Doolittle and Company Do A Lot at Broadway Rose

 

 

By Tina Arth and Darrell Baker

 

My Fair Lady is indisputably one of the best English language musicals ever written – not surprising given its Shavian antecedents. Story aside, the music has permeated our culture for over 50 years, and even people who have never seen it on stage or screen are likely to recognize such enduring songs as “On the Street Where You Live” and “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly.”



Because it is a long, complex endeavor that demands an exacting blend of singing, dancing, acting (oh, those English accents!) and multiple elaborate sets, the show is not performed as often as it deserves to be. It’s bloomin’ loverly that Broadway Rose has the financial backing, theater, talent base, organizational structure, orchestra and community support to pull it off with such aplomb.



Jazmin Gorsline as Eliza Doolittle.

As with the songs, most theater lovers are familiar with the story of Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower seller plucked from the gutter by misogynist Henry Higgins and his linguist colleague, Col. Pickering.  Higgins’ boastful claim is that he will, in six months, transform Eliza’s dreadful diction and syntax so dramatically that he can pass her off as at least a duchess or, even more demanding, a lady’s maid.

Actor Kevin Connell skillfully navigates the tricky waters of Henry Higgins’ less-than-loveable personality.  He is loud, self-centered, supercilious, and pedantic but still displays moments of charm that allow us to partially overlook his multitudinous character flaws – in part on the strength of his singing. Darius Pierce (Col. Pickering) serves as a compelling sounding board – perhaps as brilliant as his colleague, but a much nicer fellow. His performance is gently effective – he is Dr. Watson to Higgins’ Sherlock Holmes.

The object of all of this linguistic expertise, of course, is Eliza Doolittle – without a powerhouse Eliza, there is no show. Jazmin Gorsline, having played the role in three previous productions, brings a wealth of experience to her part – and it really shows. She is a superb vocalist, her accent(s) are unerring, even when the script calls for rapid-fire shifts, and she develops a captivating personality as the show progresses.

Broadway Rose mainstay Dan Murphy plays Eliza’s father, the irascibly philosophical Alfred P. Doolittle. Murphy displays remarkable vocal and terpsichorean agility in two demanding song and dance numbers, and the clanking tankards maneuver in “Get Me To the Church On Time” is a real showstopper. Henry Higgins’ mother, played with surgical precision by Pat Lach, gets the biggest laughs of the evening. Her accent, timing, and oh-so-veddy British demeanor mine every line for its full comic potential.

Blake Cranston portrays ingénue Freddy Eynsford-Hill as a deer in the headlights – so enamored of Eliza that he can’t think straight. His clear tenor voice gives poignancy to “On the Street Where You Live.” Housekeeper Mrs. Pearce, played by Paige Jones, serves as a confident and subtly spunky adversary, quietly defending Eliza from Higgins’ worst verbal and emotional abuse despite her “subservient” status.

As always, the Broadway Rose ensemble is excellent – time and again, group vocals build from small beginnings to powerful crescendos. Choreographer Jacob Toth has clearly worked his cast hard, and the dance numbers are sharply captivating. Music director Alan D. Lytle and his eleven-piece orchestra tackle the complex score with an enthusiastic precision that belies the troupe’s modest size.

As mentioned above, My Fair Lady is a long show – with intermission, this production runs about three hours. We are delighted that Director Sharon Maroney did not succumb to the temptation to trim the show or rush the pacing – she allows her actors the time to explore their characters and fully develop key scenes. It may be years before a top-notch production of My Fair Lady plays again in the metro area, and we strongly recommend that musical fans take advantage of the opportunity to see this marvelous show during this run.

The Broadway Rose production of My Fair Lady runs through Sunday, August 18^th at the Deb Fennell Auditorium in Tigard.

