"Unnecessary Farce"

Theatre review
"Unnecessary Farce" at Cortland Repertory Theatre
Ithaca Times
July 29, 2009
654 words
"Get Smart"

full text here

Get Smart

Mark Tedeschi

"Unnecessary Farce," by Paul Slade Smith. Directed by Kerby Thompson, with assistant director Corrine Grover. Starring Dustin Charles, Crystal Rona Peterson, Morgan Reis, Mark Bader, Justin Theo Klose, Joshua Murphy, and Erica Livingston. With scenic designer Carl Tallent, costume designer Wendi Zea, lighting designer Kathryn Furst, and sound designer David Hubner.

Ah, the farce. Ribald repartee, spirited slapstick, doors galore. What's not to love? Unnecessary Farce, playing at Cortland Repertory Theatre through this Saturday, has all the ingredients an audience craves in a helping of drama's trustiest genre.

Paul Slade Smith's script focuses on comedy over storytelling, though the action paces fast throughout. Around the peppered-in exposition lies a charming, twisty plot involving espionage, political intrigue, and plenty of bedroom chaos. Director Kerby Thompson - also CRT's producing artistic director - ensures the commotion's precise delivery.

The inventive set, designed by Carl Tallent, mimics a duo of adjacent motel rooms, each with a closet and a bathroom, divided by an invisible wall and adjoined by a door - technically, two - bringing the entry/exit count to a grand total of eight. The organic lighting, designed by Kathryn Furst, equally validates the milieu.

The right-hand room is occupied by Eric Sheridan, a nervous, reticent cop played by a mustachioed Dustin Charles (no stranger to farce at CRT) and his ambitious partner Billie (Crystal Rona Peterson), so excited to be part of an undercover operation that she just had to wear her police uniform. Their mission: capture video evidence of Mayor Meekly (Mark Bader) meeting next door with his accountant, Karen Brown (Morgan Reis), reportedly so he can bribe her to cover up his embezzlement.

Karen is privy to the sting, and her platonic meeting with Eric the previous night sparked an apparently never-lit fuse in her libido. Reis and Charles nail the awkward combination of Karen's newfound sensual energy with Eric's carnal timidity, and the characters spend much of their alone time losing the fight to postpone jumping each other's bones.

The plan faces further complication when Agent Frank steps in. He's head of security for the Mayor and played with bipolar emotion by CRT newcomer (and hopefully future repeat performer) Justin Theo Klose; he's torn between his sense of Town Hall duty and an allegiance to a powerful crime syndicate called the Scottish Clan and its mysterious leader known only as Big Mac.

It gets weirder. The head assassin for the Scottish Clan is nicknamed the Highland Hitman, a menacing moniker compared to his given name: Todd. As Todd, Joshua Murphy, tall and insistent, thickens his Scottish accent on cue, rendering it indecipherable when his character becomes angry or flustered. Billie discovers a knack for decoding Todd's jargon; one translation turns into a long tongue-twister that Peterson delivers flawlessly.

When Todd first appears, he's wearing a sharp suit and sunglasses, but we've already learned of his penchant for carrying out executions in full traditional Scottish garb. When the time comes, costume designer Wendi Zea has him in a kilt, knee socks, a fuzzy headdress, a baggy-sleeved shirt, and a "man purse" - he even dons bagpipes. (Additional recognition goes to Zea for underwear design, as there's quite a lot of disrobing in the show.)

In the second act, we meet the Mayor's wife, Mary Meekly (Erica Livingston, fresh from her "Damn Yankees" stint), a polite old lady combing the motel to locate her husband, who's been catching everyone at the wrong moment. Bader allows Mayor Meekly to live up to his name - earnest and humble, he responds to bedlam with a calm grace.

I have two small grumbles, and one regards the characters' lack of intelligence. Farce characters generally aren't known for their perspicacity, but in this play, their denseness often seems too exploited for Smith's intentions of telling a semi-believable story with credible characters. Similarly, the repeated jokes become tired the more they occur ("That's clan... with a C!"), especially when they deal with sex (e.g. Mayor Meekly's frequent habit of stepping into a room with a struggle occurring on the bed).

