan Shakespeare Festival officially kicked off its 16th season with Romeo & Juliet. A more fitting opening could not have been had. Not only because the company chose to open the festival with Shakespeare's best known, most loved work, but also because they opted to recognize recently retired Artistic Director John Neville-Andrews and publicly pass the torch to Janice Blixt.

And this is as much the story of the 2010 MSF, as the three productions to grace the stage of the Michael Baughman Theatre (Jackson Community College) this season. Neville-Andrews, after all, had been the driving force and public face of the festival for some 13 seasons, and a changing of the guard is sure to produce a different result.

On the surface, the 2010 MSF looks and feels much the same as years past — held in the same venue, with the same decorations and familiar pre-show discussion groups — but sitting for Romeo & Juliet, or even breezing through the show program, the differences are readily apparent.

Blixt, a Hilberry Theatre alum and Chicago transplant, has stocked her cast largely with Chicago talent. There are far fewer Michigan thespians on stage than in previous years, and while the festival has always drawn performers from afar, the skew toward actors from the windy city seems disproportionate.

Perhaps even more noticeable is Blixt's very pure concept for Romeo & Juliet, for which she also serves as director. In recent years, the festival has featured shows of a decidedly different tact — higher concept productions taking the Bard's poetry in fresh directions. Neville-Andrews' The Tempest (2009) is a fine recent example. But Blixt's turn inward, burrowing into the script for inspiration, isn't all bad. The result is a very fine, funny (despite its tragic classification), romantic work — the likes of which were probably the Bard's own intent.

Blixt has studied deeply into the work's characters with the diligence of an accomplished academic, and brings them to the stage as exceedingly rich personas. There is a great comedic element to many of the characters in Romeo & Juliet, and Blixt has done good work in bringing this to the surface. Likewise, her deep understanding of the language makes for a very accessible production. While Shakespeare can bog some audience members down in its densely packed, antiquated dialogue, she has found a strong balance in the language bringing forth both its beauty and its message.

The production boasts a strong cast, well in step with their director. Wesley Scott and Amanda Reader make a fine pair of star-crossed lovers. Together they give audiences a very poignant balcony scene and are also a very appealing wedding/wedding night.

Steven Alan O'Brien makes a fine impression as Prince Escalus, performing with a superb authority, particularly at the end of act one, in banishing Romeo from Verona. Jeffrey Booth Stringer's Father Lawrence, repentant for his complicity in the actions that led to the lovers' demise, is excellent.

Scott Stangland's somewhat devious Mercutio, too, adds greatly to the production, and marks the high point of David Blixt's "violence design" (fight choreography) that includes some excellently choreographed swordsmanship.

If the show's cast has a weak link, it is Brandon St. Clair Saunders as Benvolio, whose opening night performance was riddled with flawed dialogue.

Romeo & Juliet is par for the MSF course with regard to production value, though for 2010 the stage is fresh. (Years past have frequently used the same massive set, unused last year for budgetary reasons). The production's sets by Jeromy Hopgood are simple and efficient. David Stoughton's lighting design carries much of the burden of establishing time and space for the work, and does so admirably. Kate Hopgood's subtle but effective sound design is executed very well.

Sally Converse-Doucette's costuming is very attractive and detailed, though perhaps a bit modern for a production that fails, in any other way, to alter the work's setting in time.

The final result is a largely satisfying Romeo & Juliet, and as an indication of things to come, the production leads one to believe that the festival as a whole is in good hands. Of course, there are two more productions to come (The Comedy of Errors and Driving Miss Daisy). But at present, Blixt appears a worthy successor to the man who made the festival what it is today. John Neville-Andrews can rest easy, and drink his Champagne — a gift from the board — in peace. His gem is in good hands.

SHOW DETAILS:

Michigan Shakespeare Festival at Michael Baughman Theatre on the campus of Jackson Community College, 2111 Emmons Rd., Jackson. Plays in repertory through Aug. 8. Tickets: $15-$35. For information: 517-998-3673 or www.michiganshakespearefestival.com.

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OTHER VOICES - REVIEWS: The Comedy of Errors and Romeo & Juliet - Michigan Shakespeare Festival

Read TERRY POW's review of The Comedy of Errors from the Jackson Citizen Patriot (July 21, 2010)

Read TERRY POW's review of Romeo & Juliet from the Jackson Citizen Patriot (July 21, 2010)

Read ROBERT DELANEY's review from the New Monitor (July 22, 2010)

Colorful 'Trailer Park' hits high notes

By Judith Cookis Rubens

You might be a redneck if you laughed out loud at the campy treat that is The Great American Trailer Park Musical. Or you might be a discerning theater patron, simply won over by the huge talent and rockin' tunes that are on display in this Farmers Alley Theatre revival.

Either way, you're likely to leave in a good mood.

The Kalamazoo theater assembled a hit last year with Trailer Park, a 2005 off-Broadway creation, and director Laurel Scheidt reunites nearly the entire original cast for a look at life in Armadillo Acres, northern Florida's most disturbed trailer park.

Front and center is (what else?) a love triangle. Mismatched high school sweethearts Norbert and Jeannie Garstecki (the football star and the math-lete) are approaching their 20-year anniversary, but things aren't so rosy in their double wide. Agoraphobic Jeannie (Whitney Wade) hasn’t stepped off the couple's porch since 1983, when, while out getting the world’s worst perm, her baby son is kidnapped. The tragedy still haunts the couple, who are becoming distant strangers.

Enter new neighbor, Pippi (Amanda Martin), a stripper on the run, who develops a thing for lovable schmuck Norbert. Just as it seems Jeannie might conquer her fear and step outside, Norbert cheats on her with Pippi.

