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January 2008
‘Octopus’ @ Actor’s Express
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. Grade: C
Steve Yockey’s “Octopus” has gotten me to thinking about a phenomenon that I have decided to name “dramaturgical glee.”
A director or literary manager — somebody in the theater community — will get hold of a mediocre script and just bray about it. Then all of his or her friends start braying about it, too. Doesn’t matter if they have seen or read the play. Pretty soon, they all start to believe the dramaturgical glee (henceforth known as DG).
Anyway, you can see how Yockey’s dark sex comedy at Actor’s Express could arouse a pile of DG — particularly if the hype-mongers got all lathered up over the first couple of scenes and neglected to finish the play.
The opening sequence, in which a younger gay couple decides to engage in a four-way with a pair of older swingers, is wonderfully written and deliciously wicked. The timing’s terrific. There’s plenty of skin. I’m not DG-ing you.
Blake (Tony Larkin, in the best performance I’ve seen him give) has agreed to go along with the dirty deed to appease his boyfriend Kevin (Joe Sykes). Blake, who Larkin invests with a sweet vulnerability, acts like he doesn’t want to play the game. But notice how quickly he rips off his socks once Andy (Mitchell Anderson) and Max (John Benzinger) arrive and the action starts to heat up.
As soon as Kevin and Blake surrender to their desire, you know it’s all going to end badly — even if you can’t foresee the viciousness of the eight-legged monster they create.
From the playwriting perspective, everything goes wildly off-kilter the minute a dripping-wet telegram-delivery boy (Brian E. Crawford) rings the doorbell with a message for Blake. Andy, it seems, has gotten sick and gone to live at the bottom of the sea. Suddenly, the arch satire becomes a cautionary tale laden with overwrought metaphors.
This is Yockey’s signature device: A picture of normalcy is interrupted by a kind of Kafka-esque nightmare. This time, messenger figures and sea monsters suggest the vengeance and terror of Greek oracles. One can only imagine the kind of DG that emerged over the production’s splashy use of water and copious nudity. But that more rigor had been applied to Yockey’s one-dimensional karma lesson.
As Blake’s fear of getting sick turns into hysteria, his self-victimization becomes less attractive, and Kevin’s ambivalence about the matter starts to feel like warmed-over Tony Kushner. Max and Kevin seem to have been created from the same paradigm as the cowardly Louis Ironson, who in “Angels in America” abandons his sick lover, Prior Walter.
There’s an important story to be told about the complacency of the post-HIV generation, but Yockey seems to be working through material that is no longer relevant, then patching up the weak spots with poetic lamentations about death, despair, fate, justice and — after a pitiable fashion — love.
So don’t believe a word you hear about “Octopus” being the best thing to happen to Actor’s Express since Steve Murray’s “Rescue & Recovery.” That’s just DG — a phenomenon that’s stronger than wildfire, sillier than junior high school and about as reliable as the Weekly World News.
THE 411: 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays. 5 p.m. Sunday and Feb. 17; 2 p.m. Feb. 10. Through Feb. 23. $16-$27. Actor’s Express, 887 West Marietta St., Suite J-107, Atlanta. 404-607-7469, actorsexpress.com
BOTTOM LINE: Watered-down Tony Kushner.
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Critic’s pick: ‘Anne Frank: Within & Without’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. Grade: B
At home and at school, Anne Frank was a little chatterbox. So her father gave her a diary and told her to write down her thoughts.
Her “Dear Kitty” letters, describing her family’s attempt to hide from the Nazis in an Amsterdam warehouse, would thus go on to become one of the most haunting literary relics of the 20th century.
Visiting the Dutch city a few years ago, Atlanta puppet artist Bobby Box was so moved by the Anne Frank House that he set about creating a dollhouse-style telling of the young woman’s story. First staged by the Center for Puppetry Arts in 2006, “Anne Frank: Within & Without” is getting a well-deserved second production through Feb. 17.
Elegantly conceived, fastidiously crafted and thoughtfully performed by Janet Metzger and Kristin Jarvis, the compelling memory play pays tribute to a tiny light that refused to go out. Even as one of the darkest menaces of modern history tried to obliterate her culture, Anne Frank insisted on the essential goodness of humankind.
Box’s writing may feel a tad labored at times, but the luminous dreams and cold realities of the young Jewish woman’s martyrdom are captured with grace and integrity. It is odd and unsettling — yet strangely comforting, too — to see Anne Frank tell her own story, like a little girl playing with dolls.
