|
HOME PAGE SITE GUIDE SEARCH REVIEWS FEATURES NEWS Etcetera and Short Term Listings LISTINGS Broadway Off-Broadway NYC Restaurants BOOKS and CDs OTHER PLACES Berkshires London California New Jersey DC Philadelphia Elsewhere QUOTES TKTS PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS LETTERS TO EDITOR FILM LINKS MISCELLANEOUS Free Updates Masthead Writing for Us |
CurtainUp Reviews
The Berkshire Theatre Festival's Summer 2008 Season
By Elyse Sommer
New Review: Book Club Play Show Schedule — an *asterisk before a show title indicates that a review has been posted Main StageShows:*Candida |*The Book Club Play |A Man for All Seasons|Two Keys Unicorn Theater Shows:*The Caretaker|*Pageant Play|Waiting for Godot|Eleanor: Her Secret Journey| Theatre for Your Audiences: Hercules |Around the World in 80 Days |Oliver About this All-In-One Format: Since summer theater productions run such a short time, instead of retiring each show after it makes way for the next production, we're putting details and reviews of shows at a particular theater on one page so that everything remains at your fingertips. No need to click to the archives unless you are looking for something from a past season. The list is organized in order scheduled. A list of Berkshire Main Stage Productions is followed by a list of productionss to be performed at the smaller Unicorn theater. A click on a show will jump you down to that show's details-- an * asterisk before a title indicates that a review is posted. Berkshire Theatre Festival Stockbridge, MASS 413-298-5576 Berkshire Theatre Festival Main Stage performances are Monday through Saturday evenings at 8pm with 2pm matinees on Thursdays and Saturdays. Tickets range from $23 to $68. Unicorn performances are Monday through Saturday evenings at 8pm, with 2pm matinees on Saturdays for most shows. Tickets range from $19.50 to $44. Main Stage Shows Candida
For those unfamiliar with the story, it confirms that Shaw was way ahead of the curve in his appreciation of women as more than decorative chatelaines. Candida is a marital triangle very much à la Shaw. The Reverend James Mavor Morell (Michael Gill) is a pastor with an increasingly high profile as a dynamic and much in demand public speaker, notwithstanding the fact that he's essentially a "moralist windbag" with what he has to say not really adding up to anything all that substantial. (Think of some of our present day politicians whose well-educated wives tend to minimize their own careers and put the marital corporation's larger aims above their own needs). As the play opens Morrell's wife Candida (Jayne Atkinson, who's also Gill's off-stage wife) is returning from a three week holiday. She is accompanied by a the well-born, super sensitive eighteen-year-old poet, Eugene Marchbanks (Finn Wittrock), who's become a family friend. But Marchbank, for all his childlike awkwardness turns out to be the catalyst to disrupt the domestic tranquility of the Morell household, exposing in just one day, years of a man taking his wife's love for granted and that wife keeping any discontent under wraps. What leads to the exposé of the shadows beneath the surface of this seemingly perfect marriage is Marchbank's declaration that he's passionately in love with Candida. The still more boy than man poet is hardly the sort of white knight likely to entice Candida to slam the door of the Parsonage, shades of Ibsen's Nora. However, his declaration does make a dent in Morrell's heretofore impenetrable happiness. Thus the first act is mostly a verbal duel between between Morrell and Marchbank and gradually reveals Candida to be someone much more complex than the woman both men have placed on a pedestal to fit their ideal of the perfect woman. Thus, when the play bursts into full bloom in the second act, we see that this is more about the institution of marriage than choosing between a husband of many years and a much younger, more attentive man. Candida's choice not so much between two men but whether to opt out of a difficult, demanding marriage or to stick with it and make it work better. Tititan's painting, "The Assumption of the Virgin," which hangs above the fireplace of Morrell's study serves as a metaphor, not just for the men's idealized image of Candida but but for the interrelationship of all three. Atkinson, while somewhat too old for the part (even though she's here said to be almost forty instead of Shaw's designated thirty-three), is a good enough Shavian interpreter to make this work for her. After all, Candida is a forceful figure who's more maternal than sexy. As for Gill, unlike some actors I've seen in this role who are too unattractive and focused on the moralist windbag persona, he is attractive and charismatic enough to make you understand why Candida was willing to continue spoiling and nurturing him, as his mother and sisters did before her. The character of the tortured boy-man seems at first to cry out for more fair-haired, beautiful