OK, so the plot is probably less creative than a Jerry Springer episode, and its hokey, whiplash-inducing ending is worse than one of Jeannie's favorite Lifetime movies. But this production has more than a few moments of brilliance. Its musical talent elevates these cartoonish characters into people you actually root for and care about.

Much of the credit goes to Wade, whose powerhouse vocals and broad comedic timing perfectly fleshes out Jeannie's pain and fear. She’s equally at home with the country ballads of loss as the more angry, rockabilly numbers. Owner of My Heart is one of her stand-outs. Adam Weiner plays up Norbert's nice guy loyalties, and we can't quite hate him, even though he's a cheat.

Sure, this show has its requisite mullet jokes, crude references to sex and incest ("We don't marry our cousins – at least, not without a pre-nup"), and nods to trailer park culture. And those one-liners do get laughs. But a whole show of those wouldn't be that funny. Thankfully, those jokes are more like filler for the strong musical numbers (created off-Broadway with music/lyrics by David Nehls; Betsy Kelso penned the book). Farmers Alley had the smarts to tap high-energy performers and dazzle us with tight choreography and musical direction.

A big supporting player is Jon Reeves' flamingo pink-and-teal trailer park set, highlighting quirky details like a flower-covered outdoor toilet and his/her fly swatters. A top-notch, four-person band, which gives this production much of its power, is organically screened off in a side yard.

The show's tunes include country ballads, rock, disco, blues – just enough variety to keep things moving.

Oddly, some of the best numbers aren't the cast-heavy openers and closers. The real good stuff appears closer to the end of the first act. Besides Jeannie and Norbert's tortured love song, Owner of My Heart, there's a cheeky dig at daytime talk shows in The Great American TV Show. The disco-inspired Storm's a Brewin' is just plain fun.

We can't forget to mention the show's hard-working girl chorus – Betty, Lin and Pickles – who help narrate and easily become other side characters (everyone from beer-guzzling strip club patrons to, yes, dancing roadkill). The trio appears in almost every number and even gets a few solo moments. Cast newcomer Nikki Scheidt threatens to steal the show as Pickles, the dim-witted teen who suffers from hysterical pregnancies and plenty of attitude. Scheidt's brief turn as a food court worker at The Flan Stand leaves us wanting more. Cece Weeks' Lin is a wise-cracking riot, pining over (and yet cursing) her man on Death Row. Gina-Maria Chimner adds strong vocals as Betty, Jeannie's friend and landlady.

As bad girl stripper Amanda, Martin croons (and moves) with the best of them, making us feel for Pippi, even though she's stealing our heroine's man. She's a great foil for Jeannie, and the pair has a wonderfully choreographed slow-motion brawl near the end. Even Joe Dely gets praise for fleshing out Duke, Pippi's magic marker-sniffing, mostly cartoonish ex.

If there ever was a show where props helped, it's this one. Prop mistress Jeri Price gets into the fun with hilarious touches like a bedazzled toilet plunger in the inventive, love-gone-wrong ballad, Flushed Down the Pipes. The white trash wigs don't disappoint either.

Overall, Trailer Park is pure escapist fun that will make you laugh. Just don't be surprised if you end up feeling a little something too.

SHOW DETAILS:

Farmers Alley Theatre, 221 Farmers Alley, Kalamazoo. Thursday-Sunday through Aug. 8, plus Wednesday July 28 & Aug. 4. Tickets: $23-$25. For information: 269-343-2727 or www.farmersalleytheatre.com.

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OTHER VOICES - REVIEWS: The Great American Trailer Park Musical - Farmers Alley Theatre

Read MARK WEDEL's review in the Kalamazoo Gazette (July 17, 2010)

Williamston dishes out five courses of fun

By Bridgette M. Redman

Williamston Theater is currently serving five courses of love in a variety of spicy flavors.

In this three-person musical, Five-Course Love, directed by Tom Woldt, the audience is dished up a delectable fantasia of would-be lovers hoping that Cupid will smile upon them.

The appetizer course (served at Dean's Old-Fashioned All-American Down-Home Bar-B-Que Texas Eats, where all the men are Butch and all the women Rosebud) was a bit on the heavy side for a starting course. Nonetheless, the flavors of a steamy serving between a very single guy and a Barbie-girl in her Barbie world kept the exchanges tasty and clued the diners in to what to expect for the rest of the tuneful meal.

Laura Croff, Matthew Gwynn and Aaron Moore twirl through a series of bigger-than-life characters who sing of love trysts both touching and absurd — mostly the latter. After the Texas appetizers, the courses are served progressive style with projections changing the restaurant sign and Moore (mostly) passing out new menus. Course 2 is Italian, followed by German, Mexican and ending at a 50s-style diner.

Croff makes the largest swings between characters, accompanied by a delightful array of wigs. She commits fully to each of the archetypes — the lustful, country-western Barbie blonde; the sophisticated, unfaithful Italian mob wife; the leather-bedecked, whip-wielding German sexpot; the sought-after horseback-riding, clean-faced ingénue; and the timid bookworm whose overtures of love are too subtle for the object of her affection.

She infuses each course with distinct flavor, proving herself a master chef in full command of accents, body language and characterization. Each new dish is a delight that tickles the senses.

Gregg Coffin, who wrote the book, music and lyrics, serves up more meat-and-potatoes roles for the two men, though the narrower range of types are no less filling for being less exotic. Gwynn is given all of the wandering romantic leads, while Moore stays firmly attached to each locale as owner, waiter, maitre'd and cook. Within those set roles, each of them equals Croff's commitment and energy, creating a full menu of varied flavors that blend into a perfect palette-pleasing meal that sates its diners without overstuffing them.

