Over the Moon for Up and Away

Photo by Craig Mitchelldyer shows Colin Stephen Kane, Danielle 
Valentine, Paul Wrona, Joe Thiessen, and Malia Tippets

By Tina Arth

It is said that certain moments in your life are indelibly etched in memory – could be first love, or first car, or (depending on your age) the Kennedy assassination(s) or 9/11. For me, add in the first time I saw The Beatles, Janis Joplin, Young Frankenstein, Little Shop of Horrors, Sugar, Minnie’s Boys, and now Broadway Rose’s production of Up and Away. Yes, it is that funny. The show had its world premiere in Pittsburgh last year, and (after some revision by the authors) is enjoying its West Coast premiere right here in Tigard. The book and lyrics by Kevin Hammonds are tightly scripted, witty, and thoroughly wacky, and Kristin Bair’s music fits perfectly with the show’s, shall we say eccentric, ambience. Dan Murphy’s direction and choreography should be permanently embedded as definitive for future productions – the exuberant, unapologetic silliness left me breathless.

The story (at least a bland, spoiler-free version suitable for reviewing) is this: like many other royal parents of fiction, a pair of anxious aliens on a Pluto-adjacent planet exile their helpless infant to save him from certain death (in this case, at the hands of rebel assassins). The terrified pair sends their baby out into space in a metallic, egg-shaped cocoon (Star Wars? Superman? Greatest American Hero?). Years later on an isolated farm in Farmtown, USA, brothers Joe and Jerry Jessup are digging the hole for a new outhouse when they uncover the mysterious object. Despite warnings from his cautious brother, the impetuous Joe opens the “egg,” tries on the red gloves within, and quickly discovers that he now has the power to see 5 seconds into the future. Joe has always longed to see the outside world; ignoring the pleas of Mother Jessup and Jerry, he heads for Big City where he encounters intrepid, aspiring girl reporter Susie Dare, mega-wealthy Ronak Fairchild, and a host of absurd comic-book villains (shades of Batman and Spiderman) who are wreaking havoc on the local citizenry. Donning the requisite red long-johns and now able to fly (poorly), Joe becomes crime fighter Super Saver, falls for Susie, and gets the on-air reporter job she wanted at the radio station. When brother Jerry arrives to check up on Joe, he meets Susie and sparks fly. I dare go no further…

The three men and two women who populate the stage have to be among the hardest-working people in show business – perhaps out done only by the Broadway  Rose crew who have to manage the lightning quick costume and scene changes that magically turn five actors into countless (I lost track around 20) characters while paying homage to almost as many iconic musicals, comic books, and television shows. While Paul Wrona (Joe), Colin Stephen Kane (Jerry), and Malia Tippets (Susie) primarily play themselves, only occasionally changing into villains by donning a pumpkin head, habit, or beekeeper’s mask, Danielle Valentine and Joe Theissen assume a dizzying array of roles.  The playwrights pay open homage to Annie with station WBC’s singing trio, adding pink fascinators to turn Tippets, Theissen, and Valentine’s “Dapper Cracker Sisters” into Big City’s own version of the Lovely Boylan Sisters. In another cheerfully derivative moment, Theissen’s big entrance as Fairchild evokes an even glitzier take on Carol Channing descending the staircase in Hello Dolly. Wrona’s low-tech flying is hilarious – definitely drawn from the era of George Reeve, not Christopher Reeves.

Up and Away is, of course, a musical, and Broadway Rose provides the perfect West Coast launchpad.  Music director/conductor James Pick does a masterful job with the John Williams-esque introductory themes, and the 23 songs give the actors ample opportunity to showcase their vocal talents.  One of the first clues that Jerry may be more than meets the eye comes from Kane’s singing – his powerful vocals belie the character’s timid affect. By contrast, Wrona’s bigger, stronger Joe has a pleasant voice, more than up to the task of delivering the songs but somehow inconsistent with his heroic persona – suggesting that Super Saver may not be the key to Big City’s salvation. Theissen’s vocal tour de force comes from the decadent Ronak’s “Join Me, Won’t You,” and he simply sparkles in his guise as a Dapper Cracker Sister. In her role as Susie, Tippets sweetly nails her two key duets with Jerry in addition to her vocals with the full ensemble and as a Dapper Cracker. While Valentine’s ensemble work is fine, she shines brightest in character roles as Mother Jessup, the drunken secretary, and Ronak’s sidekick/butler.