Through Feb 17. For ages 12 and up. Center for Puppetry Arts, 1404 Spring St., Midtown. 404-873-3391, www.puppet.org.
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‘Room Service’ @ Theatre in the Square
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. Grade: B
Anyone looking for an evening of light entertainment that doesn’t tax the brain and promises plenty of chuckles should consider Theatre in the Square’s “Room Service, ” a very old play expertly staged by a solid cast.
The 1937 stage play has the distinction of being the only one translated to film by the Marx Brothers that wasn’t expressly written with Groucho, Harpo and Chico in mind. Fortunately, there’s not a fake mustache or cigar in sight, as the production stays true to the original material instead of trying to channel the brothers Marx.
In fact, Hugh Adams’ boyish enthusiasm as theater producer Gordan Miller couldn’t be more different from Groucho’s knowing winks and lascivious asides. Ensconced in a hotel room complete with Murphy bed, Gordan is on the verge of being evicted as he scrambles to get a new play staged in time to pay for his keep and that of his 22 cast members, who are also staying in the hotel on borrowed time.
In his cahoots are the play’s eccentric director Harry Binion (William S. Murphey) and the unflappable Fakur (Goggie Uterhardt), whose connection to the production is unclear but whose lanky frame and physical humor add a spark to every scene he’s in. When the nebbishy first-time playwright (Andrew Benator) unexpectedly arrives, he too is sucked into the threesome’s convoluted ruses to keep the hotel management (Robert Wayne and Don Finney) at bay.
Throw in a Russian waiter (Bruce Evers) trying to finagle a part in the play and a couple of kewpie dolls —- the Betty Boop-voiced Hilda (LeeAnna Lambert) and Christine (Cara Mantella), whose bodacious breasts threaten to leap out of her bodice —- and there you have a formula for one outlandish sight gag after another.
A fast pace is essential for a successful farce, and director James Donadio keeps it zippy. Each new stunt that Gordan and company pull to elude eviction is more complicated than the last, building tension until it crescendos in one final feat of deception that catches everyone —- including the audience —- off guard.
Ticket buyers won’t walk out of “Room Service” any more enlightened than when they went in, but they may detect an extra bounce in their steps after this lighthearted night at the theater.
THE 411: 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays; 2:30 and 7 p.m. Sundays. Through Feb. 23. Also, 2:30 p.m. Feb. 24. $22-$33. Theatre in the Square, 11 Whitlock Ave., Marietta. 770-422-8369, www.theatreinthesquare.com.
BOTTOM LINE: Light, frothy fun.
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‘Dial M for Murder’ @ Aurora
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. Grade: C +
Alfred Hitchcock had Grace Kelly. Atlanta director Joe Gfaller has Elizabeth Wells Berkes, a petite blonde who gives a touching, sweet, beautifully nuanced performance in “Dial M for Murder” at Aurora Theatre.
Berkes and the rest of the top-notch ensemble are the best reason to see this production, which is longer than it should be and more snore than noir. Gfaller directs, as always, with an impeccable eye for detail, and designer Bob Hoffman provides a handsomely burnished approximation of the London flat where the thriller occurs.
But to call Frederick Knott’s play, which Hitchcock made into a 1954 film starring Kelly, a murder-mystery is something of a misnomer, since we witness the nasty crime of Tony Wendice (Chris Ensweiler) as he hatches and instigates it, then tries to wriggle his way out of it.
Nothing mysterious about it: Tony, a former tennis pro and all-around fussbudget, wants his wealthy wife, Margot (Berkes), dead. When his scheme runs amok, he must act with whip-smart precision to cover his tracks and keep his plan intact.
Tony’s quick-wittedness is part of the mystery. What kind of mind would do this? But Ensweiler’s cool, technically flawless delivery arouses more admiration than awe — although Tony does squirm when Margo’s old flame, American detective novelist Max Halliday (Brik Berkes), suggests the selfsame plot Tony has concocted.
What Ensweiler and Elizabeth Wells Berkes perform with such panache are the formal manners and accents of the couple, their personal shorthand. There’s a malignant underside to Tony’s every utterance.
Matthew Myers makes for an oily, circumspect Captain Lesgate and does great work as a creepy voice on the telephone. (You gotta listen out for the phone and pay attention to the planting of keys.)
It’s nice to see the Berkeses, who are married in real life, play unrequited lovers onstage. Her Margot is serene and elegant. His Max is a literary gumshoe with noirish style. Clearly, they belong together. You just wish they had better material.
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Broadway’s ‘Color Purple’ to close as tour heads here
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Broadway’s “The Color Purple,” which had its world premiere at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre in 2004, will end its New York run on Feb. 24, producers announced Thursday.