Woldt makes the most of the tight Williamston space, with choreography that ranges from sultry to raucous, and even has Gwynn jumping the banisters in the aisle.

While it is the feast of acting and singing that most audiences will remember, the meal worked not just because of the zesty performers, but because of the fitting style of the place settings, decor and ambiance the technical and musical artists provide. Musical director Jeff English was a perfect partner on the keyboard, giving the performers perfectly timed musical cues and the running soundtrack that injected extra mood into each scene. Nor was his presence ignored by the other performers, with he and Moore frequently exchanging sly winks and mischievous moments.

The set was completely adaptable, able to move very quickly between scenes with only a few iconic pieces of set dressing to help change the locales. Costume designer Melanie Schuessler created strikingly different costumes that the actors were able to quickly don and shed as they moved between courses.

Williamston even gave its audience a pre-meal snack with a delightfully clever recorded curtain speech sung in the comedic style of the entire musical.

Five-Course Love is a tangy low-fat smorgasbord that parodies the romance genre with adult-rated, boisterous and rowdy panache.

Williamston Theatre, 122 S. Putnam Rd., Williamston. Thursday-Sunday through Aug. 15. Tickets: $18-$24. For information: 517-655-7469 or www.williamstontheatre.org.

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OTHER VOICES - REVIEWS: Five-Course Love - Williamston Theatre

Read CAROLYN HAYES' review in the Rogue Critic (July 24, 2010)

Read KATE O'NEILL's review in the Lansing State Journal (July 22, 2010)

Read PAUL WOZNIAK's review in City Pulse (July 21, 2010)

A disturbingly darker 'Awakening' in A2

By Donald V. Calamia

As young thespians move from college into the workplace - often with few jobs in the local professional theater industry to support them - these energetic and creative souls often leave the state or create their own small theater companies in which to ply their trades. Others, meanwhile, simply want opportunities to tell stories about THEIR lives and THEIR interests. As a result, it's companies and voices like these that help create Cool Cities and provide real-world experience for up-and-coming artists to succeed or flop outside the protective cocoon of academia.

Southeast Michigan has been a hotbed of such action in recent years, the latest of which is The New Theatre Project based in Ann Arbor. After a string of previews last month at Performance Network Theatre, the troupe has modified its inaugural effort and moved a short walking distance to Pot & Box - it's not what you're thinking, folks - where a sold-out crowd on July 16 attended the company's first-ever official opening night performance. And while The Spring Awakening Project has its share of flaws, there's no denying that these talented and passionate artists are a welcome addition to the community.

Based on the Frank Wedekind script of the early 1890s and NOT the currently running, award-winning musical, founder and director Keith Paul Medelis held auditions, cast his show and then early this year gave his creative team the following assignment: to write in their journals about a moment in which they realized they were no longer a child. Drama exercises followed, as did a script by Jason Sebacher that uses their work to more deeply explore six of Wedekind's 30-plus characters.

The result is slick and intriguing, but not fully satisfying - at least from this mid-50-year-old's perspective.

Wedekind's controversial play - which in 1917 was deemed pornographic after its first English-language production in New York City - is a dark and powerful look at society's treatment of children, especially during the time of their sexual awakening. His targets are many - from organized religion to the government, and from parenting skills to theories of education. And along the way he touches upon atheism, Christianity, homosexuality, death, rape and masturbation. Much of this, of course, was never spoken aloud in polite, turn-of-the-20th-century Europe or America.

Sebacher's script follows Wedekind's themes and characters quite faithfully, while adding a few twists and turns. Surprisingly, however, The Spring Awakening Project is much darker than its predecessor - and far more disturbing. For example, whereas Wedekind presents the gay lovers as fairly happy and normal teenagers, one unexpectedly rapes the other in this production and eventually murders him. (Was this a matter of quid pro quo: Since a girl gets raped in both productions, must a boy get raped in this one, too?) And he's not the only one who lives on at the end of the original play, but doesn't in Sebacher's.

All of which makes me wonder: What is it about the lives and experiences of the show's young creators that took this project down such a darker path? (Remember, certain plot elements were influenced by their journals and other developmental work.)

Sebacher, a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon with eight prior plays under his belt, writes tight, crisp dialogue. And his story unfolds in rhythmic beats that flow quite nicely. But sudden, inexplicable changes in character displayed by various individuals don't ring true. (And why, at the end of the show, did one actress deliver a line in French when that language has absolutely nothing to do with the story? It's a pretentious moment that doesn't serve the show well. Nor does the Tooth Fairy. Yes, you read that correctly. Such intrusions into a serious theater piece MIGHT have been interesting had they occurred throughout the play and served a purpose. But not mid-way through or towards the end; it's jarring and takes the viewer out of the moment.)

Also, what's not made clear is the time period of the play. For while the costumes and dialogue seem to indicate it's set in Wedekind's late 19th century, an otherwise ingenious appearance near the end of the play by yet another mythic figure (instead of Wedekind's Masked Man) throws that into question - not only because he wasn't as celebrated then as he is today, but a line referencing Coca Cola ads firmly places the story anytime from the 1930s forward.

Other problems with the show are the result of the performance space, directorial choices and sound levels.

At first, Pot & Box seemed like a cool space in which to put on an intimate play, thanks to its oddly shaped dimensions and high-ceiling. Designer Janine Woods Thoma took full advantage of it, creating a visual feast of tall, papier-mache trees (the bark and leaves of which were made out of pages from the actors' journals and old scripts) and stars in the sky. (The story mostly takes place in the woods.) Plus, her lighting created the perfect mood for every scene.