It’s tough to differentiate between the choreography and the overall staging – the comedy is intrinsic to both, and characters move (sometimes fluidly and sometimes frantically) from one moment to the next with the help of amazingly creative props and some of the funniest and cleverest choreography I’ve ever seen. Costumes (based on the original Pittsburgh designs by Leon Dobrowski) range from suitably hackneyed (e.g., Farmville hick and Susie’s conservative reporter attire) to utterly outrageous – perfectly in keeping with the tone of the show.

It’s sometimes hard to attract an audience for a new show, but word seems to have gotten out, and many of the best seats are long gone on the Broadway Rose ticket site. Best bet? Unless you have zero tolerance for unrestrained fun, buy tickets now and treat yourself to a spectacular couple of hours. One warning – despite the comic book ambience, the show does contain some mature language and may not be appropriate for your kiddos.

Up and Away is playing at Broadway Rose’s New Stage, 12850 SW Grant Avenue, Tigard through Sunday, February 23.

The City of Conversation Sheds Light on the Current Scene

Jeananne Kelsey, Tyler Lambert, and Dorinda Toner

By Tina Arth

Want to spend 2 hours learning how American politics wound its way to the current stalemate? Want to relive those awful Thanksgiving conversations in somebody else’s living room? Want to get more than a little depressed, but also be stimulated to closely examine your own assumptions and analyze your principles? No, Theatre in the Grove’s current production of playwright Anthony Giardina’s City of Conversation doesn’t provide the rollicking fun of, say, South Pacific, but it’s a powerful, thought-provoking, and demanding play that brings some important theater to the community.  Director Tanner Morton has assembled a quality cast and production crew to give Forest Grove audiences a revealing glimpse of the strange sociopolitical landscape of Washington D.C.

The show made its debut in 2014, well before the Trump era, but City of Conversation provides a fascinating road map from the late seventies to the present. The action takes place over three-plus decades, beginning in the latter days of the Carter Administration and ending just after the election of Barack Obama. For years, dinner parties in the home of D.C. hostess Hester Ferris have brought together Washington insiders of all persuasions for some serious horse-trading to get the work of government done – Ferris is a die-hard liberal, but her parties have paved the way for compromise between the likes of Strom Thurmond and Teddy Kennedy. Ferris is preparing to entertain conservative Kentucky senator Mallonee and his wife when her son Colin arrives from London with his fiancée, the ambitious Reaganite Anna Fitzgerald, and sparks fly.  The scene shifts to the Reagan Administration; where a serious argument about Robert Bork’s Supreme Court nomination leads to estrangement between Hester and her son, daughter-in-law, and grandson Ethan. The conclusion shows Ethan, in D.C. to attend an Obama inaugural party, visiting his grandmother after years of separation.

Dorinda Toner delivers a sterling performance as Hester Ferris – her character shifts dramatically in practically every scene as she moves from sharp politico to fierce doting grandmother, with a strong dose of pushy sister and semi-detached lover thrown in for good measure. Her relationship with Anna (Jeananne Kelsey) is defined quickly when the young, corn-fed Anna asks Hester if she can watch Hester get ready for her dinner party – she immediately sees through Anna’s gee-whiz naiveté and quickly cuts her down. Kelsey maintains her corn-fed Midwestern affect with chilling MAGA precision, and when the knives really come out in Act II both women play their respective roles beautifully.

Tyler Lambert does double duty as Colin and later as his grown-up son Ethan, with changes in hair (on his head and face) and wardrobe to define the different roles. Lambert’s “Ethan” is particularly moving – he creates a nice picture of slightly damaged goods, the bright but withdrawn product of two generations of political infighting and maternal neglect. Ethan’s friend Donald (Richard Howard III) appears for only a few minutes in the final act, but Howard manages to telegraph the pair’s backstory quickly, with lots of non-verbal cues in place of excessive exposition.

