Strap Yourself in for Bag&Baggage’s Danny and the Deep Blue Sea by Tina Arth

Janelle Rae and Jayna Sweet

I mean it – Bag&Baggage’s production of Danny and the Deep Blue Sea is a wild ride – 70

minutes of some of the most intense emotional and physical theater I’ve ever experienced.

“Enjoyable” may not be the right word to describe it – perhaps try “riveting” and

“heartbreaking” and ”authentic” and “intimate” and “raw,” but ultimately two exquisite

performances that kept me vibrating for hours after the stage went dark. In 1984, playwright

John Patrick Shanley (better known for Moonstruck, Doubt: A Parable, and other later work)

emerged as a playwright of note when he brought Danny to New York and London stages.

Director T.S. McCormick honors Shanley’s original vision with laser-like focus, and his actors are

simply brilliant.

The play brings Danny and Roberta, two severely damaged, sometimes explosive, and

psychologically fragile people, together in a deserted bar where they literally and figuratively

crash against each other as they reach out for a human connection. Each is tortured by a secret

– a “bad thing” that they have done, and that they believe is so unforgiveable that they do not

deserve love. As they work through Danny’s nearly uncontrollable rage and Roberta’s crippling

shame, they manage for at least one night to find comfort, peace, acceptance, and a touching

version of love in each other’s arms.

The on-stage chemistry between Janelle Rae (“Danny”) and Jayna Sweet (“Roberta”) is electric -

props not only to the actors and director, but to intimacy choreographer Amanda Vander Hyde

for helping to make this unlikely coupling believable. Rae is violently jacked up for most of the

play, with open wounds on their face and hands serving as mutely powerful testimony to

Danny’s dangerous physical and mental state. Sweet’s character initially seems unreasonably

calm – Danny’s fury is met with a fearless combination of seductiveness and sauciness that

makes sense only when her despair leaks though and we learn that she’s not afraid because, in

her despair, she really doesn’t believe that her life has any value. Rae and Sweet each commit

100% to their characters and lend their transformation a gripping authenticity.

Blanca Forzán’s scenic design is perfectly proportioned to the action - two simple but detailed

sets on a rotating platform to create a seamless transition from bar to Roberta’s small room.

Gabe Costales’ lighting design – in particular, the use of artificial light in place of open sky –

embraces the themes and enhances the moodily surreal atmosphere. A final note – Director

McCormick’s choice to set the action at Christmas time is inspired. While nothing in the script

implies a holiday setting , the small touches highlight the vast divide between conventional

familial warmth and the desperate loneliness of so many trauma victims. Danny is a show that

will stay with its audience for a long, long time.

Content warning: due to mature language and themes of sexual violence, the show is not

appropriate for children, and could be triggering to some survivors.

Bag&Baggage’s Danny and the Deep Blue Sea is playing at The Vault, 350 E. Main Street,

Hillsboro, through December 18 th , with 7:30 p.m. performances Thursday, Friday, and Saturday

and 2:00 p.m. Sunday matinees. There will be a meet and greet with B&B’s new artistic

director, Nik Whitcomb, following the December 16 th performance.

Christmas Carol – A Ghost Story By Tina Arth

 

Ruth Jenkins, Samm Hill, Tony Domingue, and Morgan Harrison

Ever since 1962, when Mr. Magoo first transformed A Christmas Carol from a Victorian morality

play into a comic holiday tradition, film makers and playwrights have been finding new and

bizarrely wonderful ways to twist Charles Dickens’ classic novella. Twilight Theater Company’s

current production of playwright Jerry A. Montoya’s 2007 adaptation, Christmas Carol – A

Ghost Story, fits squarely into this proud tradition – it’s as whacked out as they come, yet still

adheres to the basic tenets and themes of the original. Director Leslie Inmon has allowed her

imagination (and her cast) to run just a little bit wild, and the result is a fast-paced, occasionally

chaotic two hours where the audience and the cast compete to see who can have the most fun.

I will assume that you are familiar with the basics: Scrooge, Marley, Cratchit, Tiny Tim, ghosts,

laundresses, Fan, Fezziwig, Belle, and of course the original Big Bird – and all are faithfully, if

sometimes playfully, represented in Montoya’s version of the story. However, the Twilight

production includes several non-Dickensian touches, including a pirate, a camo-wearing

narrator who opens the show by leading an enthusiastic audience sing-a-long of “We Wish You

A Merry Christmas” (twice on opening night, due to unforeseen technical difficulties), and a

surprisingly jovial Marley’s Ghost who seems to be having entirely too much fun in his tortured

afterlife. The costumes and sets capture the same playful spirit, with occasional stabs at period

fidelity but lots of wiggle room – kudos to the revolving door that sometimes hides, sometimes

reveals, a multitude of critical stuff!