But with limited space into which are squeezed one or two rows of seats (on three irregular sides of the playing area), a piano and a light board, little room is left for six actors to do their work. And since much of the action takes place seated on the floor or with the actors flat on their backs or stomachs, those of us in the second row often missed what was going on. (The closer the action was to you, the less of it you could see when seated in the second row.)

Plus, considerable chunks of dialogue were missed on opening night because the piano playing was too loud and drowned out the actors. (Because of that, I suspect I missed some very important plot points!) But the actors also failed to project their voices throughout the show, especially while in close proximity to one another on the floor or when competing with the cooling system (which also failed miserably to keep up with the heat generated by approximately 40 bodies and a lighting system).

So yes, The Spring Awakening Project has problems. But not insurmountable ones. And it's blessed with the passionate performances and fine singing voices of Luna Alexander (Wendla), Matt Andersen (Hans), Caleb Kruzel (Melchior; composer), Amanda Lyn Jungquist (Ilse), Ben Stange (Ernst) and Austin Michael Tracy (Moritz).

But for this middle-aged critic who grew up in very different times than did the talented young people who created the show (and who probably has a totally different perspective on life than they do), The Spring Awakening Project is a play I simply can't relate to - although others, I'm sure, will. But I admire their sincerity, hard work, dedication and polish. And I look forward to observing the company's growth in the months and seasons to come - even if their concepts, messages and perspectives reflect those of folks far younger than me! Because, after all, a diversity of opinion, thought and style keeps theater vital, valuable and thought-provoking!

SHOW DETAILS:

The New Theatre Project at Pot and Box, 220 Felch St., Ann Arbor. Friday-Monday through Aug. 2. Contains adult themes and partial nudity. Tickets: $15. For information: 810-623-0909 or www.www.thenewtheatreproject.org

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OTHER VOICES - REVIEWS: The Spring Awakening Project - The New Theatre Project

Read CAROLYN HAYES' review in the Rogue Critic (July 25, 2010)

Genders bent, but not the laughs at The Ringwald

By Donald V. Calamia

"It's a bitch sorting out our sordid lives," sings country-western crooner Bitsy May Harling at the opening of Sordid Lives: It's a Drag! at Ferndale's Ringwald Theatre. But in this particular version of Del Shores' 1996 white trash comedy it's doubly so - and often twice as funny - thanks to the fact that men play the women characters and women play the men. And the result is anything BUT a drag! (Or a drag show!)

Set in a small town in Texas, the death of family matriarch Peggy Ingram has tongues wagging and her family mortified - especially her "tight ass" daughter, Latrelle Williamson. Why? Because Peggy died after a bizarre fall in a motel room after having sex with Vietnam vet and double-amputee G.W. Nethercott, a much younger man and husband of Noleta - the best friend of Peggy's eldest daughter, LaVonda DuPree.

Planning for the funeral proves stressful, as sisters Latrelle and LaVonda clash over what their mother should wear in the coffin and whether or not their gay cross-dressing younger sibling, Earl "Brother Boy" Ingram, should be told of his mother's death and attend the funeral. (Peggy institutionalized Brother Boy, who performs at the mental hospital as Tammy Wynette, 23 years earlier after an unpleasant incident with G.W.'s friend, Wardell "Bubba" Owens.) Meanwhile, Latrelle's 20-something son, Ty - an actor and soap opera star - struggles with his homosexuality and fears coming home (and coming out) for the funeral.

With good reason, of course. His family's crazy!

Over the years, Shores' play won 14 Drama League Awards, moved to the big screen and, more recently, lasted a season on the LOGO network. It's his offbeat characters, though, who have been etched into the public's consciousness, thanks to the passionate and memorable performances of such stalwarts as Leslie Jordan, Delta Burke, Beau Bridges, Olivia Newton-John and Beth Grant.

And that's the approach directors Jamie Richards and Joe Plambeck have taken with The Ringwald's laugh-filled production. So while the gender switch is the "hook" to get patrons into the theater, the directors have been careful NOT to deliver a production that is nothing more than a campy version of Sordid Lives in drag. (OK...it IS that, but it's also much more!) Instead, casting the show to find the perfect actors to play the roles was paramount, and for the most part, their choices were excellent.

The handsome Vince Kelley, who plays Bitsy May, not only sings the occasional country-western tune quite well, he also looks ravishing in curly blond hair, mini-skirt and heels.

Only minutes into the show, Marke Sobolewski stunned the opening night audience as Sissy Hickey, Peggy's younger sister. He was likely the most believable as a woman - both visually and vocally - and if nothing else, we've discovered that he looks gorgeous in a purple dress!

Fellow improviser Matt Naas is called upon to display the widest range of emotions in the role of Latrelle, and he does so with a near-perfect blend of over-the-top pathos and comedy. His valuable training and experience served the show especially well on opening night when an unplanned "revelation" at Peggy's coffin generated big laughs instead of uncomfortable silence.

Jamie Richards, who plays LaVonda, wins in the category of "man who's most comfortable playing a woman."

Of the women, Lauren Bickers excels as the bearded, limping and foul-mouthed G.W., while the always amazing Suzan M. Jacokes as Wardell creates yet another memorable character. (She says more without uttering a single word than most actors can by spouting a long paragraph of dialogue.)

Of all the gender-bent roles, however, the most difficult has to be Brother Boy. How does a woman play a feminine man who impersonates a woman - and keep both characteristics apparent? (The audience HAS to know Brother Boy is a living, breathing man and not a woman - despite his appearance and mannerisms.) Melissa Beckwith walks that fine line quite skillfully and delivers a nicely nuanced performance. (She obviously studied the master, as she occasionally channels Leslie Jordan's superb interpretation of the character.)