Caesar Takes Hillsboro Civic Center by Storm

The production features an all-female cast. Photo by Casey Campbell

 

 

"Thought-provoking" interpretation goes beyond "adaptation"

 

 

By Tina Arth and Darrell Baker

 

Take Julius Caesar, one of Shakespeare’s best known and most often performed plays. Mess with the script – move things around, add new dialogue, condense from the original five to only two (relatively short) acts. Cast the almost all-male show entirely with women, stage it in the round, without amplification, and do it outdoors – in Oregon. What could go wrong? Probably a lot, but in Scott Palmer’s remarkable staging of Julius Caesar for Hillsboro’s Bag&Baggage – nothing!

Palmer’s approach to the play goes well beyond “adaptation” – his casting, costumes (wonderfully timeless creations by costume designer Melissa Heller), staging and script work together to reimagine the play into a powerful and cohesive story that breathes new life into what can be a mind-numbing maze of plots and characters. Remarkably, the all-woman cast is in many ways the least revolutionary feature – although it may be the casting that frees Palmer, his actors, and his audience from 500 years of convention. The dry, sneaky Roman patricians skulking around the Forum in togas and sandals have been stripped to their barbaric essence - a tribe of earthy, wild haired warriors passionately defending their vision of Rome’s greatness.

In Palmer’s opening address, he refers to his cast as a group of “kick ass” women, which hardly prepares the audience for the raw physicality permeating the production. Cyndi Rhoads plays the expanded role of Julius Caesar as a compelling, but somewhat delusional leader who has begun to believe his own press. Rebecca Ridenour as Caesar’s closest friend, Brutus, perfectly captures the character’s angst at being forced to choose principle over affection. Marc Antony’s assertion that Brutus was the noblest Roman of them all is abundantly supported by Ridenour’s portrayal of the tragic patriot. The second prong of the triumvirate of assassins, Cassius (Arianne Jacques), provides a powerful contrast to Brutus’ purity – Jacques gives Cassius a sly and manipulative persona that fits well with Caesar’s perception of his enemy. Clara Hillier as the third prong, Casca, offers a strong, clear voice and superb acting in a physically demanding role.

Stephanie Leppert brings to the role of Brutus’ wife Portia at least as much power as any of her “male” colleagues.   One of the most moving moments in the play comes from the skillful blend of her beautiful voice and hysterical sobbing after Caesar’s death. Cassie Greer plays Caesar’s staunchest supporter, Marc Antony, with a combination of sincere love for his leader and a sophisticated political acumen. She especially shines in Caesar’s funeral eulogy, and she gives a humorous reading of Antony’s sly oratorical skill when she “accidentally” reveals the contents of Caesar’s will to the citizens of Rome.

 It is difficult to believe that there are only eleven cast members in the production – during battle scenes, with staffs flying, John Armour’s superb fight choreography relieves emotional tension by creating the sights, sounds and fury of pitched conflict. The minimalist set effectively utilizes not only the area encircled by the audience, but the entire Civic Center Plaza, to recreate the Roman Forum and the plains of Philippi.

In the hands of this astonishing ensemble of “kick ass” women, Julius Caesar delivers an entertaining and thought-provoking evening that is much more accessible to modern audiences than Mr. Shakespeare’s original work.

Bag&Baggage’s production of Julius Caesar runs through August 17^th with shows at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings.

Some Americans Abroad – Oh, the Humanities!

The cast of Some Americans Abroad at HART Theatre.

By Tina Arth and Darrell Baker

 

HART Theatre’s current production, Some Americans Abroad, is an often humorous but curiously unsettling exploration of some of the characters, conventions, and pretensions of a (presumably Ivy League, but unnamed) university English Department. Playwright Richard Nelson clearly knows his subject well, but for the audience it sometimes seems like a series of black and white New Yorker cartoons linked by a parody of high-toned and obscure literary criticism and intellectual dishonesty.