The reason is apparently economic.
Though post-holiday doldrums are not unusual on the Great White Way, the show’s weekly grosses dropped by nearly 50 percent after “American Idol” star Fantasia Barrino departed Jan. 6 — from $770,000 the week of Dec. 31 to $389,000 the week of Jan. 7.
Yet overall, “The Color Purple” — which boasts Oprah Winfrey as its over-the-title producer — has had an impressive track record during its nearly 2 1/2 years on Broadway.
It recouped its $11 million investment a year after it opened on Dec. 1, 2005. It won a Tony Award for lead actress LaChanze, who played the role of Celie in the adaptation of Alice Walker’s beloved novel. It also has consistently attracted Broadway’s hard-to-get African-American audience. And by the time it closes, it will have played 30 previews and 910 regular performances.
The current cast stars Broadway newcomer Zonya Love as Celie, pop diva Chaka Khan as Sofia and singer Bebe Winans as Harpo. Barrino had previously played the role of Celie.
This summer, Atlantans will get a chance to see “The Color Purple,” when the national tour arrives at the Fox Theatre during the National Black Arts Festival, July 15-Aug. 3. Theater of the Stars will present the show.
‘Drowsy Chaperone’ @ Fox
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. Grade: B
“The Drowsy Chaperone” is as high in giddy empty calories as a plate of chocolate eclairs washed down with a magnum of champagne — but it will never make you snooze.
The Fringe of Toronto hit that conquered Broadway and earned five 2006 Tony Awards arrived Tuesday night at the Fox Theatre, and if the zany concoction doesn’t taste quite as quite as fresh as it did when it first popped out of the oven, it’s still chock full of nuts, surprises and booze-soaked bonmots.
As multilayered as a wedding cake, the smartly written “Drowsy Chaperone” takes its name from a fictional 1928 Broadway frolic that a modern-day musical-theater geek lovingly narrates while the vintage cast album spins on a turntable beside his armchair.
In director Casey Nicholaw’s “musical within a comedy,” Man in Chair pines for the glory days of pure vaudeville escapism, when the likes of Cole Porter and the Gershwins penned sweet comic Valentines meant to entertain and delight. Nowadays, the purist says, it’s “Please, Elton John, must we continue this charade.”
Too bad that Jonathan Crombie doesn’t match the sardonic drollery that made Bob Martin’s original Man in Chair such a Broadway sensation. (As the story goes, Toronto songwriters Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison created the faux musical as a wedding party joke for Martin and his wife, after which Martin and co-book writer Don McKellar came on board to help shape the piece into its present form.)
Crombie’s less pointed attack is slow to gel, but he does eventually find his way. By the end of the night, as Man in Chair contemplates the loneliness that is sure to wash over him as his beloved musical ends, he’s as heartbreaking as he is glib.
As the dotty Mrs. Tottendale, who is hosting a wedding she can’t remember, Georgia Engel, who played Georgette on TV’s “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” has an effervescence that is undimmed by time. Engel gets to engage in some pretty sloppy spit gags — at the expense of Mrs. Tottendale’s manservant Underling (Robert Dorfman).
Meanwhile, the nupitals of sparkling show-biz personalities Janet Van De Graaff (Andrea Chamberlain) and Robert Martin (Mark Ledbetter) are nearly sabotaged by an array of “mixups and mayhem.” There are gangsters disguised as bakers, a show-biz impresario with a hopelessly ditzy girlfriend, a lesbian aviatrix and an accidental romance between Latin lothario Adolpho (James Moye) and Janet’s cocktail-swigging Chaperone (Nancy Opel).
Moye’s performance recalls Sasha Baron Cohen’s turn as the flamboyant faux-Italian barber in the film “Sweeney Todd.” He’s good, but not nearly as good as Danny Burstein on Broadway. Whaaat? Opel, on the other hand, is such a crinkly-mouthed caricature of a drunk that she nearly drowns the Chaperone’s charm.
One of Man in Chair’s running jokes is his crush on peacock-crooner Robert Martin. Folks of a different persuasion might take a shine to Janet, who Chamberlain imbues with terrific vivaciousness and spunk. In a production studded with exaggerated, scenery-chewing performances, Chamblerlain brings a degree of humanness that’s warm and welcome.
As “The Drowsy Chaperone” dances on, Man in Chair stops the action to prattle on about the stars’ lives. The record gets stuck. He inadvertently plays a tune from a different show. The power goes out. Yet he somehow takes a trip to heaven without ever leaving his living room. This is the tranformative nature of theater — and a good, old-fashioned way to have fun.