Not as successful crossing the gender boundary is Christa Coulter, whose Ty never exhibits even an ounce of masculinity throughout the show. (That's important, since Ty has so far been successful at hiding his sexual identity from his family and adoring fans.)

Sordid Lives is at its best when directors Richards and Plambeck plumb the absurdities of their characters' lives and personalities. But the show loses steam a little when the tone gets serious or introspective. But thankfully those moments are in the minority, which means audiences can expect to laugh a lot - and for long periods of time - which is what we expect from Who Wants Cake? Theatre at The Ringwald!

SHOW DETAILS:

Who Wants Cake? Theatre at The Ringwald, 22742 Woodward Ave., Ferndale. Saturday-Monday through Aug. 2. Tickets: $10-$20. For information: 248-545-5545 or www.whowantscaketheatre.com

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OTHER VOICES - REVIEWS: Sordid Lives: It's a Drag! - The Ringwald

Read CAROLYN HAYES' review in the Rogue Critic (July 16, 2010)

Farce bubbles with merriment

By Bridgette M. Redman

An Italian Straw Hat is all that a farce should be. One might expect no less from the patriarch of the genre — especially when it is superlatively performed by Hope Summer Repertory Theatre.

The French farce, written in 1851 by the prolific Eugene Labiche in collaboration with Marc-Michel, has been widely adapted into movies, musicals, vaudeville and even a ballet. It had influenced farce and comedies ever since its inception, setting the gold standard.

Hope Summer Rep got all of the elements right, creating an entertaining evening for its opening night audience. They played each moment of humor to maximum effect with flawless technical support. From the characters' exaggerated expressions to the hammed-up freezes, director James Daniels raucously milked the Kenneth McLeish translation of this farce to serve a gluttonous feast rich enough for countesses and plentiful enough for the hoi polloi.

The hapless and charming Fadinard, played by Michael Hanson, starts in trouble and never gets out of it. Hanson's high-energy performance creates a charismatic bridegroom whose horse eats the expensive and nearly unique hat of a woman trysting with a French soldier. The soldier demands that Fadinard replace the hat so that the lady's husband doesn't find out about their affair.

So begins Fadinard's chase to find a matching Italian straw hat. He tromps through the French countryside, followed by his bride-to-be (Blair Busbee) and her rustic family, while his difficulties pile on with new twists at every location. Hanson charms every woman he comes into contact with — whether on stage or off.

Costumer Dominique Rhea Glaros perfectly captures the class clashes with contrasting color palettes, while the actors support the image with their varying degrees of comfort with the clothes they wear.

Set in mid-19th century Paris, the story spans a single day — a wedding in which the bride is at worst a prop and at best an after-thought. David Studwell as the bride's father Nonancourt drags her along to receive the ceremonies and attentions he thinks are proper. With tight shoes and a huge potted plant, he obliviously misinterprets everything around him.

Even the deaf uncle, Vizenet (Joseph Byrd), upstages the bride and nearly bumps the bridegroom out of the spotlight. Daniels expands this role with Byrd participating in the curtain speech and conducting the musical vignettes that delighted the audience during scene changes.

The Hope Summer Rep makes An Italian Straw Hat into everything a farce should be without the slightest bit of compromise. They joyfully tromp through the show, making it clear that good comedy is never outdated.

SHOW DETAILS:

Hope Summer Repertory Theatre at the DeWitt Theatre, 141 E. 12th St., Holland. Performed in rotating repertory through Aug. 14. Tickets: $17-$19. For information: 616-395-7890 or www.hope.edu/hsrt.

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High-flying farce at The Purple Rose

By Martin F. Kohn

While airplanes are critical to its plot, the early 1960s farce Boeing-Boeing must pack sufficient boing! or neither play nor title will realize its humorous potential. And yes, the title was the same in the original French.

Marc Camoletti's comedy, said to be the most frequently produced French play in the world (rub your nose in that, Cyrano de Bergerac), begins with suave Bernard (Jeff Thomakos), an architect who lives in a Paris apartment with six doors and has three girlfriends — one American, one Italian, one German — who don't know about each other. Each is a flight attendant for a different airline and they are never in Paris at the same time.

So far.

Everyone knows that at some point all those women and all those doors are going to be in motion simultaneously. Boing!

Happily, Nathan Mitchell's Purple Rose Theatre staging goes for the fast, the frenetic and the funny. One highlight: When Matthew David, in a star-is-born performance as Bernard's unassuming pal, Robert, spies an object that would expose Bernard's infidelity, he grabs a beanbag chair and launches himself toward the incriminating item with the heroic desperation of a soldier falling on a hand grenade to save his platoon.

For all his loyalty to Bernard, though, timid Robert discovers he is not above a bit of flirtation himself, especially when Bernard's German girlfriend, Gretchen (Charlyn Swarthout), kisses him by, as she would call it, "mishtake."

Swarthout, Stacie Hadgikosti as the American girlfriend Gloria, and Rhiannon Ragland as Italian girlfriend Gabriella play their characters as distinct individuals, which Bernard seems unaware of. What he does know, subconsciously, is that all his juggling and shuffling are making him a nervous wreck; Thomakos lets us know this right away when Bernard, as he tells Robert about his ingenious arrangement, gets louder with every word.

Michelle Mountain brings worn-out, comic rage (in two languages) to her portrayal of much put-upon maid Berthe, Bernard's de facto accomplice; it's not what Berthe signed up for, but a job is a job.