Set in England during one of those ubiquitous summer education programs meant to inoculate undergrads with culture by immersing them in classic theater, the show revolves around (a) the plight of lecturer Henry McNeil, one of the program chaperones who is on the verge of non-reappointment (what, in the non-academic world is called “being fired”), (b) the cowardly angst of Department Chair Joe Taylor, who takes the easiest short-term path by lying to Henry about his impending fate, (c) the temporary disappearance of student/tour participant Donna Silliman, who ditches several plays to hang with a newfound love from Brown (until he goes off to Paris with his actual girlfriend), (d) Silliman’s ploy to earn a passing grade by claiming to have been groped by another professor, Philip Brown, and (e) Brown’s affair with yet another professor, Frankie Lewis. The white-knuckle drama is heightened by some truly frightening revelations – McNeil’s Ph.D. is from (gasp) Case Western Reserve University (buried as it is in the heart of flyover country, how good can it be?), McNeil has promising job opportunities, but at the high school level (oh, the humanity!), Joe and Philip are at serious odds on the value of George Bernard Shaw’s oeuvre (can you feel the tension now?), and McNeil has overpaid a car rental company by (gasp again) five pounds! Out of the Department’s budget! Add in the failure of former department chair Orson Baldwin to formally invite McNeil and his wife to visit their home in the English countryside and you have the stuff of which nightmares are made.

Director Stephen Kelsey acknowledges in his notes that the show is “driven by more character than plot” – thus, casting the right actors is key, and Kelsey most definitely has done just that. Joe Taylor (Jim Crino) might seem, to those unfamiliar with academia, to be an exaggeration – but we have known humanists just that self-centered, hypocritical, and domineering. Crino succeeds in making us thoroughly despise Taylor – job well done! Tom Witherspoon plays McNeil as a wide-eyed innocent willing to accept his colleagues’ covert disdain, hoping against hope that he can retain his job by being thoroughly unobjectionable. We are told repeatedly that “everybody likes Betty” (McNeil’s wife, played by Angela Michtom) and we could not agree more. Michtom brings emotional strength and honesty to her role, and has more cojones than all of the male characters in the cast put together. Maille O’Brien’s portrayal of Frankie Lewis is comparably strong; although she is betraying her husband, she shows a fiery loyalty to her paramour, Brown. Despite the contradictions in her character, O’Brien gives a clear and concise interpretation and remains likeable throughout. Dan Kroon’s reading of Brown makes it difficult to see what inspires this loyalty – his constant arguments with best friend Taylor are studies in small-mindedness.

The remainder of the cast bring strong backgrounds to the show. Of particular note – Dalene Young’s portrayal of Harriet Baldwin is attractively quirky as she remains pleasantly disconnected from the academic politics swirling around her. Tourists Ilana Watson and Brandon B. Weaver embody the stereotype of the Ugly American – but perhaps could rein in their enthusiastic boorishness a bit.

This is a short engagement, so next weekend will be the last opportunity for Anglophiles, literary critics, and lovers of droll character study to see this rarely performed work.

Some Americans Abroad runs through Sunday, July 28^th, at the HART Theatre, 185 SE Washington Street, Hillsboro.

SLEEPING BEAUTY COMES TO LIFE IN FOREST GROVE

By Tina Arth and Darrell Baker
 



Wendy Upton (left) works with director Ashli Zijdemans.

It’s never too early to introduce children to the magical world of theater, whether from the audience or the stage. Forest Grove’s CAST Playhouse proves this at Theatre in the Grove with their absurdly charming offering of Sleeping Beauty Kids, a 45-minute adaptation of Disney’s movie take on the classic fairy tale. Like the children around us in the audience, we could not take our eyes off the stage as 23 kids from five to twelve brought the love story of Princess Aurora and Prince Philip to life on Saturday evening.

Director Ashli Zijdemans’ dedication shines through the enthusiasm and energy of her cast, who all give 110% to the production. There are too many sparkling performers to name them all, but each of the eight principals brings something special to the stage.

King Stefan and Queen Stefanie (Madison Brandenburg and Sara McVean) are properly regal, keeping a stiff upper lip as they face the heartbreaking decision to protect their newborn from the evil Maleficent’s curse by sending her away. The three fairies, entrusted for sixteen years with the safety of the young princess, deliver many of the show’s funniest moments. Flora (Mariah Mollahan) provides mature leadership to her tiny band, the sweetly cooperative Fauna (Samantha Kennedy) and the hilariously feisty Merryweather (Luella Harrelson).