The set is classic Theatre in the Grove, with the attention to detail and functionality audiences have come to expect from set designer Zachary Centers. Costumes shift nicely between eras, with attention to the social milieu of the characters – I was particularly impressed with Toner’s final scene, where the clothes, wig, and makeup worked perfectly with her portrayal of the now-aged Hester.

The City of Conversation provides a nice window into a Washington D.C. other than today’s “all impeachment, all the time” coverage. It’s well worth a couple of hours for both the acting and Giardina’s incisive, tightly written script.

The City of Conversation is playing at Theatre in the Grove, 2028 Pacific Avenue, Forest Grove through May 5, with performances Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

A Sneak Peek at Love, Loss, and What I Wore

Babette Bilger, Patti Speight, Yelena King, Leslie Inmon, Emily Smith, 
Eleanor Amorós, Leilani Oleari.
Picture by Nicole Mae Photography

 
By Tina Arth

Since Mask&Mirror’s latest “Unmasked” production has only a two-week run, I was happy to attend a fully staged rehearsal three days before the show’s actual opening. The performers were, of course, at a bit of a disadvantage – not only were they missing out on some extra rehearsal time, but the space at the Tualatin Heritage Center was partly full of detritus from another program. Despite these handicaps, the 7-woman cast pulled it off nicely – doing Director Linda Morris Talluto proud and drawing an impressive number of laughs (and a few tears) from the tiny preview audience.

The play by Nora and Delia Ephron is based on Ilene Beckerman’s 1995 book.  The 7-woman, rotating cast delivers a series of monologues, a few small group scenes, and some full-ensemble work, with at most minimal staging. The material is organized superficially around the women’s relationship with clothing through their lives, using their wardrobes as a medium to explore significant moments of comedy, tragedy, and ennui in their lives – prom, first period, weddings, funerals, illness, death, pushy moms, aging bodies, even rape. While it may be seen as a “women’s show” and is immediately relatable for practically any American woman born in the 20^th century, it should not take long for the men in the audience to key into the show’s themes and emotional impact.

A more conventional play would invite comments on costumes (really none, other than a few props and an array of clothing items displayed around the stage), sets (again – basically nothing – just 7 chairs for the 7 women, plus a flipchart where one of the actors draws a picture). The original Broadway production utilized only 5 women, and it was done as true reader’s theatre – actors perched on stools and read from scripts on music stands.  With the likes of Christine Baransky and Mia Farrow in the cast, I’m sure this was fine, but I really appreciate the director’s decision to lose the scripts and let her cast really act. We also get sound and lighting – brief clips of several thoroughly recognizable pop songs introduce some of the monologues, and crude but evocative line drawings of a variety of outfits are projected onto a screen in back of the actors. Blocking is also minimal - the actors generally address the audience rather than interacting with each other, and there are a few occasions where one of the women comes down the steps and approaches the audience directly.  All of this adds up to 90 fast-moving minutes of truly moving theater, and is not to be missed.

With 28 separate scenes/monologues, each cast member has ample opportunities to shine, and for the most part they do.  Babette Bilger plays just one (repeated) role, as Gingy, and the rest of the segments are performed by Eleanor Amorós, Leslie Inmon, Yelena King, Leilani Oleari, Emily Smith, and Patti Speight.  The actors make rapid-fire transitions from one character to the next as they jump from scene to scene. My favorites include some small group and ensemble numbers, including a few of the “Clotheslines” where 6 actors riff on the same theme.  Watch for “Holly’s Story,” “Boots,” “Fat/Thin,” “I Hate My Purse,” “Geralyn’s Story,”– heck, just watch everything and enjoy the many moments where you recognize yourself, family, friends and lovers!

This is not a show that is likely to be seen again in the area for a while, and the venue is tiny at the Tualatin Heritage Center, which seats only ~ 50 people. My advice? Buy tickets early (I’ve already reserved two so I can go back with a friend to see the closing performance – I’m eager to see how the show will have grown since the preview).