But despite the rampant lunacy, Unnecessary Farce is a smart play and an enjoyable diversion. Paul Slade Smith is, for sure, a promising playwright who understands the undeniable necessity of farce.


Crystal Rona Peterson, Joshua Murphy and Justin Klose in the Cortland Repetory Theatre’s production of ‘Unnecessary Farce.’ (Photo provided)

Theatre review
"Damn Yankees!" at Cortland Repertory Theatre
Ithaca Times
July 8, 2009
756 words
"Grand Slam"

full text here

Grand Slam

Mark Tedeschi

"Damn Yankees!," book by George Abbott and Douglas Wallop, music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. Directed by Jim Bumgardner. Starring Erica Livingston, Jef Canter, Dominick Varney, Peter Carrier, Tom Frye, Meghan Rozak, Robert Finley, Alyson Tolbert. With musical director David Hahn, choreographer Daniel B. Hess, dance captain Jared Tius, scenic designer Jason Bolen, costume designer Wendi Zee, lighting designer Shawn Boyle, and sound designer David Huber.

Every summer, Cortland Rep chooses a "bigger" show as its seasonal centerpiece to run for three weeks instead of the usual two. Last year's The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and 2007's Fiddler on the Roof were laudable exemplars of consolidation, shrinking the larger-scale musicals just enough to work on the Edward Jones Playhouse stage. This year, they're putting on the 1955 Broadway hit Damn Yankees!, and darned if CRT didn't make the classic seem born to be played in a smaller space. The fickle characters become endearing, the Faustian story feels accessible, and the hammy humor hits home.

In this Jim Bumgardner-directed production, the beer-bellied and bum-kneed Joe Boyd (Jef Canter with a pillow in his shirt) glues himself to an easy chair and shouts at his favorite baseball team on TV (as do his friends in the boisterous opener "Six Months Out of Every Year") while his wife Meg (Erica Livingston) hands him a beer and bemoans his cocoon of preoccupation (a concern for the other wives, too).

After the game, Boyd steps outside - actually, through a wheelable door frame matched by a quick change in lighting, respectively courtesy of Jason Bolen and Shawn Boyle. He makes an offhand comment to a slick-looking salesman, Mr. Applegate (Dominick Varney), about selling his soul if it meant fewer losses for the Washington Senators at the hands of those damn Yankees. Applegate offers him a deal involving a last-minute escape clause and turns him into a fit, 22-year-old baseball wunderkind named Joe Hardy. During the transformation Boyd sings "Goodbye Old Girl" to himself, the song apparently all he needs to justify abruptly and discreetly leaving his wife to fulfill a pipe dream for six months. Nevertheless, he heads to the ballpark, Applegate in tow.

Peter Carrier plays Joe Hardy as modest and earnest, making it easy to like him - plus, he has an excellent voice, evidenced in two duets with Livingston, "A Man Doesn't Know," and later, "Near to You." Hardy meets the Senators after their "Blooper Ballet," a tour de force of music (David Hahn, director), sound (David Huber), lighting, and choreography (Daniel B. Hess). The baseball players pantomime a number of blunder gags with razor-sharp timing and unmissable athleticism - and even some acrobatics.

In the locker room, Coach Van Buren (a spry Tom Frye) leads the Senators in the harmony-laden "Heart," the catchy number wherein the team boasts, "We always lose / but we're laughing 'cause / we've got heart!" Applegate convinces Van Buren to let Hardy try out. Afterward, he's taken to meet Commissioner Welch (Robert Finley, last seen at CRT in "Ten Little Indians") while the crafty local sportswriter, Gloria Thorpe (a zestful Meghan Rozak), comes up with a hook for Hardy's public image: "Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, MO."