actor than Finn Wittrock. But the actor develops a portrait that grows on you and shows Marchbank ready to abandon boyhood for manhood. The actors playing the three minor characters make major contributions—Jeremiah Wiggins as Morrell's Curate, David Schramm as Candida's father and Samantha Soule as the Reverend's typist. Soule is especially outstanding. Her Prossy is convincingly uptight and so adorable as the young woman secretly smitten with the boss that you wish Reverend Mill could turn into a Prince Charming to put some real romance into her life. Anders Cato once again proves that he knows how to give fresh life to classic plays. Hugh Landwehr has not only created a beautifully detailed study for the play's single set, but backed it all with a wonderful image of the trees and streets just outside the parsonage. Olivera Gajic has dressed the cast in period perfect costumes. Scott Killian rounds out the excellent production values with suitable intra-scene music. The two intermissions usual in Shaw's day have been conflated to one break between the second and third act. And so, talky as the first act may be, the action starting with Candida's return to the parsonage and ending with her choice that isn't really a choice, pass by quicker than you can say "Bravo!" For more about George Bernard Shaw and links to other plays by him that we've reviewed, check out our Shaw Backgrounder. Candida by George Bernard Shaw Directed by Anders Cato. Cast: Jayne Atkinson (Candida), Michel Gill (Reverend James Mavor Morell), David Schramm (Mr. Burgess), Samantha Soule (Miss Proserpine Garnett), Jeremiah Wiggins (Reverend Alexander Mill), and Finn Wittrock (Eugene Marchbanks) Stage Manager: John Godbout Scenic Designer: Hugh Landwehr Costume Designer: Olivera Gajic Composer/Sound Designer: Scott Killian Dramaturg: James Leverett Dialect Coage: David Alan Stern Running Time: 90 minutes, plus one 15-minute intermission (act 1-55 minutes, act2-35 minutes) From June 17 to July 5. Opens June 20. Reviewed by Elyse Sommer September 20th press opening
The Book Club Play
When octogenian Helen Santmyer's novel . . .And Ladies of the Club was published in 1982 it sold millions of copies and it's still in print, justly praised as a serious work of historic fiction. While the members of playwright Karen Zacarias's modern day book club discuss such substantive books as Moby Dick and War and Peace, the play itself falls into the more ephemeral category of a light summer read, its focus on keeping the laughs coming and any serious subtext under wraps. Light summer entertainment isn't necessarily a bad thing. Whether you're a book club member or not, seeing The Book Club on a lovely July evening makes it easy to give oneself over to its humor and forgive the failure to realize the pervasive book club scene's potential as a broader satire of its upper middle class participants' manners and mores. Given Nick Olcott's splendidly acted, stylish production (especially enhanced by Shawn E. Boyle's projections), you're also likely to buy into the play's stylistic conceit that the book club meetings you are witnessing are actually being filmed as a documentary; in other words, what you're watching is a play within a film. The filmic device, while ultimately too gimmicky, does add a layer of commentary on our voyeuristic world. On the one hand the awareness of being on camera puts the club members on their mettle to show off their literary smarts. Yet, it's evident that people quickly get used to the presence of the camera so that it in no way prevents the group's dysfunction from exploding. The chief personalities propelling the play's funny business are the book club's founding members. First on stage is Will (Tom Story), who guards his sexual preferences as carefully as the objects in the museum where he works. Next we meet Ana (Keira Naughton) who was once his girl friend and her husband Rob (C. J. Wilson), Will's erstwhile hunky college roommate— and the one member for whom the meetings are more about the pre-discussion dinners than the books (unless it's Son of Tarzan). While Will lays claim to having founded the club, it's the controlling and self-important Ana who dominates as the club's Queen Bee. She's brought Jen (Anne Louise Zachry), a bright but currently underachieving single woman into the fold, but only after Jen's career has run into problems as Ana's has moved forward. Ana also welcomes Lily (Cherise Boothe), a lively African-American woman as a means of introducing more diversity into the group. The Lily/Ana exchanges after the former has been "vetted" come closest to that unrealized broader satiric potential. The last to join this tight little literary circle is Alex (Bhavesh Patel). Good as all the actors are, Patel steals every scene he's in. He's also the one who blows the lid off the group's unity and prompts Ana to completely give in to her control freak tendencies. And, to cause further mayhem, there's