The cast is generally strong, although, as to be expected, there were a few opening night

hiccups. Special props to Samm Hill – his Scrooge is a delight, and he navigates from cranky

(dare I say, Scrooge-like?) to warm and genial on his journey to salvation. Elliott Dutcher’s

“Fred” is downright hyperactive as he bounces around the stage, and he definitely makes the

role his own! Carl Dahlquist’s “Marley” is a real audience pleaser – his broad, self-aware grin

lets us know that he knows we are watching, and that he’s fine with that. Each of the narrators

fulfills a critical role, with top honors in this category going to the camo-clad, sing-a-long leading

Tony Domingue and the frighteningly intense Lindsey LaFollett. Of course, all eyes are on Jade

Vanderhoof every time child Scrooge, Tiny Tim, or the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come appears

on stage – no actor ever wants to compete with a kid, and Jade provides fierce competition.

Conclusion? Charles Dickens would probably have been appalled to see what playwright

Montoya, in the capable hands of Inmon and her cast, have done to his novella. On the other

hand, the opening night Twilight audience, in many cases jaded by dozens of renditions of A

Christmas Carol, was highly amused and fully invested in this unexpectedly whlmsical,

thoroughly family friendly if occasionally dark and ghostly, take on the classic tale.

Christmas Carol – A Ghost Story is playing at Twilight’s Performing Arts Theater, 7515 N.

Brandon Avenue, Portland, through December 18 th with performances at 8 pm on Fridays and

Saturdays and 3 pm on Sundays.

Kick off A Very Merry PDX-Mas at Broadway Rose By Tina Arth

 

Among the plethora of holiday highlights in my world, few are as filled with untrammeled joy as the annual Broadway Rose Christmas show, and this year’s offering no exception. For 2022, Portland’s premier musical theater troupe resurrects and updatesA Very Merry PDX-mas, their traditional script-free revue of established holiday classics delivered by a superb ensemble cast (augmented with a memorable children’s choir). The key to making it a fresh experience, rather than a re-hash of every Christmas CD on your shelf (OK – I’m dating myself – but you get the point) is twofold: first, many of the lyrics have been skillfully, hilariously given a distinctive PDX touch through Abe Reybold’s “original direction and specialty material” in collaboration with vocal arranger Jay Tumminello, and second, the lineup incorporates some hauntingly beautiful tunes that are not necessarily associated with Christmas, but deepen the emotional impact of the production. Director Sharon Maroney and Music Director Billy Thompson, in collaboration with Reybold,  Tumminello, and Broadway Rose’s usual cast of excellent vocalists, have crafted two hours of superb, family-friendly entertainment. 

In all the show offers 18 full songs; add in the Winter Medley, Kidz Medley, Santa Swings Medley, and the Big Nativity Medley and the audience is treated to all or part of almost 50 songs ranging from the serene and sacred to the humorously irreverent. Interspersed among holiday GOAT contenders like “White Christmas” and “O Holy Night” the cast offers up some great Reybold twists like the classic “Joy to the ‘Burbs” (is any PDX special complete without digs at Clackamas Town Center, Washington Square, and Bridgeport Mall?). His “Green X-mas” takes aim, fires, and lands a direct hit on Portland’s  oh-so eco-conscious, virtue-signaling populace, and we can all relate to the tragic “Re-Gifter’s Lament.” 

Vocalists Cara Arcuni, Michael Hammerstrom, William Shindler, Richie Stone, Malia Tippets, Tara Velarde, and Blythe Woodland each offer something special in addition to their fine ensemble work. Watch for Woodland’s exquisite “Breath of Heaven,” Tippets’ classic “O Holy Night,” Arcuni’s “White Christmas,” and Schindler and Stone’s “Children, Go Where I send Thee.” For kitschy nostalgia, look no  further than Hammerstrom’s “l Like Old People, Don’t You?” Comic effects are sprinkled throughout with songs like Velarde’s “Shalom Santa” and by frequent slightly whacked-out cameos fromBroadway Rose managing director Dan Murphy. The cast is rounded out by the cutest children’s choir in recent memory -eleven singing, dancing, grinning little elves whose presence reminds us of the importance of children in the holiday season.

The collaboration of scenic designer Jim Crino, lighting designer Carl Faber, and technical director Phil McBeth brings magic to stage with special effects to fit every mood. Another dynamite team is pianist/conductor Billy Thompson, bassist Amy Roesler, and drummer Zac Stowell whose non-stop beautiful music and artistry cannot be overpraised as they enhance every moment of the show.

If you are not yet feeling the holiday season, let Broadway Rose drive the Grinch from your psyche – and if your heart is already full, grab some tickets and let your holiday cup overflow!

A Very Merry PDX-mas is playing at Broadway Rose’s New Stage, 12850 SW Grant Avenue, Tigard through Thursday, December 22.