Bartley H. Bauer's set, Bernard's uncluttered (his life is cluttered enough), elegant split-level apartment is tailor-made for farce, allowing for maximum movement, especially with its two sets of short stairs between the hall and the living room. Not seen right away is a set piece whose appearance comes as a terrific surprise and in whose creation lighting designer Reid G. Johnson must have had a hand.

Christianne Myers' costumes are well suited to the characters: The French maid uniform is a given, but Bernard is debonair in his black turtleneck under his jacket, and Robert's hangdog expression is complemented by his dowdy brown suit. Each flight attendant wears a uniform of a different color and cut; same goes for their lingerie. Ooh la la.

SHOW DETAILS:

The Purple Rose Theatre Company, 137 Park St., Chelsea. Wednesday-Sunday through Sept. 11. Tickets: $25-$38. For information: 734-433-7673 or www.purplerosetheatre.org}.

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OTHER VOICES - REVIEWS: Boeing-Boeing - The Purple Rose Theatre Company

Read JOHN MONAGHAN's review in the Detroit Free Press (July 8, 2010)

Read CAROLYN HAYES' review in the Rogue Critic (July 2, 2010)

Read SEAN DALTON's review in the Heritage Newspapers (June 30, 2010)

Read ROBERT DELANEY's review from the New Monitor (July 1, 2010)

Read JENN MCKEE's review on AnnArbor.com (June 27, 2010)

Read PATTY NOLAN's review in the Detroit Theater Examiner (June 25, 2010)

Seasoned vets return for anniversary 'Do!'

By Donald V. Calamia

Once upon a time, and not too many years ago at that, theatergoers couldn't escape the musical I Do! I Do! by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt. Budget-conscious producers and dinner theater operators alike were attracted to it because of its two-person, single-set script. But theatergoers, especially longtime married couples, flocked to it because the creators reached out and spoke to them about a subject they knew intimately well. In other words, it sold like the proverbial hotcakes.

But that was mostly in the 1970s and '80s, and as I drove to Holland to attend the opening night performance of I Do! I Do! at Hope Summer Repertory Theatre's Knickerbocker Theatre, I wondered how an audience in 2010 would respond to an old-fashioned musical about the ups and downs of married life first produced on Broadway in 1966.

Well, the mostly middle-aged and senior audience loved it - if the rousing standing ovation and comments I overheard at intermission and after the performance were any indication. And for good reason: It's one heck of an entertaining production!

The story begins on the wedding day of Michael and Agnes Snow in 1895 and follows their relationship throughout the subsequent half century. Like all couples, they have their highs and lows - from the births of their two children to their eventual marriages, and from an infidelity to the empty nest syndrome. And all of the action is centered in one room: their bedroom.

In most productions I've seen of I Do! I Do! over the years - and there have been many - the director has populated his production with young actors to play the Snows. And that's exactly what HSRT director John Tammi did with his production of I Do! I Do! - when he first staged it 20 years ago, that is. But for this anniversary production he's working with two seasoned veterans - who just so happen to be the same actors he worked with the first time, David Colacci and Susan Ericksen.

But that's not all. Colacci and Ericksen were newlyweds at the time - he was 39 and she was 30 - and they bring to their roles a poignancy and understanding that only 20 years of married life together can shape.

Both are accomplished veterans of the stage, but it's the little things that embellish their performances - such as a knowing smile here, or a gentle touch there. Such moments are especially noticeable throughout the second act, however, which focuses on the Snows as they reach middle age and beyond. The first song after intermission, Where are the Snows?, finds the couple in bed on New Year's Eve reflecting on their lives, which then glides into the reprise of My Cup Runneth Over. Their bond throughout these numbers (and in the finale, This House) is never stronger, which creates a palpable sense of love between the characters - despite the many bumps along the way.

Individual numbers also allow each actor to shine.

Colacci, who also serves at HSRT's artistic director, especially excels as a pompous Michael tries to excuse his infidelity in the song A Well Known Fact. Later, he generates plenty of laughs while dressing for his daughter's wedding and sings My Daughter is Marrying an Idiot. ("Don't they all?" I overheard someone whisper.)

Ericksen, the stronger singer of the two, lets loose with the saucy Flaming Agnes, in which she fantasizes her potential life as a divorcee. Later, she shows her range with the touching search for meaning in her now-empty nest, What is a Woman?

Accompaniment by music director Fred Tessler and his orchestra is excellent, as is the set design by Kristin Ellert.

Production problems were few on opening night - which included the occasional dark spot in which Colacci found himself. (Whether that's a design problem or an errant actor, I'm not sure.) And this production "suffers" from a problem pretty much every production of I Do! I Do! experiences - but in the opposite. Whereas younger actors are often not totally believable or convincing as the Snows age, I couldn't help chuckle early in the first act when a virginal Agnes and a possibly virginal Michael - played by obviously middle-aged actors, remember - nervously fumble and delay the consummation of their wedding night. It certainly didn't ring true - but they surely made up for it as the otherwise enjoyable evening progressed!

SHOW DETAILS:

Hope Summer Repertory Theatre at Knickerbocker Theatre, 86 E. 8th St., Holland. Plays in rotating repertory through Aug. 10. Tickets: $10-$26. For information: 616-395-7890 or www.hope.edu/hsrt.

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Enchanting musical meanders in the woods

By Bridgette M. Redman

It can be a daring feat to open a summer repertory season of seven shows with the intricately challenging Stephen Sondheim musical, Into the Woods.

Hope Summer Repertory Theatre presented a beautiful production of Into the Woods slightly marred by technical stumbles and opening night jitters that are likely to smooth out as the run continues through the end of July.