a discussion of The Age of Innocence and more troublesome still. a book not to be found on any library shelf. Far be it from me to spoil things with more plot details. To further support the documentary setup, the club meetings are interspersed with commentaries by various expert/pundits — an NPR commentator, a Walmart manager, a drunken and frustrated writer, a former Secret Service agent, a Williams College co-ed and, best of all, a literary agent grumbling (not without justification) about too many books being published each year. All are hilariously portrayed by Sarah Marshall. All are brought into the amusing epilogue. Marshall's virtuoso versatility notwithstanding, at least a few would not be missed if eliminated, and thereby bring the play in without an intermission. On the other hand, R. Michael Miller's generic set, though suggesting a cocktail lounge rather than an apartment, efficiently serves the purpose of moving the meetings to different apartments without fussy scenery changes. BTF's artistic director Kate Maguire is to be commended for giving Berkshire theater goers a chance to see new plays instead of just time-tested revivals. Interestingly, the authors of both Pageant Play currently at the Unicorn and The Book Club Play have opted to explore two types of endeavors that are very much part of our current cultural zeitgeist, and do so with a focus on comedy. Both plays are far from perfect, but being handsomely produced and mounted with fine actors, gives their authors the much needed opportunity to perfect their craft. What would we do without regional theater? PRODUCTION NOTES The Book Club Play by Karen Zacarias Directed by Nick Olcott Cast: Cherise Boothe (Lily), Keira Naughton (Ana), Bhavesh Patel (Alex),Tom Story (Will), C.J. Wilson (Rob), Anne Louise Zachry (Jen(. Scenic designer: R. Michael Miller Costume designer: Laurie Churba Sound designer: J Hagenbuckle Lighting designer: Ann G. Wrightson Projection designer: Shawn E. Boyle Running Time: Approximately 2 hours with an intermission Reviewed by Elyse Sommer on July 13th From July 8 to July 19. Opens July 11.
A Man for All Seasons A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt Directed by Richard Corley Cast: David Chandler, Tara Franklin,Eric Hill, Walter Hudson, Greg Keller, Peter Kybart, Diane Prusha, James Lloyd Reynolds, Thom Rivera, Gareth Sax, Tommy Schrider. Scenic Designer: Joseph Varga Costume Designer: Murell Horton Lighting Designer: Matthew E. Adelson ,Original Music and Sound Designer: Scott Killian Based on the true story of Sir Thomas More, a revered scholar, lawyer, and churchman, whose eloquence and endurance in the face of escalating threats to his beliefs and family make him one of modern drama's greatest tragic heroes. The play won the Tony Award for Best Play in 1962 and went on to garner multiple Academy Awards when it was adapted to film in 1966. The Roundabout Theatre organization has scheduled a revival next fall, with triple Tony-award winner Frank Langella in the title role. From July 22 to August 9. Opens July 25 Two Keys Two Keys By Noël Coward (This replaces the originally scheduled Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe) Directed by Vivian Matalon Maureen Anderman, Casey Biggs, Gian Murray Gianino, and Susan Kellerman Coward'd final stage work composed of a pair of intriguing one-act comedies, Come into the Garden, Maud and A Song at Twilight, both of which are set in a Swiss hotel suite. Vivian Matalon directed the esteemed author himself in the work's London premiere, as well as the 1974 Broadway version that featured BTF alums Thom Christopher, Hume Cronyn, and Jessica Tandy. An off-Broadway version, entitle Suite In 2 Keys, had a brief Off-Broadway run a few seasons ago starring erstwhile child star Hailey Mills and Judith Ivey (review. From August 12 to August 30. Unicorn Shows The Caretaker
In the almost half century since The Caretaker added the terms Pinteresque and Pinter Pause to our theatrical lexicon, there's been no pause in productions of Harold Pinter's plays. This past season, his second big success, The Homecoming, received a justly acclaimed Broadway revival. And now, the Berkshire Theatre Festival has launched its summer 2008 Unicorn Theater season with a production of The Caretaker that gets the sinister yet often comic power struggle between three self-deluded men as riveting and right as I've ever seen it. My last encounter with Aston and Mick, the two oddball brothers, and Davies, the crafty and absurdly fastidious hobo who enters their messy world, was at the Roundabout Theater Company's elegant Broadway home, the American Airlines Theater. The much smaller, comfortable but plain Unicorn theater makes for a more immediate physical connection with these eccentric men and their unspeakably filthy surroundings. The water periodically dripping into the tin bucket suspended from the ceiling now lands like a clap of thunder and feels close enough