THE 411: 8 p.m. tonight-Saturday. 2 p.m. Saturday. 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. $21-$57. Broadway Across America—Atlanta, Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. N.E., Midtown. 404-817-8700, ticketmaster.com
BOTTOM LINE: A fizzy, old-fashioned highball of fun.
‘A Song for Coretta’ @ 7 Stages
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. Grade: B -
The promotional material for 7 Stages’ “A Song for Coretta” features a breath-taking image of Coretta Scott King as a young chanteuse, lost in song, wearing a ruffled satin gown that accentuates her elegant hourglass figure.
So it’s probably important to say that Atlanta playwright Pearl Cleage’s tribute to this 20th century icon is not a stage biography. Mrs. King never makes an appearance on this cold, drizzly February day. But her spirit is evoked in the lively personalities of five women waiting to view her body at the old Ebenezer Baptist Church on Auburn Avenue.
An affectionately drawn comedy with a heavy dose of last-minute pathos and political sermonizing, “A Song for Coretta” had its world premiere last year at Spelman College. As the nation pauses to remember the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, the show makes a timely comeback at the Little Five Points playhouse.
No doubt you’ll want to get in line to eavesdrop on the ladies.
Returning director Crystal Dickinson has tweaked the cast slightly to make it stronger, and created a kind of environmental staging that requires the audience to file into the theater like the mourners at Ebenezer.
Cleage, who seems preoccupied with the way the younger generation lags behind its elders in matters of social consciousness, cleverly puts the irascible and opinionated Helen (Andrea Frye) at the center of the conversation, which is sprinkled with hooty one-liners and gags. Helen is the only bystander who actually met Mrs. King, and she proudly gives a first-person account of her parents’ role in the Montgomery bus boycott.
Zora (Brynn Tucker) is the aspiring NPR journalist who interviews Helen and the others. Named after the seminal Harlem Renaissance writer Zora Neale Hurston, the cub reporter probably never expected to find such a goldmine of quirky characters: hilarious teenage trainwreck Keisha, aka Li’l Bit (DeAndrea Crawford); bourbon-sipping portrait painter and Katrina evacuee Mona Lisa (Marguerite Hannah); and late arrival Gwen (Bobbi Lynne Scott), an American soldier traumatized by her time in Iraq.
Clueless Li’l Bit’s issues eventually cause Helen to have a bitter, Joan Crawford-like outburst in which she attacks African-American youth as irresponsible and out of touch with the struggles of the past. “Coretta would be ashamed of you!” she blasts.
By the end of the night, the women will find hope and light in their common ground, but not before Cleage has her say on the horrors of the Iraqi war and Katrina.
Unspooling with the feeling of real-time, the virtually plotless play is nicely acted and full of delightful revelations. But its time-specific, ripped-from-the-headlines style may ultimately limit its shelf life.
Where were you when Mrs. King died? If you watched the spectacle on TV or looked at photographs in the newspaper, you observed the same images that triggered the playwright’s imagination. “A Song for Coretta” captures not just admirers of Mrs. King, but the kind of people she herself cared about: strong yet vulnerable, free yet vigilant, dutybound to pursue and protect the dream.
THE 411: Today-Feb. 17. $25. 7 Stages, 1105 Euclid Ave., Little Five Points. 404-523-7647, 7stages.org
BOTTOM LINE: A sweet tribute to the civil rights icon — and the people she loved.
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‘Duke Ellington’s Cat’ @ Center for Puppetry Arts
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. Grade: B -
In “Duke Ellington’s Cat” — Jon Ludwig’s wondrously crafted new show at the Center for Puppetry Arts — a pair of hoity-toity mice think it’s scandalous for Ellington to play hot jazz for the Queen of England.
So they steal the score to “Queen’s Suite” — much to the chagrin of Ellington’s cat, who goes on to narrate a condensed bio of the composer interlaced with a time-travel adventure that skips across decades like fingers dancing on a keyboard.
Did jazz icon Edward Kennedy Ellington (1999-1974) really have a cat? Maybe that’s like asking if a pair of scurrying cheese nibblers actually made off with the sheet music to “Queen’s Suite,” which Ellington actually performed for Queen Elizabeth II in 1958.
Fictitious felines notwithstanding, the fast-cat conceit is a clever device that allows Ludwig’s five-actor ensemble to trot out a delightful duo of jitterbugging cats, a band of back-alley hep cats in dark sunglasses, even soldier-cats who get called into service during World War II.
