Another Labour of Love from Bag & Baggage

Photo by Casey Campbell

By Tina Arth and Darrell Baker

Bag & Baggage’s artistic director, Scott Palmer, has worked his magic scissors on yet another of Bill Shakespeare’s overblown fancies – in this case, the much ignored Love’s Labour’s Lost, a play so universally dismissed that its relatively brief seven year life on the English stage was followed by a 235 year hiatus. Palmer’s adaptation miraculously resuscitates one of the Bard’s least-loved comedies into a genuinely funny, audience pleasing, mercifully brief (Palmer chopped the show, the cast, and the number of convoluted plotlines in half) farcical synthesis of The Three Stooges and La Dolce Vita – writ large on the concrete of Hillsboro’s Tom Hughes Civic Center Plaza.

In a nutshell, the story is this: Ferdinand, the newly minted King of Navarre, and his two lordly sidekicks vow to eschew all contact with women for three years in order to immerse themselves in cleansing philosophical growth. Ferdinand has conveniently forgotten that he is due a visit from the alluring and sophisticated Princess of France and her two BFFs, who spin into town on matching pink Vespas. Vows quickly crumble. The arrival of the Spanish knight Armado (a stunningly Quixotic buffoon) provides another layer of complexity, particularly because he brings along his own versions of Sancho Panza (in the form of the servant Moth) and Dulcinea (the tempestuous and round-heeled Jaquenetta). After lots of verbal bawdiness (liberally accompanied by broad physical cues for those of us whose ears are ill-attuned to the rhythms of Shakespearean dialogue) all is resolved – three years of celibacy are reduced to the one full year that the men will wait before wedding and bedding their loves. Alas, there is no wench for Armado as Jaquenetta ends up in the arms of Moth. End of story.

This senseless plot works (and works well!) for two reasons: Scott Palmer’s fearless and irreverent staging and a ridiculously talented cast. Andrew Beck’s portrayal of Ferdinand, King of Navarre, is particularly funny. His mobile face moves fluidly from arrogance to confusion as he attempts to parry the verbal jabs of the much-cleverer noblewomen who invade his kingdom. His romantic counterpart, Cassie Greer (the Princess of France) is a smart, powerful, and confident adversary who so easily outwits the king that one wonders what she sees in him. Greer is powerful, striking, and elegant – a born leading lady.

From the first moment that she stomps across the plaza, Rachel Rosenfeld (Jaquenetta) grabs the audience’s attention and sympathies, a feat she repeats every time she appears. Her Real Housewives of New Jersey accent and K-Mart wardrobe telegraph her social status (or lack thereof). She is the perfect mate for Adam Syron’s pathetically ill-used Moth, who absorbs his master’s constant physical and verbal abuse with hilariously patient and long-suffering aplomb. The bizarre Spanish tango performed by Rosenfeld, Syron, and Gary Strong (Armado) perfectly captures the production’s outstanding absurdity.

Despite occasional environmental disruptions (blocked off streets do not silence airplanes) the actors need no amplification – the entire cast projects the fast-paced Elizabethan dialogue with crisp clarity. Costume designer Melissa Heller complements Palmer’s vision with her quirky and eclectic fashion choices – the addition of elaborate bows to her hard-edged Italian designs lends a vaguely Renaissance flair, and the tacky costumes for the tango number are perfect for the bumbling dancers.

Purists beware - as with many of Bag & Baggage’s Shakespearean adaptations, this show may well appeal most to those who love the Bard least. Ironically, the spirit of the Old Globe is probably expressed more faithfully in Palmer’s staging than in a more traditional, but stuffy, approach to the material.

Bag & Baggage’s production of Love’s Labour’s Lost runs through August 9^th with shows at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. All performances are held at the Tom Hughes Civic Center Plaza, 150 E. Main Street, Hillsboro.