to make you feel that another leak could easily spring right above your head. Besides the welcome intimacy of the venue, the production that just opened benefits from Eric Hill's astutely directed, trim production —acts one and two are merged to eliminate the original's two-intermission format, and the whole show clocks in at two hours plus a ten minutes, instead of the above mentioned Roundabout's almost three hours. Best of all, Hill has shepherded a superb trio of actors to fully capture the sense of lurking menace that is a Pinter trademark, as well as the comic absurdity that validates the frequently used descriptive tags of "A Comedy Drama." or "Comedy of Menace." As the complex hobo, Davies, we have Jonathan Epstein, one of this area's finest and most popular actors. Epstein has uncovered all the humorous aspects of Davies's character without softening the image of a man on the brink of snapping, a man for whom the brothers represent a last desperate chance at surviving with a shred of self-esteem in an untenable world. His accent and expressive body language give Davies an on the mark, vivid authenticity. His cavalier failure to appreciate the shoes and shelter he so desperately needs and his efforts to become the caretaker of that messy tenement makes it clear that he is as much a pipe dreamer as the two brothers he tries to manipulate. To push Davies' buttons, James Barry and Tommy Schrider (also well known to Berkshire audiences) do splendid work at the deluded brothers. Barry is perfect as the slick-haired, leather jacket clad, thuggish Mick with his unrealistic ambitions to fix up the shabby tenement into a profitable real estate enterprise. Schrider is just right as Auston, the gentle older brother, a former mental patient whose more modest pipe dream is to build a work shed. A monologue during which Schrider describes his mental hospital stay and a forcibly administered shock treatment has the effect of a shock treatment applied to the viewer's heart. All the famous Pinteresque pauses are in place, including the opening in which a silent Mick establishes the mood with an almost unbearably stretched out pause of all pauses. The action, which is minimal, is prompted by Aston's rescuing Davies from a street fight and offering him temporary shelter. Though it's soon evident that the old bum wants to become a steady rather than a transient guest, he sneers at everything the mild-mannered, smiling Aston offers. Yet you can see a glimmer of dormant self-esteem, as he preens in a velvet smoking jacket. One of the play's comic highlights is a scene when Davies, after turning down a pair of brown shoes as being too pointy, accepts the black ones Aston brings but then complains when his benefactor can only provide brown shoe laces. Mick is initially hostile to Davies, who in response to his demands to explain who he really is repeatedly talks about getting to Sidcup to get his papers. (Sidcup, according to our London critic, is a suburb of south east London, maybe three hours and several changes of bus away from Chiswick.) Before long Mick too befriends him and, like Aston, offers him a job as the building caretaker. This double job offer feeds Davies' wiliest instincts. Though a power play among three desperate, powerless men is unlikely to end in victory for anyone and there's not the slightest evidence of any sibling feeling between the brothers, in the end it's some sort of blood tie that brings an end to the power play over who will be the real caretaker of this unappealing domicile. While this production is at the Festival's small, second stage, the production values are first rate— from Jonathan Wentz finely detailed tenement, to Yoshinori Tanokura character defining outfits, to Matthew E. Adelson's atmospheric lighting and J. Hagenbuckle's exquisitely eerie music and sound design. Though The Caretaker was written at a time when the British were in miserable straits, trying to recover from the basic absurdity of war and the wreckage it leaves in its wake, this old play feels as fresh as the shower Davies so obviously needs. Since the play is generally regarded as directly influenced by Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, you can check out this theory for yourself since a production of Beckett's influential Godot is coming to the Unicorn in August. For more about Harold Pinter, his style, his work, links to his work we've reviewed—including other versions of The Caretaker that detail how Pinter and his wife actually new of two brothers who took in a homeless man like Davies— see our Harold Pinter Backgrounder. PRODUCTION NOTES The Caretaker by Harold Pinter Directed by Eric Hill Cast: James Barry (Mick), Jonathan Epstein (Davies), Tommy Schrider (Aston) Scenic Design: Jonathan Wentz Costume Design: Yoshinori Tanokura Lighting Design: Matthew E. Adelson Composer/Sound Designer: J. Hagenbuckle Resident Dialect Coach: David Alan Stern Stage Manager: Stephen Horton From May 22; Opening May 24. Closing June 28 Running Time: 2 hours (acts I and II, 85 minutes; act III, 35 minutes), plus one 10-minute intermission Reviewed by Elyse Sommer May 24th press opening