As Hardy poses for endorsements (note Bolen's impressive painted set pieces) and carries the Senators closer to the pennant, he can't help missing his wife. Applegate calls upon Hell's signature femme fatale, Lola (Alyson Tolbert), to distract him. She details her experience working for Applegate in "A Little Brains, A Little Talent," a number that showcases Tolbert's excellent dancing capabilities but plays a bit more happy than seductive. Likewise, it's easy to understand Hardy's reluctance to "give in" to her advances in "Whatever Lola Wants (Lola Gets)," as she poses as a naïve coquette with a squeaky, nondescript South American accent - it's even kind of sad when Applegate calls her on overdoing it, saying "They cut that from 'Carmen,' honey." The later Lola/Applegate duet "Two Lost Souls" plays much more comfortably, likely because Lola has admitted she's begun to empathize with Hardy.

Varney, though, never falters. After starring in two farces at CRT (How The Other Half Loves, Leading Ladies) he knows how to work the crowd. He's never sang at CRT before this show, though, and his confident vocals in "Those Were the Good Old Days" prove yet another strength. His comic delivery employs tenacious timing and highlights Applegate's joyful approach to causing trouble.

He also fits right into Zee's sleek costume design, everything from dress shoes to ringmaster cape using a combination of black and crimson. Zee's other colorful costume pieces - striped ties, plaid aprons, baseball uniforms, thick-framed glasses - place you promptly into the early 1950s.

Damn Yankees! runs about two and a half hours, but it contains enough singing, dancing, and comedy to maintain the fun. Fans of the show and first-timers alike should appreciate a version that proves "scaled down" can be a compliment.


The Broadway hit ‘Damn Yankees!’ at the Cortland Repetory Theatre. (Photo provided)

"Once on This Island"

Theatre review
"Once on This Island" at the Hangar Theatre
Ithaca Times
June 24, 2009
746 words
"Crossed Lovers"

full text here

Crossed Lovers

Mark Tedeschi

"Once on This Island," book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, music by Stephen Flaherty. Directed by Jesse Bush. Starring Lauren Davis, Jamal Lee Harris, Brianna Horne, James Jackson, Jr., Isaiah Johnson, Joaquina Kalukango, Jewell Payne, Frank Viveros, Jacque Tara Washington, Raena White, Darryl Jovan Williams. With scenic and lighting designer Steve TenEyck, costume designer Kenann Quander, sound designer Don Tindall, musical director J. Oconer Navarro, and choreographer Cjay Philip.

Packing over 20 attention-grabbing musical numbers in under two hours, Once on This Island, the Hangar Theatre's second mainstage production of the summer, will have you humming long after you've left the theatre.

Set in the French Antilles, Once on This Island is based on Rosa Guy's 1985 novel "My Love, My Love," itself a Caribbean reworking of Hans Christian Anderson's "The Little Mermaid." The plot, told here as a story within a story, deals with the socio-racial complications of a pair of star-cross'd lovers, Ti Moune (Joaquina Kalukango) and Daniel (Jamal Lee Harris). At the Hangar, Jesse Bush directs, spotlighting the best elements and carrying the show with engaging kinetics.

Don Tindall's sound design kicks the show into gear with a noisy thunderstorm that shakes up a peasant village, particularly one young girl (Jewell Payne) whom the villagers rush to comfort with the escapist warmth of a good story. The storytellers act as the characters in their tale; in "We Dance," they introduce the setting, similar to their own, that's ruled by four "powerful, temperamental gods": Asaka, Mother of the Earth (Raena White); Agawé, God of Water (Frank Viveros); Erzulie, Goddess of Love (Brianna Horne); and Papa Ge, Demon of Death (Isaiah Johnson). At first, it's a little tough to parse the cast's faithfully thick Caribbean accents, but the dialect becomes transparent once they roll through the unfamiliar names.

Following a torrential flood, Mama (Jacque Tara Washington) and Tonton (James Jackson, Jr.) discover an orphaned child, spared by the gods, crying in a tree. The ebullient girl is also played by Payne, a student at Ithaca's Boyton Middle School who handily tackles Cjay Philip's vibrant choreography. Mama and Tonton adopt the girl, name her Ti Moune, and poof! She grows up ("One Small Girl").