The Flood Comes to Hillsboro

By Karlyn Weaver

HART Theatre’s current production of Crazy Old Man follows Noah, played wonderfully by Nick Hamilton, through his trials and tribulations in building the Ark. In this new musical version of the ancient tale, Noah reacts to frightening visions in his dreams and becomes a desperate man in a desperate situation. With the support of his family and despite the jeering of local townsfolk and singing villains, Noah manages to muster up the courage needed to build the Ark in preparation for the ensuing deluge.

It is obvious from the beginning that an enormous amount of work has gone into this production; the cast mastered not only lines, sometimes complex blocking, and dancing…but also a myriad of songs. Director Paul Roder utilizes a cast of 32 actors to bring local authors Darrell Baker, Tina Arth, and Carl Coughlan's script, loosely based on the traditional Biblical story, to life on stage. At Saturday night’s performance, there were moments where the singing fell out of tune and could be lackluster, which was less than the music deserved.

Outside of “children’s theater” productions, there aren't many shows staged locally where children are included as a large part of the cast. This production, with about half of its cast cast members ranging in age from 5 to 16, does a fantastic job of not only including them but then holding the spotlight on them so they can shine. Especially impressive is the talent shown by Canden Clement (who plays Shem) and Mackenzie Gross (who plays Sarah). They are an absolute delight in their acting abilities as well as their singing.

A few other particularly notable characters from the show include the evil Madame Shamhat, played by Sarah Ominski, who carries an electric energy onto the stage with her presence. She brings along her dancing girls, and their spirit resounds through the townspeople and the theatre. Director Paul Roder also plays Noah’s friend Jehosephat, a loving, gentle father whose rendition of “It's Gonna Rain” at the end of the show leaves the audience joyously clapping along.

Crazy Old Man has a fun set and wonderful music along with a hard working cast. It is well worth a look, especially to show support for a local community theater with the courage to bring original work to the stage!

Crazy Old Man is playing at Hillsboro’s H.A.R.T. Theatre, 185 S.E. Washington Street, through August 3d, with performances Friday and Saturday at 7:30 and Sunday matinees at 2:00. A special benefit matinee is being offered at 2:00 on Saturday, July 19^th, with all proceeds being donated to Animal Aid (come at 1:30 that day for dancing by “Pure Portland” belly dancing troupe!).

Music Man at Broadway Rose

By Tina Arth and Darrell Baker

          Back in 1996, a Southern California paper dismissed a fine production of The Music Man (in which Darrell played a role) as “serviceable theater” but averred that “it’s time to put it away…there’s nothing more to be added, nothing new to say” about this venerable classic. As Broadway Rose’s current production clearly demonstrates, the reviewer could not have more thoroughly missed the point of live theater. A classic movie like Casablanca or Raiders of the Lost Ark can be revisited at will in the privacy of your own home, and on occasion even at a big screen revival, but the only way to keep a great theatrical piece alive is to continually (re-) produce it.


          That said, Broadway Rose is by no means merely delivering “serviceable theater” with “nothing new to say.” From the moment the curtain opens on the hypnotic light of a massive train engine until the last chaotic, dissonant notes of the River City Boys Band, the audience is transported to a vital, living, 1912 vision of small-town Americana. Over 50 years ago, author Meredith Willson froze this magic moment from his childhood with cryogenic precision. Director/choreographer Peggy Taphorn not only brings it back to life, she gives it new life, assisted by her amazing 40-person cast and music director Alan D. Lytle’s stunning orchestra (including, as is appropriate in a paean to marching bands, three trumpets, a trombone, four wood wind players, and a drummer).


The part of Harold Hill is often filled by actors who are adept at delivering the fast-talking, tongue-twisting “Ya Got Trouble” – but Joe Thiessen’s beautiful baritone brings a new dimension to the character; his sensitive delivery of “Till There Was You” makes his transformation from harsh and lecherous huckster to helpless romantic utterly believable. The audience can really buy that this particular Harold Hill gets his foot caught in the door. “The door,” of course, is the captivating Marian Paroo, played by Chrissy Kelly-Pettit. Just as some Harolds can’t sing, some Marians can’t act, but Kelly-Pettit’s singing and acting are in perfect alignment – lovely and powerful, with none of the quavering vulnerability sometimes associated with the role.