Backed by the recorded music of Takana Miyamoto (piano), the superb Marcus Printup (trumpet), David Engelhard (woodwinds) and others, the singing puppeteers give inspired interpretations of Ellington standards like “Mood Indigo,” “Satin Doll” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing).”
Kristin Jarvis’ stop-motion video sequences help propel the tale and break up the object-based onstage action, while Jason von Hinezmeyer’s puppets — inspired by the art of Romare Bearden — are by turns adorable and exquisite. (Notice how the cat and mice get smaller as they chase each other into the background of Kat Conley’s set.)
That said, the storytelling can get a little scrambled.
It’s confusing to have the same actor (Spencer G. Stephens) provide the voice of both Ellington and his cat — even if they are alteregos. And while mentions of Jim Crow prejudice and World War II might provide fodder for worthwhile post-show discussions, such sobering references sometimes clash with the generally upbeat tone of the piece.
These minor shortcomings, however, are more than redeemed by the glorious music, frolicsome puppet dances and magical black-light and shadow work. Like a master of bebop and scat, Ludwig defies formula to create compositions of playfulness and poetry.
So listen up, satin dolls and sophisticated gents: Take the A train to Midtown to see “Duke Ellington’s Cat.” If you miss it, you’ll find you missed the quickest way to a tiny gem. It’s fit for a queen.
THE 411: Through March 16. $14.82 (includes create-a-puppet workshop and museum admission). Center for Puppetry Arts, 1404 Spring St. N.W., Midtown. 404-873-3391, puppet.org
BOTTOM LINE: A swinging jazz session for all ages.
‘Sophisticated Ladies’ @ the Alliance
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. Grade: C
It’s got belters and hoofers in black-and-white costumes stitched to look like piano keyboards. It’s got banana-fringed outfits and nearly naked dancers. It’s got a 10-piece band that rises from the pit at key moments — winning applause for the sheer niftiness of the trick.
What “Sophisticated Ladies” — the Duke Ellington revue that opened Wednesday at the Alliance Theatre — doesn’t have is an emotional core or conduit by which audiences can connect with the sparkling design and intelligence that defines the work of the jazz icon.
Ooops, they forgot the swing.
This inherent flaw in the concept of Donald McKayle’s bookless 1981 Broadway song-and-dance revue is only exacerbated by the Alliance revival. No matter that director Kent Gash’s tight eight-member ensemble sings and dances itself into a frenzy. The mix of flashy design and cool technical precision mostly exudes little passion or humor.
You have to admire the caliber and detail of the work. But you probably won’t love it madly. And you will tap your toes only begrudgingly.
With some amount of creative license, Gash reorders the tunes into “suites,” annotating the program with “tributes” to the likes of Gregory Hines, Josephine Baker, Katherine Dunham and Billy Strayhorn.
If you want to keep up with this thematic approach, you’d better pay attention to the program. Otherwise, you’ll likely have no idea that the banana-bedecked woman (Debra Walton) in the so-called “Jungle Revue” is meant to signify “La Baker.” (That’s Josephine, for the unitiated.)
While novelty numbers of a certain period do tend to stretch the political correctness of our time, it’s hard not to see unfortunate stereotypes in this screeching jungle. And that flamenco look in “Love You Madly”/“Perdido”? Ridiculous. After the elegance of 2006’s “Jelly’s Last Jam” (by the same director and designer), the glitzy vocabulary of Austin K. Sanderson (costumes) and Emily Beck (sets) looks tasteless.
Act One’s “Take the A Train” — punctuated by the high-pitched scat of Terry Burrell — is possibly the worst arrangement of the tune I’ve ever heard. That said, Burrell and company do find comedic inspiration in “It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got that Swing),” in which they transform themselves into human instruments. In this tinny trumpet, woozy trombone and sultry saxophone, you finally get a whiff of the flavor and personality — the jazz — that was Ellington.
Likewise, the “Flight to Timbuktu” sequence exploits a clever conceit: At the center of a silver-clad chorus line, a single actor spins a propeller. The number takes flight with the sort of authentic African rhythms and motifs that would do Urban Bush Women, Garth Fagan and Alvin Ailey proud.
In fact, choreographer Byron Easley gets an A+ for coaxing sizzling dance from this athletic group. If all of the vocals aren’t pitch-perfect, there’s not a bad dancer in the bunch, and Eric B. Anthony is a knockout.
But here’s the thing: Ellington was a big-band man who elevated the pop music of his day into high art. First and foremost a composer, he did not write lyrics or sketch characters. Thus to some degree, his cerebral vibe runs counterpoint to the impulse of musical theater.