Mask&Mirror’s production of Love, Loss, and What I Wore runs through Sunday, February 2 at the Tualatin Heritage Center, with performances Friday and Saturday at 7:30 and Sunday at 2:30.

Lakewood’s White-Knuckle Wait Until Dark

Taylor Jean Grady and Stan Yeend

By Tina Arth

I only remember one time when a movie scared me so much that I was afraid to walk out of the theater into a dark parking lot – it was the late 1960s, and the movie was Wait Until Dark, a film version of playwright Frederick Knott’s 1966 play. Fast-forward 50 years, replace the mean streets of LA at 10 PM with the placid lanes of mid-day LO, and my reaction was a bit milder – but the show still left me gripping the arms of my seat.  Director Nancy McDonald, her 6-person cast, and solid production team bring Jeffrey Hatcher’s 2015 adaptation to life with a slow burn that builds in intensity to a white-knuckle, chilling conclusion – bravo, Lakewood Theatre Company!

Hatcher’s adaptation varies in several ways from the original play and movie. He has moved the action from the 1960s to 1944, with World War II a silent drumbeat behind the play’s action, he has made subtle changes that give two female characters more complexity and strength, and he has recast the first scene in a way that allows for a key plot element to be more of a surprise. In a nutshell (carefully avoiding spoilers) a young blind woman, Susan, is living in a basement apartment in Greenwich Village with her husband Sam. On a recent business trip, Sam has accidentally brought home a smuggler’s doll, which disappears from the apartment before the doll’s owner and accomplices are able to reclaim it. Sam is called away again, and in his absence the criminals both deceive and terrorize Susan in their relentless pursuit of the missing doll. The presence or absence of light in the apartment determines whether Susan’s blindness is more of a handicap or an asset – hence, the title Wait Until Dark.

In a uniformly strong cast, three performances really sparkle, in part because each actor undergoes significant transformation through the course of the play. Taylor Jean Grady (Susan) completely commits to her character’s blindness, overtly and consistently using her listening skills to compensate for her visual handicap. Initially somewhat unsure and vulnerable (she has not been blind for long), Grady gradually reveals her character’s intelligence and inner strength as she evolves from victim to heroine. Mario Calgano’s “Mike” is a convincing ally as the trustworthy outsider who earns the audience’s confidence as quickly as he earns Susan’s. Calgano’s subsequent transformations are equally believable, and he fully earns his unusual anti-hero status. The big surprise for me is young Lana Sage, whose portrayal of Susan’s neighbor Gloria is mature, nuanced, and utterly authentic. Alternately funny, and sad, gawky and adept, sarcastic and loving, confident and needy, Sage captures all of the contradictions of adolescence in her performance.

Of the remaining three actors, Stan Yeend (as Sgt. Carlino) has the most stage time, and he creates the quintessential crooked New York cop with his physical bulk, bluster and irritating condescension. Paul Angelo’s “Roat,” the evil mastermind, projects a consistent and profound malevolence; his explosively unpredictable nature adds an extra layer of malice to the performance. The final role is that of Susan’s husband Sam, ably played by Daniel Zubrinsky but whose character is defined more in his absence than his presence – Hatcher’s script gives him short shrift. However, Zubrinsky’s role as fight choreographer merits high praise – it’s a very physical play, with no shortage of critically violent scenes.

A lot of the credit for the show’s terrifying film noir ambience must go to the gloomy set (by scenic designer John Gerth) and the marvelous lighting design by the team of Juniper and Nate Zwainlesk.  Director McDonald exploits every dark corner of the single setting to enhance the show’s action and to keep up the show’s relentless pacing.