“Best Supporting Actor” level performances are delivered by Norman Wilson as Marcellus Washburn and Annie Kaiser as Mrs. Paroo. Both bring more to their respective roles than we have ever seen in a regional production. Wilson is a true triple-threat: a great tenor voice augmented by flawless comedic and terpsichorean timing. Speaking of timing, Kaiser’s Widow Paroo earns laughs in places usually missed – she certainly understands and exploits the power of the pregnant pause. Makenna Markman (“Amaryllis”) and Brandon B. Weaver (“Charlie Cowell”) make the most of their relatively minor roles without overacting. Weaver lifts his character from cartoonish villain to a more rounded and human adversary, motivated at least in part by sincere concern for the victims of Hill’s spellbinding flimflammery. Markman’s pretty voice complements her poignant and unrequited puppy love.

The teen ensemble, particularly in “Marian the Librarian” and “Shipoopi,” is imaginatively choreographed and the dancing is delivered with adolescent enthusiasm tempered by near-gymnastic precision. The vocal ensemble is consistently exciting, and the barbershop quartet is an audience pleaser from the earliest tentative notes of “Ice Cream” through the lovely counterpoint of “Lida Rose” and “Will I Ever Tell You.”


As the standing ovation from a huge crowd at the Deb Fennel Auditorium attests, The Music Man will never go out of style for musical theater lovers – especially when given the superb treatment it receives from Broadway Rose. The Music Man is playing at Tigard High School’s Deb Fennell Auditorium through Sunday, July 20th.

All Roads Should Lead to Leading Ladies

Dusti Arab (Meg), Alex Johnston (Leo/Maxine), and Zachary Centers
(Jack/Stephanie)

 

By Tina Arth and Darrell Baker

 

Despite what our cousins across the pond seem to believe, men in drag are not necessarily funny. However, put a man in a dress at Theatre in the Grove and the result is inexplicably, inevitably hilarious. Very few mothers dream of seeing their only son cavorting around in high heels, poufy skirt, and tasteful blonde pageboy, but Director and proud mom Pruella Centers seems to delight in transforming son Zach into a winsome lass (at least on stage) in Theatre in the Grove’s current production of Ken Ludwig’s Leading Ladies.

Struggling Shakespearean actors Leo and Jack, after a catastrophic performance at a nearby Moose Lodge, end up broke on a train to York, PA. Leo has a plan – they will impersonate missing English heirs Max and Steve and inherit $2,000,000 from their recently deceased “Aunt” Florence. However, they learn from roller-skating waitress-in-training Audrey that Max and Steve are actually sisters Maxine and Stephanie. Undaunted, Leo persuades Jack to join him in raiding their costume box – so they arrive at Aunt Florence’s estate attired as Cleopatra and Titania (wings and all) to claim the loot. Rumors of Aunt Florence’s demise prove premature – despite having been declared dead (twice!) by an exceptionally incompetent physician, she lingers on quite hardily through two acts of genuinely funny farce.

Jeanine Stassens brings a crusty wit to the role of Aunt Florence, and the scene where she pretends to die just to mess with her physician gets one of the biggest laughs of the evening. Fred Sherrill’s blustering, greedy, lascivious portrayal of Doc makes him her perfect foil. Doc’s son Butch (Evan Tait) is even more witless (but much more likeable) than his father – Tait’s portrayal evokes the part of the hapless “Chris” on Family Guy. When forced to play in a Shakespeare scene, Tait’s character’s stage fright and rushed lines earn him several big laughs.