Wendy Upton portrays the aptly named witch Maleficent with a flamboyant and all-pervading wickedness well beyond her years. Her icy delivery and confident vocals keep the audience, as well as Princess Aurora, quite thoroughly spellbound. 



Abby Cogswell (Princess Aurora), Kiran Bourget Snyder (Prince Phillip)

Abby Cogswell (Princess Aurora) and Kiran Bourget Snyder (Prince Phillip) are a wonderful match – Aurora beautiful, naïve, and sheltered but immediately drawn to the handsome and worldly prince in disguise. The almost-lost art of ballroom dancing is momentarily resurrected in their touching waltz.

Three ensemble groups round out the cast – the fairies in training, the forest animals, and Maleficent’s goons. They provide strong choral support, and the goons are uninhibitedly energetic throughout.

The show’s educational role extends beyond the cast, as the 5-person tech crew (all under 18) provide flawless support. The set, while simple, is effective – and set changes are achieved in record time. The colorful and elaborate costumes dress not only the performers, but the stage, and add to the medieval ambience of the story.

Many thanks to Theatre in the Grove, CAST Playhouse, the Cultural Coalition of Washington County, and the Public Arts Commission of Forest Grove for ensuring that kids in Forest Grove have access to critical theater arts experience. The minimal ticket prices and open registration for the cast mean that no child who wants to participate is turned away. The show has one more weekend to run, and we strongly recommend that you show your support by taking your kids, grandkids, or anyone who’s young at heart to see Sleeping Beauty Kids.

 

Sleeping Beauty Kids runs through July 21^st, with performances at 7 pm on Friday the 19^th and Saturday the 20^th and a 2:30 matinee on July 21^st. Tickets are available at Theatre in the Grove, 2028 Pacific Avenue, Forest Grove.

Broadway Rose: Cats Done Right



The Cats ensemble at Broadway Rose.

By Tina Arth and Darrell Baker

There are people who love Cats (we refer, of course, to the musical, not the wee beasties), and there are those who do not. Prior to Friday night’s opening at Broadway Rose, we would have placed ourselves quite firmly into the latter group. As we left the Deb Fennell Auditorium, we realized that although the Broadway Rose production had not magically transformed us into Cats fanatics (sorry, Mister Mistoffelees), it had definitely reinforced our love for this marvelous theater company. Irrespective of our perhaps narrow-minded perception of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s enduring classic, the current Broadway Rose offering is simply spectacular.

The show features vibrant costumes and makeup.

From the moment the lights came up, we knew we were in for an extraordinary evening – the lighting and set are breathtaking. Musical director Eric Little has outdone himself: the vocal ensembles are the best we’ve heard this year, and he conducts the first-rate orchestra with unerring control, even when the score is at its most strident. The imaginative and vibrant costumes and makeup added color and life to the stylized junkyard setting.

Some of the Portland area’s best dancers strut their stuff.

Sarah Catherine Wheatly and Joe Thiessen perform a scene. 

Director Lyn Cramer has assembled a solid cast of singers and dancers. Some of the strongest performances are delivered by several Broadway Rose veterans, who show surprising skill as dancers in addition to the vocal prowess we have come to expect from them. The most memorable song in the show, of course, is “Memory,” and Amy Jo Halliday (Grizabella) delivers two very distinctive interpretations. In Act I she gives the number a soft and wistful tone, while her much louder Act II rendition reflects her desperation at the losses that come with aging and the threat of dying. Norman Wilson (Skimbleshanks) is impossible to miss – he provides key support in practically every ensemble number, and his big solo, “Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat,” is a show highlight that gives this talented actor a chance to display his amazing voice and agile footwork.