Sondheim eagerly mixes the fairy tales of the Baker and His Wife, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel, with a few dashes of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. All these characters stumble over each other in the woods as they play out their traditional stories in the first act. All is not over when their happy endings arrive. Act Two brings out the consequences of their choices with themes that explore parenting, making choices, taking responsibility, infidelity and recovering from losses.

The sweeping set in the DeWitt Theatre was beautifully designed and constructed, immediately evoking the storybook world with an open page and a castle-decked book cover. Indeed, everything about the show was beautiful to look at, from the stage dressing to the costumes to the hair and makeup design. The clever use of stagehands eliminated the need for set changes and kept the nearly three-hour musical moving quickly. The stagehands became a part of the story as they transformed from puppeteers to horses to baking shelves to potential sacrificial victims.

In a musical, the sound can be one of the most challenging aspects to balance. The lush and talented orchestra was placed backstage with a screen between them and the audience. Their amplification was uneven. They played a wide variety of witty musical cues that sometimes overpowered the performers. Nor were they aided by the mikes going out on the actors so that sometimes they could be heard and sometimes they could not.

Standing out in the cast were Noah Putterman and Hayley Gailbraith as the Baker and his Wife, Alison Davi as Cinderella, and Micheal Hanson and Micheal Haller as the two princes. Putterman and Gailbraith had delightful comic timing to go with their amazingly strong singing voices and clear enunciation. They sometimes seemed overly uncomfortable with each other, but shined in their scenes with others, particularly Gailbraith with Davi and Putterman with David Studwell who played the narrator and the mysterious man.

Davi executed the indecisive would-be princess with beautiful precision and moving sentiment. She endowed Cinderella with a moral sensitivity and gentleness that blossomed in her final scene with the prince. She evolved from the cinder girl who ran away from making a choice to the composed princess who could make even the most difficult of choices with grace and dignity. Her skill at pratfalls injected a great deal of humor into her scenes as well.

Hanson and Haller were standouts with their delightful Agony sequences in both acts. Their prince-like stances personified their cavalier attitudes without crossing over into cartoonishness. Their diction was perfectly in synch with each other and they almost made the shallow princes sympathetic.

Cat Stephani as the Witch turned in a mixed performance. There were times — such as when singing The Last Midnight — that she owned the stage and, in the greatest tradition of musicals, raised the rafters with her belting. In the first act, though, she too frequently swallowed the ends of her sentences and they became lost in the amplified music that overpowered her. Her performance in particular was plagued by the technical mishaps of the evening with her pyrotechnics not always working, her mike sometimes going out on her or emitting feedback.

Steven Moore starts out his portrayal of Jack with a bold choice that is not carried through the rest of the show. Even though he sings of the sky changing him, the changes seemed more dramatic than warranted.

Moore and Katie Hamilton-Meier (Little Red Riding Hood) had the challenge of playing the youngest characters on the stage. While Moore's Jack starts out seeming young, Hamilton-Meier's Red Riding Hood never does. They both give a portrayal of characters that appear to be peers to Cinderella and the Baker, making the end of the show somewhat bumpy in its closing.

Hamilton-Meier in particular lacked the childishness and innocence that is often imbibed in the character. The flatness made the words that others said about her ring hallow, nor was her taunting of Jack about the harp convincing because neither had been childish enough up to that point.

David Colacci's direction was at many times inspired — in particular with his staging. His vision flowed consistently through the show, emphasizing the consequences of the stories that we tell.

Meribeth Kisner's choreography was best when there were only a few people on stage. The transition scenes were oddly designed with random characters being assigned lines that traditionally belong to the one whose story they describe. There was no storytelling in this choreography, just an attention to dance steps and bodies.

The always difficult transition scenes between midnights and acts with its speedy lyrics needed more practice. Some actors were very clear, others were nearly impossible to understand.

There is much in this production that is beautifully presented, intelligently thought out and superbly sung. It shows every sign of being able to mop up its opening night shortfalls and transform into a magical production that will enchant its summer audiences.

SHOW DETAILS:

Hope Summer Repertory Theatre at DeWitt Theatre, 141 E. 12th St., Holland. Plays in rotating repertory through July 31. Tickets: $20-$26. For information: 616-395-7890 or www.hope.edu/hsrt.

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A funny, creative look at the dark side

By Donald V. Calamia

Pretty much everyone knows that Darth Vader is one of the most bad-ass villains in cinematic history. But did you also know that he once wanted to turn over a new leaf and be "one of the guys?" Or that his favorite flavor of ice cream is "Wookies & Cream?"

If not, then hightail it over to Ferndale's Go Comedy! Improv Theater for Space Fight, one of the most creative Star Wars spoofs I've seen in ages. And you needn't be a Star Wars nerd to enjoy it!

June, apparently, is Star Wars Month in Metro Detroit, since the popular sci-fi series is the inspiration behind not one, but four plays currently playing (or about to) on two different area stages. Whereas Joseph Zettelmaier's All Childish Things trilogy at Planet Ant Theatre is a modern-day drama about a group of friends whose common link is their love of George Lucas' cinematic space opera, Space Fight presents a comedic look at the battle between Vader's Empirical forces and the Rebellion - but from an off-camera, behind-the-scenes perspective.

The performance opens with the familiar summary scrolling up a video screen. (It's of the yet-to-be-produced Episode VII). But only seconds in, an adorable little girl appears onscreen and tells the story in her own words. It's a cute and delightful twist, one that sets the tone for the rest of the 60-minute comedy.