As Aunt Florence’s third niece, ingénue “Meg,” Dusti Arab makes the most of the relatively the thankless role of straight man. Arab is cute and spunky, and shows a lot of grit when standing up to her hypocritical fiancé, the minister Duncan (Dan Harry). Harry’s performance is superbly self-righteous – a classic male chauvinist in clerical clothing, played with admirable restraint. Jeananne Kelsey as the roller-skating waitress “Audrey” is a delight, drawing on her considerable comedic skills to create a thoroughly loveable ditz.

The cross-dressing duo (Alex Johnston as Leo/Maxine and Zachary Centers as (Jack/Stephanie) dominates the production from start to finish. Alex’s confident conman is Oliver Hardy to Zach’s timid Stan Laurel – and comparisons to funny men Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder would not be out of line. The pair’s comic mastery is not just a function of costume; in or out of drag these guys are astonishing comedians, and director Pruella Centers makes the most of their talent.

We cannot fail to mention the gorgeous set, brought to us by some fine carpenters and the fertile mind of multi-talented set designer Zachary Centers. The remarkable period costumes (1950’s and Elizabethan) are brought by (wait for it) Pruella and Zachary Centers.

The show runs for two more weekends. Do yourself a favor, trek out to Forest Grove, and catch this gem while you can.

Leading Ladies is playing at Theatre in the Grove, 2128 Pacific Avenue, Forest Grove through Sunday, June 22^nd with Friday and Saturday performances at 7:30 pm and Sunday matinees at 2:30 pm.

COLE PORTER CLASSIC GETS HART REMAKE

By Tina Arth and Darrell Baker

Cole Porter’s classic musical comedy Anything Goes has survived a number of dramatic sea changes since it made its Broadway debut in 1934. Sings have been added, deleted, and reassigned, characters renamed, and plotlines modified, keeping the show remarkably fresh as it enters its 80^th year. Director Tony Bump’s current adaptation at Hillsboro’s HART Theatre fully exploits the license granted by this tradition, and the result is a lean, clever, fast-paced show that thoroughly entertains its 2014 audience.

Young Wall Street broker Billy Crocker comes aboard the S.S. American to deliver a passport to his boss. Billy encounters the lovely Hope Harcourt, for whom he has pined ever since they spent 9 (or was it 12?) hours in a hansom cab months earlier. Discovering that Hope is en route to England to marry stuffy British nobleman Sir Evelyn Oakleigh, Billy opts to stow away and disrupt the wedding plans. Gangster on the lam Moonface Martin takes Billy under his wing, and over the course of two acts, 18 musical numbers, countless disguises, sight gags, and cheap jokes Billy wins Hope’s hand. The plot is tied up nicely when Sir Evelyn marries alluring nightclub performer Reno Sweeney, Hope’s mother finds true love with Billy’s boss, and Moonface Martin is declared harmless by the FBI.

Andy Roberts (“Billy Crocker”) and Rachel Thomas (“Hope Harcourt”) make a cute and believable couple. Thomas shifts fluidly from starry-eyed infatuation to dignified petulance, while Roberts brings a playful insouciance to his pathetically obvious disguises. Their mastery of the tricky lyrics and meter of “It’s Delovely” make this lighthearted number one of the show’s highlights.

 

Dorinda Toner (“Reno Sweeney”) makes the most of a role originally defined by the great Ethel Merman. She is brassy, brash, and bubbly – a real belter with a great voice. In solos and backed by her “Angels” (a lovable quartet of slightly used, tap-dancing showgirls) she enthusiastically delivers the show’s liveliest numbers.

Steve Pitzel (“Sir Evelyn Oakleigh”) uses his extensive entertainment background to mine every possible nuance of what can be (but isn’t always) a great comic role. His timing, dry delivery, and exceptionally mobile eyes ensure that many of the show’s funniest situations get the laughs they deserve.

Anything Goes’ secret weapon is Stan Yeend as the machine gun totin’ Public Enemy #13, Moonface Martin. From his first moment on stage, Yeend holds the audience in thrall as he casually cavorts through an endless series of one-liners mixed with physical comedy. He is ably assisted by Megan Bronleewe as his sidekick, “Bonnie,” who gives a particularly funny twist to her delivery of “Heaven Hop.”