Sara Catherine Wheatley (Jellylorum), last seen at Broadway Rose’s New Stage reprising her role as Patsy Cline, proves that she’s much more than just a country singer with “Gus, The Theatre Cat,” a haunting and evocative number. While most of the show’s nearly non-stop dancing is derived from ballet, modern, and jazz, Wheatley (with fellow performers Ecaterina Lynn and Megan Misslin) adds sparkling variety with a lively tap routine in “The Old Gumbie Cat.”

Few musicals rely as heavily on dance as “Cats,” and some of the Portland area’s best dancers are brought together for this show. In a production where standout performances are the norm, special recognition is still merited by Don Kenneth Mason (Munkustrap), Sarah Shelton (Jennyanydots), Christopher Patterson-Rosso (Growltiger/Rumpus Cat), and returning veteran Scott Cherry (Plato/Macavity).

It was clear from their enthusiasm that the opening night audience was heavily populated by Cats fans who were delighted with this superb production. Undoubtedly many who entered as Cats doubters left the theater as true believers, as evidenced by the rousing standing ovation at show’s end. We strongly suggest that you buy your tickets soon.

 

The Broadway Rose production of Cats is playing at Tigard’s Deb Fennell Auditorium, 9000 SW Durham Road, through the 21^st of July.

HART’s Mattress Anything But a Sleeper

 

 

By Tina Arth and Darrell Baker

 

Truth in advertising: we had a tough time imagining how Once Upon a Mattress would play in the relatively small space available at Hillsboro’s HART Theatre. Immediately after the lights went up at Friday’s opening performance, we relaxed – it became clear that the intimacy of the venue is an asset, not a liability, at least in the hands of this production’s director, cast, and production crew.

 
Mattress purports to tell the real story of the beloved children’s classic, The Princess and the Pea. The team of Jay Thompson and Dean Fuller (book), Marshall Barer (lyrics), and Mary Rodgers (music) created an adult fairy tale that has brought laughter to audiences for over 50 years – ever since funny lady Carol Burnett made her Broadway debut in the role of Princess Winnifred.  In this version, the aptly named Queen Aggravain has decreed that no one in the kingdom may marry before her son, the much-daunted Prince Dauntless, weds an approved princess. For reasons best left unexplored, no woman is good enough for the Queen, who devises impossible tests for each would-be royal bride. The story opens with the rejection of applicant #12, the Prince’s apparent last hope. The unplanned pregnancy of Lady Larken inspires baby daddy Sir Harry to rove far afield in search of another candidate. After combing the northern swamps, he returns with Winnifred the Woebegone (“Fred”) a moat-swimming bog princess and unlikely heroine who captures the hearts of all except, of course, her potential mother-in-law.

Wendy Bax plays the part of Queen Aggravain as though she had been, as Groucho Marx once said, “vaccinated with a phonograph needle.” Her aggressively strident performance captures the spirit of the conniving über-momma to perfection. Her husband, the accursed King Sextimus the Silent, is skillfully portrayed by local theater veteran Tony Smith, a character actor so good at playing “befuddled” that we sometimes wonder how he finds his way home from the theater.

Ky Fifer (Sir Harry) handles the transition from arrogant sexist to sensitive lover with aplomb, and his superb delivery of “Yesterday I Loved You” adds a touching romantic interlude to the show’s comedic tone. Kristin Barrett (Lady Larken) brings vulnerability, crystal diction, and a fine singing voice to the role. She has great timing and a mobile face that bring comic relief to the pathos of her predicament.

In a show filled with strong vocal performances, Jake Beaver (the Jester) and Brandon Weaver (the Minstrel) stand out. Their solo and duet numbers provide some of the finest musical moments, and Weaver’s formal enunciation creates a medieval atmosphere. In “Very Soft Shoes,” a tribute to the Jester’s father, Beaver display surprising coordination and grace twirling a magic wand.