Wait Until Dark is playing at the Lake Oswego’s Lakewood Center for the Arts through Sunday, February 16^th. Ticket information is available at www.lakewood-center.org

STAGES’ Chicago Heats Things Up at HART

Photo by Frank Hunt

By Tina Arth

Chicago holds the record as the longest running musical  (and the longest running musical revival) in Broadway history. It is a challenging show – doing it well requires not only fine actors and solid vocals, but also top-notch choreography delivered with style and precision to honor Bob Fosse’s original vision. I have seen two productions of Chicago that really knocked my socks off, and remarkably, both were done by high schoolers, and both in Hillsboro (must be something in the water?). My first trip to Chicago via Hillsboro was over a decade ago, my second just last Saturday night at HART Theatre, where an amazing STAGES cast is drawing full houses and copious cheers for the relatively new (2017) high school edition of the Kander and Ebb classic.  Director/choreographer Linda Anderson has assembled a dynamite cast from an enthusiastic and talented mix of STAGES veterans and newcomers, and the result will surprise anyone skeptical about the potential of youth theater.

The story hasn’t changed much for the high school edition – just a slight reduction in overt sexual themes and adult language, a few songs removed. It’s still a broad parody of the glitz and glamour that defined the “American Dream” of the Roaring Twenties – set in Chicago, where almost anything goes. We see chorus girl Roxie Hart murder her lover, then convince her hapless schlub of a husband, Amos, to take the rap. Roxie’s cover story falls apart, and she ends up in jail with several other notorious female killers, including vaudevillian Velma Kelly, currently the darling of the sensational and sentimental press. Headline grabbing lawyer Billy Flynn adds Roxie to his caseload (he already represents Velma) and the two women compete for headlines, public support, and Billy’s attention. The ultimate goal is not just acquittal – the women are convinced that their time in the spotlight will propel them to stardom.

I think one reason Chicago works so well is that, despite the darkly mature themes, the authors have taken a playful view of the material that meshes beautifully with the natural joie de vivre of a stage full of singing, dancing teens. Neither the dancing nor the vocals are perfect in the STAGES production – but they are brimming with an energy and vitality that really bring the material to life. There is no self-consciousness in the STAGES cast’s embrace of Bob Fosse’s inimitable style – the rolling shoulders, turned in knees, hip thrusts and shuffling that manage to be simultaneously sexy and silly – somewhere between conventional dance and pantomime in unison.  These kiddos have worked hard to make it look easy, and the result is not to be missed.

Riley Irvine is spectacular as Roxie Hart – she’s lithe, flexible, cute as a murderous little bug, and she pulls off her vocals with panache. I especially loved her “Me and My Baby” with Kada and Logan Switzer as a pair of adorable (if somewhat oversized) dancing babies. Madeline Hui has lots of evil fun as Roxie’s rival and ultimate partner, Velma Kelly, starting by belting out her audience-grabbing lead in “All That Jazz” and showing off her vocal and physical flexibility with an eye-catching rendition of “I Can’t Do It Alone.” Margaret Burden’s physicality and stage presence as “Mama Morton” had me scrabbling in my program to be sure I had not misread her age, because twelve-year-olds simply are not supposed to bring that level of maturity to a role!

While many of the best roles in Chicago are reserved for women, there are a couple of key male roles, and STAGES captured some solid performers to fill these parts. Jamie Burgess is appropriately sleazy as Billy Flynn, and he showcases a solid voice and dancer’s fluidity in one of the show’s funniest numbers, “We Both Reached for the Gun.”  For me, the portrayal of Amos Hart can make or break the show, and in the beginning I was a little skeptical that Kit Webster was the right guy for the job. However, Webster’s “Mr. Cellophane” number demonstrated that he really understood not just the role, but the brilliant Bert Williams character that inspired the song, and he took me to the brink of tears.

In addition to acting as director and choreographer, Linda Anderson also gets credit for the show’s fabulous costumes – while the book for the original show may have been modified to PG, the girls were allowed to flaunt some fine bodies in attire appropriate to the era, tasteful but far, far from puritanical. With a very simple, almost black box set, the lighting is key to creating Chicago’s razzle dazzle; Anderson’s concept and Brian Ollom and Jacque Davies’ lighting design are executed flawlessly.

Go to the STAGES website and buy tickets right away – only two more weekends, and several shows are close to selling out.

STAGES’ Chicago runs through Sunday, January 19^th, at HART Theatre, 185 SE Washington Street, Hillsboro.