The show requires a strong ensemble for many of the big song and dance numbers; despite some problems with accompaniment director Bump’s cast is equal to the task. Audiences looking for a good old-fashioned musical with lots of laughs, lively tap dancing, and appealing songs will definitely enjoy the production.

Anything Goes runs through Sunday, June 22 with performances at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 2:00 p.m. on Sundays at H.A.R.T. Theater, 185 S.E. Washington, Hillsboro.

 

 

PRIVATE LIVES MADE PUBLIC IN HILLSBORO

 

 



Chrissy Kelly-Pettit as Amanda and Adam Syron as Elyot. Photo by Casey Campbell.



 

 

By Tina Arth and Darrell Baker

 

Long before the advent of Kim Kardashian and Justin Bieber, there were spoiled rich folks whose every breath seemed to be a waste of oxygen. When he wasn’t busy acting or writing songs like the beautiful and poignant “Matelot” and the hilarious “Don’t Put Your Daughter on the Stage, Mrs. Worthington,” Noel Coward put pen to paper to crucify both the bourgeoisie and the morally vapid, self-appointed crème de la crème of his era. Bag and Baggage’s current production of Coward’s Private Lives brings all of the playwright’s razor-sharp wit to downtown Hillsboro, a locale so geographically and socially removed from 1930’s Paris that the play’s characters would find it utterly appalling – that is, if they could be bothered to have an opinion at all.  Director Scott Palmer and his five cast members exploit every nuance of the script, and the result is alternatively angry, combative, passionate, ennui-laden, and on occasion just too, too civilized.

Gary Strong as Victor and Adam Syron as Elyot. Photo by Casey Campbell.

The plot is in many ways as empty as the lives of its characters. Elyot Chase is honeymooning in the south of France with his second wife, Sybil. The newlywed couple next door is, coincidentally, Elyot’s first wife, Amanda, and her new husband Victor Pryne. It is clear that Elyot is thoroughly bored with Sybil, and annoyed by her incessant harping on the details of his first marriage. The stuffy Victor is the object of Amanda’s thinly veiled contempt – at best, his clumsy ardor is rewarded with air kisses. Elyot and Amanda discover their proximity to each other, and immediately reignite the love-hate relationship that characterized their marriage.  Abandoning Victor and Sybil, Amanda and Elyot run off to wreak havoc in Amanda’s Paris flat as they wallow in an alcohol-fueled frenzy of passion and fisticuffs. When Victor and Sybil track them down the morning after a particularly violent fight, the two spurned spouses agree to wait a year before initiating divorce actions to see if Elyot and Amanda really want to continue their relationship. Victor and Sybil begin to bicker, inexplicably defending their respective spouses, and it becomes clear that they, too, are a match made in hell. The fun is intermittently interrupted by the arrival of Louise (Theresa Park), the French maid who is expected to literally pick up the pieces. Her working class voice of reason provides the show’s only moments of sanity, despite the fact that her harangues are delivered in fractured French – one does not need to understand the actual words to capture the depth of her contempt for her spoiled and self-absorbed employers.

Adam Syron (Elyot) and Chrissy Kelly-Pettit (Amanda) play their roles with venomous aplomb, moving from lassitude to frenzy and back with dizzying haste. They capture an odd sexual ambiguity that seems to be equated with intense passion. Ironically, it is the manly Victor (Gary Strong) and the feminine Sybil (Arianne Jacques), who are curiously sexless. Jacques’ tightly wound performance provides a nice complement to Strong’s blustering propriety – they are much more convincing as a couple than as mates to Syron and Kelly-Pettit.

Costume designer Melissa Heller has outdone herself with Private Lives – the period clothing captures the art deco flavor of the era with impeccable fidelity. The sparsely elegant symmetry of the first act set contrasts strikingly with the cluttered shambles we see in the second act, providing a visual parallel to the characters’ descent from order to emotional chaos in the play.