During "Rain," Daniel - a lighter-skinned young man of the wealthy, French-descended Beauxhomme family - loses control of his car and suffers a nasty crash. Ti Moune discovers him and, through protests from everyone in her family, brings him back to the village, caring for him and praying to the gods. But when Tonton treks to the Beauxhomme mansion to report their discovery, they promptly retrieve Daniel, despite Ti Moune's insistence that her love is the only thing keeping him alive. In "Forever Yours," she offers Papa Ge her own life in place of Daniel's. Papa Ge accepts, knowing that he will return eventually.

In the second act, Ti Moune finds the Hotel Beauxhomme and steals into Daniel's bedroom. After he awakes and realizes who she is, they admit their love for each other, ignoring the cultural distance between them. In "Some Girls," the only full-length, single-performer number in the show, Harris as Daniel belts an earnest solo praising Ti Moune for her unaffected perspective on life. Later, though, the divide proves sturdier than Ti Moune anticipated; Daniel's father Armand (Darryl Jovan Williams) tells him in "Pray (Reprise)," "You are my son / You'll do what must be done / No matter how you feel."

Kalukango proves herself a skilled leading lady, working through Ti Moune's deceptively acrobatic vocal parts in songs like "Waiting for Life" and stopping the show in its tracks during "Ti Moune's Dance" at the ball. In the latter number, Johnson accompanies her on a conga over the orchestra's euphonious, percussive Afro-Caribbean beats. As Papa Ge, Johnson gives his performance a laudable blend of snide causticism and demonic duty.

Kenann Quander's costumes fit the milieu: worn-and-torn garments for the peasants and more regal wear for the Grandes Hommes. Both allow ample movement, since the many musical interludes and crafty staging demands it.

Stephen TenEyck, lighting and scenic designer, endows the stage with a few crucial elements for a poverty-stricken village. Some crates and faded shack doorways fill one side of the stage, but standing out across the background and at the show's thematic root is a large two-dimensional tree, monochrome until the light points at it just right. Thatchy steps lead up to its branches, allowing Ti Moune to bound up and down at will.

That tree, where Ti Moune was first discovered, signifies the villagers' kinship with the Earth and their relationship with the gods. They knew they would learn from Ti Moune, and her unshakable belief in love as a power transcendent of all others is why they continue to tell her story. Guiltless optimism in the face of misfortune, amplified in the Hangar's production, is precisely what makes Once on This Island so enjoyable.


Ti Moune (Joaquina Kalukango) in the Hangar Theatre’s production of “Once On This Island.” (Photo by Thomas Hoebbel Photography)
Members of the cast of ‘MASS,’ at Cornell’s Schwartz Center. (Photo provided)

"Gutenberg! The Musical!"

Theatre review
"Gutenberg! The Musical" at The Kitchen Theatre
Ithaca Times
June 17, 2009
748 words
"Writer's Blocks"

full text here

Writer's Blocks

Mark Tedeschi

"Gutenberg! The Musical!" by Scott Brown and Anthony King. Directed by Rachel Lampert, music directed by Larry Pressgrove. Starring Karl Gregory and Tyrone Mitchell Henderson. With pianist Thomas Jefferson Peters, costume designer Abigail Smith, lighting designer E.D. Intemann, and stage manager Abigail Davis.

"Gutenberg! The Musical!," the Kitchen Theatre's final show of its 2008-2009 season, is no routine playdate with theatrical convention; it's a celebratory satire of the unbridled passion that accompanies the dramatic process. The show's kid-because-we-love send-up, though, is merely a bonus success of its larger victory: relentlessly reducing its audience to ferocious fits of laughter.

Written by Scott Brown and Anthony King, "Gutenberg!" features just two actors - Karl Gregory as the squirrelly, pliable Bud Davenport and Tyrone Mitchell Henderson as the committed, excited Doug Simon. Bud and Doug, two aspiring writers with a shared vision, stage a pared-down approximation of a musical they created for a hopefully Broadway-producer-laden audience. They preface and interrupt their performance with explanations and clarifications, wherein we learn of their intentions to tell the story of Johannes Gutenberg: Since Google informed of the "scant"-ness of specific details on the inventor's life, they take some artistic liberties. In other words, aside from medieval Germany, Johannes Gutenberg and a printing press, they make it all up.