As staged by the Alliance, “Sophisticated Ladies” is mostly razzle-dazzle and precious little swing.
THE 411: 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays. 2:30 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays. 7:30 p.m. Sundays. Through Feb. 10. $25-$55. Alliance Theatre, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E., Midtown. 404-733-5000, alliancetheatre.org
BOTTOM LINE: You won’t love it madly.
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‘Six Dance Lessons’ @ Georgia Ensemble
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. Grade: B-
At some point during “Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks, ” you will realize that the comedy really contains seven classes: Though it has nothing to do with dance, there’s a bonus tutorial at the end.
That’s because the aging Southern Baptist minister’s wife and the gay dance instructor from New York ultimately learn to move to the beat of love, friendship and trust. Their business arrangement may be over. But their newfound affection won’t allow them to say goodbye.
Richard Alfieri’s play, directed by Robert J. Farley at Georgia Ensemble Theatre, may be a tad too squishy and sentimental. (Left, right, sniff, sniff, sniff.)
But thanks to nice, likable performances by Jackie Prucha (as Lily Harrison) and Robert Egizio (as Michael Minetti), this tale of opposite connections comes off as a welcome and convivial entertainment diversion. It may even remind you a little of “Harold and Maude, ” “Driving Miss Daisy” or “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe.”
Imagine Arthur Murray Ballroom Dance Studios making house calls, and you’ll understand the setup. When Michael appears at Lily’s door with his big boombox, he’s a volatile mix of fear and insecurity, yet he has a talent for campy one-liners and no small amount of charm. He means well, but he also tells lies and makes hurtful comments.
Lily, for her part, is a complicated amalgam of steel, vulnerability and genteel manners. She means well, but she also tells lies and is slow to forgive.
Yet after their rough introduction, the tango, fox trot and waltz start to work their magic. The masks crack. The “miserable old biddy” (his words) becomes a caring surrogate mom and matchmaker. And the bitter, unhappy queen is transformed into a faithful listener and ministering angel.
Alfieri’s script does have its limitations, however.
The device of the complaining downstairs neighbor grows tired after just a couple of phone calls. The inevitability of the plot becomes as transparent as the view from Lily’s high-rise condo on St. Petersburg Beach. And as the pair reveal the losses of their past, the talk becomes heavy on death and regret.
A deep, delicate and original dance this is not. Yet this gentle little comedy has a way of making you overlook its flaws and find your inner soft spot.
And on a January day, what’s wrong with a little tenderness and warmth?
THE 411: 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays. 2:30 p.m. Sundays. 4 p.m. Saturday. Through Jan. 20. $23-$33. Georgia Ensemble Theatre, 950 Forrest St., Roswell. 770-641-1260, get.org.
Bottom line: Feather light, but kind of sweet
Some New York tidbits
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Clifton Guterman on his “Deathbed” — Not!
Guterman, who made his Atlanta stage debut with a knockout performance in Actor’s Express’ “Beautiful Thing,” has been using New York as a base for his regional work. He’s appeared in Arena Stage’s “She Loves Me,” in two Les Waters-directed world premieres at Berkeley Repertory Theatre and at the O’Neill Center’s National Playwrights Conference.
Now the UGA and SCAD grad from Iron City, Ga., has landed his first New York gig, with a new play called “Deathbed.” The off-Broadway production — which runs Jan. 21 to March 1 at the McGinn Cazale Theatre — is by playwright Mark Schultz and directed by the O’Neill’s Wendy C. Goldberg, who staged last year’s “False Creeds” at Atlanta’s Alliance.
‘Heart’ getting another stab with Monday workshop
Rebecca Gilman’s lovely adaptation of Carson McCuller’s “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter” is being workshopped Monday at New York Theatre Workshop, the superb downtown playhouse known for its innovative productions — “Rent” being the most famous.
Directed by Broadway’s Doug Hughes, “Heart” had its world premiere at the Alliance Theatre in 2005. Since then, the play has been actively championed by The Acting Company’s Margot Harley, who co-produced the original run with the Alliance. New York Theatre Workshop, Manhattan Theatre Club and Roundabout Theatre have all held readings or workshops.
It would be sweet to see this remarkable story by an important Georgia writer finally get its long-deserved New York run.
Two monsters, both from Atlanta
By now, you probably know that Marietta native Shuler Hensley plays Frankenstein’s hulking experiment in Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein.” Turns out that Pebblebrook High School grad Justin Patterson is one of Hensley’s Monster understudies.