Pageant Play
Think Little Miss Sunshine, but without an endearing little wannabe beauty queen like Abigail Breslin and a whacky but truly loving family. Cross that with the hilarious quick-changing personae of The Mystery of Irma Vep. Add not one but two non-singing Mama Roses, and you've got an idea about what to expect from Pageant Play which is having its world premiere at the Unicorn Theater. Setlock and Wilkes who play Bob and Bobby are also the authors. Talk about writing yourself meaty parts! Though Pageant is about kids beauty queen contestants, often barely out of diapers, you won't find any little Pageant Queen contenders in frilly frocks and Mary Jane shoes sharing the stage with Bob and Bobby. Instead the play's two competing toddlers are represented by their pastel colored tulle dresses, which is not only a clever economic device but happens to allow Pageant Play to make its most incisive satirical point: the way these children's emotionally impoverished parents and the people cashing in on the Pageant craze objectify them. Obviously, a serious subtext lurks beneath Bob and Boby's antics and the stories of the two pushy moms the player-playwright have woven into their script. But neither the savvilyy objectified children, the stories of their nutty mothers Pinky and Marge, their husbands (Pinky's a meek boy toy, Madge's an abusive jailbird), or Bob and Bobby's antics add up to quite the stuff of a really original and memorable satire. The humor is too unrelievedly broad and the characterizations so cartoonishly over the top that the more serious undertones feel wedged in and unorganic. However, thanks to the comic gifts and impeccable timing of all four cast members, there are a good many laughs to be had from this basically featherweight entgertainment. Just don't expect a groundbreaking new look at this easily lampooned cultural craziness and familial dysfunction. Besides the talented cast, this production also benefits immeasurably from Martha Banta's lively direction and the very apt stagecraft. Special kudo to Luke Hegel-Cantarella. His clever stage design features a second story playing area with sliding doors and two additional tinselly curtained doors that come in handy when events take a four door farcical turn. If you're looking for light summer fare with any serious thoughts well submerged beneath a lot of silly fun, you'll want to meet Bob and Bobby and the trophy obsessed Marge and Pinky and their prize poodles (oops, I mean beloved kids), Puddle and Chevrolet. Just don't expect them or their story to stay with you much longer than the ninety minutes it takes to tell their story. PRODUCTION NOTES Pageant Play by Matthew Wilkas and Mark Setlock Directed by Martha Banta Cast: Daiva Deupree (Marge), Jenn Harris (Pinkie), Mark Setlock (Bobby), and Matthew Wilkas (Bob). Sets: Luke Hegel-Cantarella Costumes: jessica Riesser-Milne Lighting: Bart Fassbender Dance Consultant: Isadora Wolfe Stage Manager: Rafi Levavy From July 1. Opens July 5. Closes: July 26. Running Time: 90 minutes, without intermission Reviewed by Elyse Sommer on July 5th
Waiting for Godot Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett Directed by Anders Cat Cast: David Adkins, Stephen DeRosa, Randy Harrison, David Schramm, and Cooper Stanton This tragicomedy, changed the course of modern theatre when it opened in Paris in 1953. It's at once a vaudevillian farce and a heartrending expression of our very existence. From July 29. Opens August 2. Closes: August 23. Waiting for Godot Eleanor: Her Secret Journey Eleanor: Her Secret Journey by Rhoda Lerman Director TBA Elizabeth Norment, well known to both theater and television audiences, will play the title role. One-woman play about Eleanor Roosevelt. From August 26. Opens August 27. Closes: November 9. Theatre for Young Audiences Hercules Hercules by Written and directed by E. Gray Simons III June 25 — July 26 at the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield. $7 children, $10 adult (discount for museum members) Playing Wednesday through Saturday 11am, with no show on July 4th. Around the World in 80 Days Around the World in 80 Days adapted by E. Gray Simons III from the Jules Verne novel. Directed by Amy Brentano. August 6 — August 23 at the Unicorn Theatre, Monday through Saturday 11am. $7 child/student, $15 adult Oliver Oliver. Book, Music and Lyrics by Lionel Bart. Based on Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist Directed by E. Gray Simons III with a cast of children and adults drawn from the local Berkshire community. September 11— 13 at 7:30pm, with 2pm matinees on September 13 — 14 at the Main Stage $10 students, $25 adults |
Try onlineseats.com for great seats to Wicked Jersey Boys The Little Mermaid Lion King Shrek The Musical |