Holding fast to the verisimilitude of a budgetless performance, the extremely minimal set consists of a backgrounded table of some 30 hats labeled with character names and a couple of other multi-use props. The Kitchen's stage appears strikingly spacious, almost barren, placing all attention and pressure on the capabilities of the two leading men.

Under Rachel Lampert's knowing direction, they deliver. Bud and Doug play every character in their show, donning a cap to let us know who they are at all times. Lampert and musical director Larry Pressgrove have collaborated for many years (recently "Bed No Breakfast" and "Tony and the Soprano"), and their seasoned partnership strengthens the subtleties in "Gutenberg!"

In a nutshell: Gutenberg works in a winery. He comes up with the idea to press words instead of wine, to the consternation of the evil Monk and his apprentice Young Monk. Monk persuades Gutenberg's coworker and love interest, Helvetica ("Her name is also a font!") to smash the new machine. I won't reveal any more, except for a few character names: Old Black Narrator, Beef Fat Trimmer, Dead Baby.

During busier portions with many cast members "onstage," their effortless transitions more than once made me forget that I was actually only watching two people.

Pianist and assistant musical director Thomas Jefferson Peters is also there, and in addition to playing an impressive range of styles to accompany Bud and Doug, he helps unleash the wonderful comic timing embedded in the music.

The songs in "Gutenberg!" adhere to a structure parodic in its strictness. The opening number, "Prologue/Schlimmer" introduces the quaint town where citizens have little to do but lament their illiteracy, evidenced in the second song, "I Can't Read." Act I closes with the ballad "Tomorrow Is Tonight," and the climactic, penultimate song in Act 2 is a medley at the biggest event of the year - the German festival, "Festival!"

Often, Bud and Doug explain theatrical terms to the audience, preceded by, "That's what people like us call..." After they perform the non-sequitur "Biscuits," they announce that that was their strategically placed "charm song." They also read set directions aloud: "The stage is filled with doom. And fog."

King, artistic director of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York, and Brown balance "Gutenberg!" with judicious arrangement and modest wit. The story behind the Bud-Doug dynamic is hinted at a few times because it's somehow funnier filling in the rest of the blanks yourself. Any passing strife they encounter takes a back seat to their zeal for the project they've created, as it's clear they've had to compromise to get this far.

There's a smattering of unexpected profanity, but not much - Brown and King take care to capitalize on the element of surprise, and their humor stays smart and consistent instead of pretentious or cheap. However, there is some risk that comes with this brand of satire; the determined if misguided Bud and Doug insist that all great playwrights tackle at least one "important issue" in their work, so they choose the Holocaust. It's not inherently a bad decision - it's just not as likely to draw laughs as the rest of the content.

Despite having very little respite, Gregory and Henderson lose no momentum through the many dance breaks and exhaustive character changes. The quality of the show and the nature of its affection toward its audience make it a splendid summer diversion and a fine conclusion to another season at the Kitchen.


Karl Gregory and Tyrone Mitchell Henderson in ‘Gutenberg! The Musical!,’ now at the Kitchen Theatre. (Photo provided by Megan Pugh)

"Crowns"

Theatre review
"Crowns" at Syracuse Stage
Ithaca Times
May 20, 2009
737 words
"Crowning Glory"

full text here

Crowning Glory

Mark Tedeschi

"Crowns" by Regina Taylor, adapted from the book by Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry. Directed and choreographed by Patdro Harris. Starring Dennis W. Spears, Shannon Antalan, Chandra Currelley, Crystal Fox, Roz White, Valerie Payton, and Terry Burrell. With musical director/pianist William Hubbard, percussionist Otis Gould, scenic designer Felix E. Cochren, costume designer Reggie Ray, lighting designer Jennifer Setlow, and sound designer Jonathan R. Herter.