My goodness, what’s in the drinking water of those Cobb County thespians?
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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thomas Schumacher, head of Disney Theatricals, was spotted before Thursday night’s opening of “The Little Mermaid” at the upstairs bar of the Paramount Hotel. People were congratulating him and he seemed in high spirits.
One wonders how he feels this morning.
While the consensus among regular theater-goers, myself included, is that “The Little Mermaid” came off better than anyone expected and much better than it was said to be in early previews, the show is being panned by the New York Times, the Washington Post and even Newsday’s Linda Winer, who often takes a more delicate approach.
Here are links to the New York Times review
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Review: ‘Little Mermaid’ on Broadway
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. Grade: B-
NEW YORK — Disney is famous for its fairy tale endings.
And with Thursday night’s opening of the visually mesmerizing, gorgeously sung “The Little Mermaid,” the entertainment giant has added a shiny new pearl to a treasure chest that includes “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Lion King.”
Unlike Disney’s ape-brained “Tarzan,” “The Little Mermaid” will sparkle and swim for years to come for one simple reason: It has a song in its heart.
Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fable and Disney’s beloved 1989 animated film that netted songwriters Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman an Oscar for the catchy “Under the Sea,” “The Little Mermaid” is a fluttering fantasia that will appeal to preschoolers, parents and that all-important in-between generation known as tweens. You know, the kids who wear Heelys.
Since fish don’t fly on ropes and bounce on bungee cords, director Francesca Zambello had the good sense to put her underwater creatures in sneakers with wheels embedded in their soles (Heelys, for the uninitiated) so that all the “merfolk” of King Triton’s kingdom glide across the stage as gracefully and magically as dolphins and swans.
With Natasha Katz’s splendid lighting and Tatiana Noginova’s never-ending cavalcade of fancifully finned and filigreed costumes, “The Little Mermaid” boasts an aesthetic vocabulary as imaginative and original as Julie Taymor’s work on “The Lion King.” If the shimmering spectacle with a reported $15 million price tag looks a bit cluttered and garish at first, set designer George Tsypin’s plastic waves, glimmering suns and Dale Chihuly-like aquatic flowers grow prettier as the eye adjusts to the hot pink and turquoise palette.
But can this assortment of daffy seagulls, crusty crabs, slithering electric eels and evil sea hags really sing and dance?
It’s no overstatement to say that Sierra Boggess’ Ariel and Sean Palmer’s Prince Eric are the dreamiest couple on Broadway.
With Ariel’s flowing red tresses and alabaster skin, Boggess radiates a beautifully ebullient glow that never dims, even when Ariel’s monstrous Aunt Ursula (the ruthlessly regal Sherie Rene Scott) steals her voice. Palmer builds credibility by sounding more like a love-struck American guy than a 19th-century prince-in-waiting. Every syllable he sings (particularly the stunning new song “Her Voice”) is cloaked with a sweet boyish luster.
Trying to hold all this dewy adolescent chemistry in check is Ariel’s sidekick, Sebastian, the Caribbean-accented crab whom Triton (Norm Lewis) appoints as her guardian. Sebastian is a wisecracking court jester who is nearly eaten alive, and University of Georgia grad Tituss Burgess gives a deliciously funny performance as the perpetually exasperated and imperiled crustacean. Burgess is a hoot.
The mellifluous Lewis makes his performance look effortless, but in terms of over-the-top aquatic royalty, Scott seizes the crown. Atlanta audiences will remember Scott as the original Amneris in the Alliance Theatre’s world premiere of “Aida,” and here she gives a hypnotic turn as the scheming diva of the deep, never letting the clunkiness of her many-tentacled gowns get in the way. Ursula looks like a squid, but she acts like a shark.
“The Little Mermaid” is so lavishly done as to look ridiculous at times, and some of the songs (“Positoovity,” “She’s in Love”) are downright silly. But you’d be a crab not to want Prince Eric to kiss the girl, or for Ariel to realize her dream of being part of the human world. “The Little Mermaid” is likely to glide across the Great White Way for a good many seasons to come.
THE 411: Open-ended run. At the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, 205 West 46th St., New York. $51.50-$121.50. 212-307-4747, disneyonbroadway.com.
Bottom line: A splash for Disney.
Comparing musicals
A quick look at Disney’s Broadway titles:
“Beauty and Beast,” 1994. Based on the animated feature, with score by the Disney “A” team of Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. Closed last July, after 13 years.
“The Lion King,” 1997. By Elton John and Tim Rice. Directed and designed by Julie Taymor. Still running on Broadway. Plays Atlanta’s Boisfeuillet Jones Civic Center April 3-May 4.