Tyler Gould gives Prince Dauntless’ wide-eyed innocence and curiosity a restraint that really works in the small theater, where subtle facial expressions can speak volumes, and his strong vocals make “Song of Love” a delight. His shy but eager demeanor is a perfect counterpoint to Fred’s bold physicality. Finally, there’s Erin Zelazney (Fred). From the opening notes of “Shy” we knew that we, like Dauntless, were in love. She is a brassy belter with a solid voice, yet she conveys a plaintive insecurity that makes “Happily Ever After” a show-stopper (with the aid of those marvelous puppets).

In an act of close-up magic, Director Peter Stein and Music Director Alice Dalrymple succeed in putting a large-scale musical, including complex vocal harmonies and broad physical comedy, virtually into the laps of a very appreciative audience.

 

Once Upon a Mattress is playing at Hillsboro’s HART Theatre, 185 S.E. Washington Street, through June 30, with performances Friday and Saturday at 7:30 and Sunday matinees at 2:00.

 

 

THE DIXIE SWIM CLUB: IT’S ALL ABOUT TEAMWORK

By Tina Arth and Darrell Baker

 

Theatre in the Grove’s current offering, The Dixie Swim Club, is one of those rare show-biz animals where the quality of the production not only enhances, but outshines, the quality of the original script.  The play, a 2007 work by playwrights Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten, is occasionally overly expository and somewhat derivative, with strong influences from oft-performed classics like Same Time, Next Year and Steel Magnolias, plus a liberal dose of The Golden Girls  (not surprising, as Wooten was a co-writer on the popular sitcom). Happily, Director Jeanine Stassens does not allow her fine cast to rely on trite stereotypes to develop their characters.

The Dixie Swim Club tells the story of five women, friends since their college swim-team days, who reunite annually at a cottage on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Over a 55-year period, the friends are shown reconnecting as they navigate their lives’ many changes – challenges like unwed motherhood, no-account children and husbands, leaving the convent, the physical changes associated with aging (and one characters’ fight to ward off this harsh reality), disease, grandchildren, and even death. Through all of the drama, the five very different women manage to preserve the friendships that grew from their accidental meeting in the college pool.

Former team captain Sheree (Jeanna Van Dyke) is, in many ways, the dominant member of the group. Alone at the beginning of the first scene, she seems somewhat uninhibited, but Van Dyke smoothly shifts into her character’s take-charge persona as soon as Lexie (Patti Speight) arrives on the scene. Van Dyke manages to be pushy and intrusive while retaining a fundamental likeability that justifies her friends’ loyalty; in the scene where she finally cracks, Van Dyke convincingly finds her character’s long-suppressed vulnerability. Speight has a lot of fun, and many of the best lines, with the role of Lexie, who seems to be irredeemably self-centered and shallow (who MARRIES her plastic surgeon?).  In the second act Lexie is forced to undergo a dramatic transformation, and Speight gracefully handles the challenge of plumbing her character’s new-found depth.

The characters of Jeri Neil (Tanja Crouch) and Dinah (Anne Kennedy) also undergo profound personality changes. Jeri Neil moves from naive nun to happily married woman, yet Crouch manages to retain her character’s fundamental innocence even as she becomes a sexual being. Dinah bridges her estrangement from Lexie, evolving from a career-driven (and hard-drinking) solo lifestyle to a compassionate and supportive friend. Kennedy demonstrates her skill as an actress through the restraint she brings to her performance.

The role of Vernadette, plagued by a lifetime of hard luck, in many ways dwarfs the breadth of the other characters’ transformations. Virginia Kincaid brings years of acting experience to the part; her timing and delivery provide comic relief until the last scene, where she subtly expresses her own unique version of memory loss and aging.

The teamwork of director, cast, and crew combine to breathe life and depth into the play.

The quality of the acting is matched by strong production values – the sound and lighting are flawless. Director Stassen and Zachary Centers have designed a striking set that manages to capture the beauty of the unseen beach panorama and the elegant charm of the cottage.

The Dixie Swim Club plays at Theatre in the Grove, 2028 Pacific Avenue, Forest Grove through June 16^th.