I am not a fashion expert. In fact, you could say I'm more of a fashion minimalist. I missed out on the discussion of Aretha Franklin's recent inauguration headgear, and when I hear the word "hattitude," I think of Gary Busey giving a slipshod motivational speech in Rookie of the Year. Clearly I have a lot to learn, but fortunately for me, Syracuse Stage's Crowns offers an absorbing and in-depth investigation of a bright corner of the universe of hats - and the people under them.

This past season at Syracuse Stage, the second under producing artistic director Timothy Bond, has comprised myriad glimpses of global culture from Cambodia to Southern California. The final production, Crowns, directed by Patdro Harris, offers a look at African-American women and the role of church hats in their lives. Basically. It's not the hats that are important per se - rather, it's the surrounding societal circumstances and the empowerment these crowns represent.

Regina Taylor based Crowns on a black-and-white photography book from 2000 called Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats. To transfer the rich stories embedded in the pictures to the stage, Taylor created a premise to illustrate the specifics of this historied phenomenon: Yolanda (Shannon Antalan), a spunky teen from Brooklyn, has to relocate to South Carolina after her brother is killed. She moves in with her welcoming grandmother, Mother Shaw (Chandra Currelley), and meets four of Mother Shaw's sagacious hat-enthusiast friends.

Costume designer Reggie Ray, owning the stage with his many gorgeous creations, has dressed the five women in easily distinct color motifs: Mother Shaw wears white; flirtatious Jeanette (Crystal Fox) usually dons an aqua blue; the animated Velma (Roz White) wears a regal purple; dependably candid Mabel (Valerie Payton) is adorned in red; and the fastidious Wanda (Terry Burrell) can always be seen in some kind of yellow. The ladies change costume several times in the show, but Dennis W. Spears, playing a multi-character "Man," has to change at least twice as often as the women. Spears's demanding parts range from an impassioned preacher to an ailing old man, and he plays all of them with equal dedication.

The acting in Crowns is all-around fantastic, and so is the musical performance. Like the costumes, the songs span a wide range of styles, serving the audience portions of drum-heavy African dance music, call-and-response church worship hymns, and even a spirited rap performance from Yolanda.

In solos, each of the women prove formidable tone and control, but White's Velma, in particular, brings forth an exhaustingly committed, carefully paced interpretation of "His Eye Is on the Sparrow" that will stick with you well after you leave the Archbold Theatre.

Behind the scenes (actually, behind a translucent backdrop on Felix E. Cochren's wooden-wonderland church set), William Hubbard goes to work on the ivories and percussionist Otis Gould beats the hell out of anything near him. Their sound controls the mood and directs Harris's choreography, a frenetic blend of African and American spiritual fervor.

The influence of African tradition in Crowns extends beyond its music and dance; the characters are modeled partially from devotional elements in the Western African Yoruba religion. Additionally, for many cultural groups in Africa, adorning oneself for worship is a standard practice, revealing African roots in the church hats' significance.

Yolanda's grandmother and her friends eagerly elucidate the intricacies of hat-tradition, including hat humor. They demonstrate the proper way to hug a woman in a hat and chuckle about garish lampshade-esque hats or those with big red feathers: "It looked like it could fly!"

The crowns in Crowns act as storytelling relics. They spark familial memories even for Yolanda, who clutches her brother's red baseball cap for most of the play. Moreover, the elaborate hats are status symbols (as are the matching shoes, gloves and pocketbooks), despite the "modest apparel" church worship supposedly calls for. But the characters do acknowledge the objection to their evident materialistic inclinations. When Spears's priest decries their regular appearance in new hats despite their claimed inability to consistently pay tithes, Mabel defends their actions and insists the hats are not more important than praise.

But she doesn't really need to explain. Church hats are a powerful cultural symbol for many people, period. Crowns may not exactly tell you why, but it'll show you how. And I can guarantee it will provide you with a healthy and thorough understanding of the word "hattitude."



Valerie Payton, Crystal Fox, Dennis Spears (The Man), Shannon Antalan (Yolanda), Roz White (Velma), Terry Burrell (Wanda) in "Crowns." (Photo by T. Charles Erickson)