Bag & Baggage’s Private Lives is playing at Hillsboro’s Venetian Theatre, 253 E. Main Street, through May 30th, with performances Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm and Sundays at 2:00 pm.

 

Gary Strong as Victor and Arianne Jacques as Sibyl. Photo by Casey Campbell.

BCT’S ELEPHANT MAN A STUDY IN CONTRASTS, PARALLELS

Rielly Peene with Leticia Maskell

By Tina Arth and Darrel Baker

A group of actors gets on a stage and performs a play in front of a room full of strangers who pay to stare at them. The play is about the effect on a deformed man of spending his life essentially earning a living by being stared at by paying strangers. Ironic? Maybe. Effective? Absolutely, as Beaverton Civic Theatre’s current offering of The Elephant Man clearly shows. Playwright Bernard Pomerance has created a powerful script, and director Jessica Reed brings his work to life in this thought-provoking production.

The Elephant Man is staged as a series of vignettes illustrating the last years of Joseph Merrick (inexplicably called “John Merrick” in the script), a horribly deformed man who briefly becomes a society darling in late Victorian London. The show opens with Merrick on display at a tawdry carnival in London’s miasmic East End. Merrick is in the clutches of his keeper, Ross, who sells glimpses of the afflicted man in a brutal freak show. Physician Frederick Treves, fascinated by Merrick’s disease and horrified by his treatment, gives him a home in the nearby London Hospital, where he spends the last years of his short life in (relative) peace and comfort but finds that he is still on public display – to a much better class of gawkers.

Rielly Peene

Author Pomerance, in his introductory note, advises against theater companies attempting to reproduce Merrick’s appearance or speech, so the actor is left to create the illusion of his character’s affliction without makeup or prosthetic devices. Rielly Peene, in his first lead role, is more than equal to the challenge. He twists his body just enough to capture the essence of physical deformity, and uses his face and voice to express the mental anguish of Merrick’s futile life.

Adam Caniparoli plays Frederick Treves as a compassionate but rigid man of science, able to sympathize but not really empathize with his ward’s awful plight. Caniparoli’s performance is a believable mixture of naiveté and professional rigidity; he shows the audience his social conscience and yet is bound by his adherence to social conventions. Steve Holgate portrays Carr Gomm, the hospital governor, as a pragmatic realist – not inhumane, but hesitant to commit the hospital’s resources to what he terms an “incurable.”  Holgate’s commanding voice and stern demeanor poorly mask his character’s fundamental goodness.

The play’s primary antagonists, both peddling enigmatic wares, are drawn with a fine sense of irony by Laurence Cox  (carney/con-man Ross) and Dave Paull (the sanctimonious Bishop How). Cox portrays a classic bully – loudly arrogant and domineering when he’s in control, sniveling and whiny when the chips are down, but always self-serving and sleazy. Paull’s take on How is eerily creepy; he delivers his lines in a soft monotone that highlights the emptiness of his platitudes.

Letitia Maskell as the actress Mrs. Kendal runs a serious risk of stealing the show. She is truly lovely, and brings more real compassion to her interactions with Merrick than any of his other would-be “saviors.” Externally, she is as extraordinarily lovely as he is ugly, yet she forges the strongest connection in the play with the tormented Elephant Man.  The scene where she partially disrobes to give Merrick a glimpse of the female anatomy is handled with a subtle grace - almost inadvertently seductive, yet gentle and ladylike.

The production team has created a remarkably effective staging in the small space available. Sets are colorful but minimal, and the use of projection to express the central theme of each scene is clever and illuminating.  Perhaps the best touch is the inclusion of two large pictures of the real Elephant Man, shown whenever the character is on stage. These pictures serve as a constant reminder of the devastating effects of Merrick’s physical deformity, yet the audience’s focus gradually shifts away from the horrific images as the character becomes fully human.

The Elephant Man runs through Saturday, May 17^th at the Beaverton City Library Auditorium. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 2:00 p.m. on Sunday.