“Aida,” 2000. By Elton John and Tim Rice. Had its world premiere at the Alliance Theatre in 1998. Closed on Broadway in 2004.
“Tarzan,” 2006. Music by Phil Collins. Disney’s least successful show. Ran for just over a year.
“Mary Poppins,” 2006. Premiered in London in 2004. Continues to run at the New Amsterdam Theatre. National tour kicks off next year in Chicago.
“The Little Mermaid,” 2006. The long-awaited theatrical telling of the 1989 animated feature opened Thursday night on Broadway with 10 new songs by Alan Menken and new collaborator Glenn Slater (“Sister Act”).
From New York: A day’s work is never done
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Over the next few days, I will be filing reports from my tour of New York theater, but before I say a word about “The Little Mermaid” (which has its official opening on Thursday), I want to tell you about my day so far.
(See photos from the ‘Little Mermaid’ production.)
4 a.m. I get up and hurry to Hartsfield to catch my 6:45 a.m. flight. Make it on time, but as soon as I turn on my computer, I realize it’s out of gas. On deadline with a story, I take out a legal pad and write the piece out by hand.
9 a.m. Land at LaGuardia, after some turbulence and weather related delays. Get a call that the Broadway producer I’m supposed to meet at 11 a.m. is running behind and would like to meet at noon. Fine. This gives me time to type up the review.
11:45 a.m. File the piece and head to the office of Kevin McCollum, producer of “Rent,” “Avenue Q” and “Drowsy Chaperone.” You will hear more about “Drowsy Chaperone,” which begins at five-day run at the Fox Theatre on Jan. 22, later. Right now, McCollum is excited about his next musical project “In the Heights,” which he says is the first musical to treat the Latino population with the love and respect it deserves. McCollum played me sample songs from the show, which begins previews on Feb. 14. The musical — by Lin-Manuel Miranda with book by Quiara Hudes (“Eliot, A Soldier’s Fugue”) — has strong buzz, and unlike “Xanadu,” “Mermaid” and “Young Frankenstein,” the material is original - not based on a movie.
1 p.m. Interview over. Rush back to my hotel, the Paramount on 46th Street, and change rooms. I’ve decided the “smoking-optional” floor smells too much like a an ash tray for me.
2. p.m. Off to the Hilton Theatre, where a colleague joins me for Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein.” You’ll be reading a lot more about that later. We decided the Brooks’ comedic writing is fool-proof, but the music is lacking.
5 p.m. After “Young Frankenstein,” I head over to Virgil’s Barbecue on 44th Street for what has become a first-day-in-New-York tradition. Onion rings and ribs. Will I have time for a 10-minute nap before the show?
8 p.m. Curtain rises on the “The Little Mermaid.” Hmmm. I wonder if I will like it.
Logon on late Thursday to read my review of “Little Mermaid.” And discover a few notable mentions of New York artists with Atlanta connections.
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‘Tarzan’ to rock the Fox next year
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tarzan and his menagerie of hairy apes will swing into the Fox Theatre next January.
Atlanta’s Theater of the Stars and three other regional producers are mounting North America’s first post-Broadway production of the 2006 Disney musical, which features music and lyrics by rocker Phil Collins. After Atlanta, the show will travel to San Jose, Calif., Dallas and Raleigh.
Lynne Taylor-Corbett — who directed “Swing!” and choreographed “Titanic” on Broadway — will stage the upcoming “Tarzan,” based on Disney’s 1999 animated film and original material by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
No word on casting. But it’s worth noting that director/designer Bob Crowley’s original production starred Atlanta-born Tony Award winner Shuler Hensley in the role of Kerchak, the ape who adopts the young Tarzan.
“The show will be different than Broadway,” Theater of the Stars publicist Karen Hatchett says. “We will have a different approach because we have a different creative team.”
By Disney standards, Broadway’s “Tarzan” was a flop. It ran for 486 regular performances, compared to 1,852 for Disney’s “Aida” and more than 4,000 performances for “The Lion King,” which celebrated its 10th anniversary in November. Disney’s latest Broadway musical, “The Little Mermaid,” opens Thursday.
A Dutch production of “Tarzan” opened in April 2007, and a second European installment will be unveiled in Hamburg in October.
Besides Theater of the Stars, the other regional producers are American Musical Theatre of San Jose, Calif., North Carolina Theatre in Raleigh and Dallas Summer Musicals.
“For us, that’s huge and exciting news to be the first in the country,” Hatchett says.