As the plot unfolds, we're introduced to a troop of Rebel recruits who are more focused on why they can't have lightsabers than learning how to use the blasters they've been assigned. Meanwhile, two of their Empirical counterparts plan to find Vader's living quarters and settle a bet: Is he a cool guy or not? (The bet is made while the two are at a Cantina wet T-shirt contest, which might explain the insanity of their endeavor.)

But the destruction of the Death Star and the impact it had on his troops send Vader into a deep funk. So he decides to become a new man.

The result, of course, leads to a number of uncomfortable encounters - and that's where creators Jen Hansen and Pete Jacokes serve some of the show's wittiest moments. That's especially true of an elevator ride in which Vader innocently asks a question that's taken the wrong way, and later, when he arrives at his new Death Star, but is stopped by security personnel and required to submit to a search before he can enter.

Other moments are equally creative, such as the The Sith Sense training videos and the graphics that flash on the screen during scene changes. So too is the sight gag pertaining to the Ewoks.

In fact, Hansen and Jacokes' script scores direct hits pretty much throughout the show, thanks to Jacokes' fine direction (with an assist by Jansen) and the ensemble teamwork of Tim Kay, Sean May, Matt Naas, Travis Pelto, Chris Petersen and Bob Wieck. (Naas, in particular, uses his voice and body quite well to portray the moods of the always-masked Vader.)

My only difficulty at a recent Thursday performance was trying to figure out which characters I was watching as we moved from scene to scene, since each actor plays multiple characters and it wasn't always immediately apparent which was which and who was who!

All of the uncredited technical elements are well conceived and executed. [EDITOR'S NOTE: After this review was published, the following technical credits were received: Costumes and props - Jen and Ted Hansen; videos - Bob Wieck and Tommy Leroy; light design - Michelle Leroy; and sound design - Pete Jacokes.]

SHOW DETAILS:

Go Comedy! Improv Theater, 261 E. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale. 8 p.m. every Thursday through July 29. Tickets: $10 for the evening. For information: 248-327-0575 or www.gocomedy.net.

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OTHER VOICES - REVIEWS: Thursdays at Go Comedy!

Read CAROLYN HAYES' review in the Rogue Critic (July 8, 2010)

'Don't Be Cruel': The gospel, according to Elvis

By Jenn McKee

I was only five years old when Elvis Presley died in 1977, but I remember my mother talking about how the iconic, hip-swiveling singer had made her and her friends swoon back in the '50s.

So I imagine that she would have enjoyed Don't Be Cruel: The Life and Times of the King, now playing at Andiamo Novi Theatre. Starring Max Pellicano, the show tells the story of Elvis' life and career by way of video clips, photos, monologues, scenes (Pellicano's two supporting actors, who are also back-up singers, play various roles behind a back-lit screen), and musical performances.

The trick with a show like this, of course, is that it must provide the basics for non-fans, but it must also have something to offer for those already familiar with the backstory.

And the rise-to-fame tale is an interesting one, aided significantly by the show's multimedia elements. For instance, Elvis' first television appearance on The Milton Berle Show is disarming to watch. The short clip shows Elvis standing next to Berle, fidgeting and avoiding eye contact; and in this small but revealing moment, you see the vulnerability and nervousness that, when paired with Elvis' obvious musical talent, made him so instantly irresistible to young fans.

What's problematic is that following Elvis' explosive, early fame (and much-documented Army conscription), the clips that follow suggest that the winds of change, in the realm of pop music and politics, present Elvis with a challenge to stay culturally relevant in the 1960s and '70s. And yet, Cruel's script doesn't really address this compelling problem with any kind of depth, making the disconnect between what we see on screen and Pellicano's narrative seem like a lost opportunity.

Even so, Pellicano performs several excerpts of Elvis' songs with considerable skill, impressively capturing the King's distinctive phrasing and timbre. The back-up band – revealed to perform a few full numbers at the show's end – is solid, as are the two supporting players/back-up singers.

Yes, Wednesday evening's performance was initially marred by microphone problems in the early going, but the rest of the show was technically sound, including its lighting design – which, in a nostalgia-laden show like this, is key. (Unfortunately, programs weren't available, so I can't name names.)

I'll confess that the conclusion of the narrative portion of the show was less-than-satisfying. (Something like, "During the last days before I died, it seemed like everything was falling apart." OK. That's a little general.) And Elvis' drug use was only briefly alluded to, despite the fact that it seemed a crucial element of his short life. But generally, I had a better time at Cruel than I expected to.

Why? Because I feared that the show would make me feel like I was watching an evening of cheesy, cruise line entertainment. And I did experience this a little, at the show's end, when Pellicano performed a few full numbers while wrapping scarves around the necks of nostalgic Elvis fans in the crowd. But because I was interested in the story that preceded this portion, I was far more tolerant of this built-in "encore" than I would otherwise be.

And Pellicano's playful attitude while performing goes a long way; he told a joke about the proliferation of Elvis impersonators, and pretended to wipe one of the neck-scarves on his armpit before lovingly giving it away.

So Elvis fans will likely have a great time at Cruel (though aren't there song titles that would more fittingly sum up Elvis' life?). I wasn't all shook up or anything, but I enjoyed myself.

And that's coming from a hard headed woman, folks.

SHOW DETAILS:

Andiamo Novi Theatre, 42705 Grand River Ave., Novi. Wednesday-Sunday through Aug. 1. Tickets: $25-$35; dinner & show packages available Wednesday, Thursday & Sunday for $59.95 per couple. For information: 248-348-4448.

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OTHER VOICES - REVIEWS: Don't Be Cruel: The Life and Times of the King - Andiamo Novi Theatre

Read CAROLYN HAYES' review in the Rogue Critic (May 19, 2010)

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