Peter Bergman Theater Reviews

Over the River and Through the Woods by Joe DiPietro. Directed by Cathy Lee Visscher.

It is an interesting experience, seeing two productions of the same play within a little over a year. You have the opportunity to reexamine your perceptions of the play based on the directors’ visions of the work. There is a chance to see what you didn’t see, to feel something different based on different approaches to the same characters, the work, the people defined in the play.
The Theater Barn opened its summer season in 2006 with this Joe DiPietro comedy about "famiglia" — family — and now the Ghent Playhouse opens its 2007-08 season with it.
The play is still about "famiglia," but it has different resonance this time.

The play is really about my Jewish grandparents in the Bronx even if this on-stage foursome are Italian-Americans living in Hoboken, N.J. The human qualities of the immigrant Americans who strive to better the lot of their children, then hope to hold on to a European ideal of centralized family values, crippling the possibilities for their grandchildren, is almost a universal for many of us who grew up within those family strictures. To sit and watch these near-memory situations played out on stage is a spooky thing, like dreaming of dead relatives, like hearing the voices of your own past looming up in the darkness.
Theater itself is a dream in which we sit in the dark and observe what transpires in a lighted area in front of us. It is three-dimensional, not flat-screen, and the people can be touched if you move too fast in their direction. In this play, for anyone who remembers what it is like to honor your grandparents, they move too fast and practically touch you.
The play is a comedy, however, and the laughs are all genuine in this production. A man of 29, who honors his commitment to "famiglia," dines on Sundays with his four grandparents. A quartet with a comfort zone that admits to tiny failures, such as driving badly, and cooking too much, they adore their grandson who is unmarried and harboring a difficult secret. He has been offered a major promotion and may have to move across the country and leave them behind. This is the situation that empowers the older generation; they charge into action in an attempt to find a reason for the young man to stay in place. This meager plot point holds the play together for nearly two hours. What grandson Nick discovers is how much he means to them and how far they will go to maintain their relationship with him.
Nick is played by Scott Schaeffer. He is big, burly, clumsy, tongue-tied and utterly charming as he bumbles, mumbles, insults his grandparents in an overly familiar manner, and keeps their affection strong through his haplessness. Schaeffer, like the others in the cast, seems to be Nick for real most of the time, seems never to be acting. His style of playing is probably key to the play’s success, for his intimate moments and his blustery ones all seem to be something we’re part of, not watching. The rest of this cast has taken his lead, it seems, and also feel more real than acted. The actors disappear into their roles.
The grandparents he visits, Aida and Frank Gianelli, are played by Bernardine Handler and Frank Lauria. Lauria makes Frank into a sweet, sympathetic man who can’t quite communicate his pain and his distress. In a monologue, which may be the best written speech in the play, about his own childhood and that of his daughter — Nick’s mother — he reveals the back story of a man whose ambition is cursed by a seemingly negligent father. Last year this speech moved me to tears, but this time it only took me to a time and place that made sense of the present.
Handler is lovely in her role. She plays a survivor who makes her life bearable through food. She brings a special beauty to this affectionate woman who can’t tolerate reality until she must and then she handles it with that certain flair that mothers, and grandmothers, seem to have. Handler should act more. She is worth watching.
Nick’s paternal grandparents, Emma and Nunzio Cristano, are played by Marie Allocca and Dick Griffin. Nunzio has a secret which he could use to hold his grandson in place, but after emotional soul-searching and a dancing love scene with his wife he decides to withhold it. His playing of this long decision is touching and strong. He almost dazzles in the role as we watch him struggle with his emotions. Allocca is a delight, as always. Her Emma, conniving, planning, handing out Mass cards on a regular basis, is a mover and a shaker. She sets up her grandson and when her efforts fail she cannot let things go. Allocca is never over the top here, but in control and, unlike so many actresses, always listening to the others, always reacting but never to the point where she steals a moment from someone else. If she is anything, it is involved with her role.
As Caitlin, the girl Nick is "supposed" to fall in love with to suit his grandparents, Jody Kordana has the most difficult role in the play. She vacillates from charming to rude, self-protective to manipulative. She plays it well and there is a charm to her demeanor that makes even the character’s worst moments acceptable.
Director Cathy Lee Visscher has done a very nice job with these people, keeping them natural and playing like the old acquaintances they are. We, in the dark, really are experiencing a deja vu compassion for Nick and his family.
The play has some difficulties. There is no consistent point of view in the writing. Too many of the characters have audience-confronting monologues about who, what and why. Perhaps that is the reason the final scene loses some of its strength, in both recent productions. "Famiglia" and the sense of caring and taking care gets lost in the final moments when it should be paramount. This time, however, the naturalness of the acting may well have helped to overcome the shortcomings of the playwrighting.
Bill Visscher and Bill Camp have designed an elegant, Italian-American home for the Gianellis. Joanne Maurer has given them all the right clothes to wear which helps immensely with that sense of being there in memory. Ian Gulliver has sensitively lit the play keeping it alive and real as well.
While I dreaded seeing this simple play for the second time, it was actually nice to be "home" again with those family values that inform so much of the lives of the second generation Americans with whom I share that history. On stage at the Ghent Playhouse is a sweet and sensitive rendition of the lives of my contemporaries and probably some of yours as well.
Pay a visit home again. It might explain a few things you never understood before.

"Over the River and Through the Woods" plays at the Ghent Playhouse through October 21. The Ghent Playhouse is located on Route 66 just west of Chatham, N.Y. For schedules, ticket prices and to order tickets call 518-392-6264 or go to their website: www.ghentplayhouse.org.

Posted by Rebecca Dravis at 10:44 AM | Permalink

The World Goes ‘Round, Music by John Kander, Lyrics by Fred Ebb, conceived by Scott Ellis, Susan Strohman, and David Thompson. Directed by Julianne Boyd, choreographed by Joshua Bergasse.

Revues that just review a song-writing team’s output can be duller than dishwater in spite of the quality of the material on display on stage. Julianne Boyd brings the absolute opposite onto the boards of Barrington Stage with her own version of this now classic revue of the songs of Kander and Ebb, the longest collaborating team in Broadway history.
With 40 years of material behind them at the time of Ebb’s death in 2004, their now classic shows "Cabaret," "Chicago" and "Kiss of the Spider Woman" have been joined by their semi-posthumous new Broadway hit, "Curtains." The four shows, all beginning with the "c" sounds, are balanced by their near-misses and flops such as "Steel Pier," "Flora, the Red Menace," "The Rink" and "70, Girls, 70."
For the most part, the faults lie not in the songs but in the concepts of the shows themselves. The songs are absolutely terrific and this musical overview, "The World Goes ‘Round," proves it in solid spades.

This overview of their work first appeared in New York at just beyond the midpoint in their joint careers. That, unfortunately, leaves out many of the finest works, but as the show has made its rounds of regional theaters some songs have come and gone. "Class," for instance, a staple in the early days has been removed, just as it was from the film version of "Chicago." It’s a pity because the song is one of the best of its kind, a female duet comparing ideals and morals and dreams. Kander and Ebb wrote several of these over the years and one survives in this show, "The Grass is Always Greener" from "Woman of the Year." The song won a Tony Award for Marilyn Cooper in her only scene in this long, often difficult show which starred Lauren Bacall. In Pittsfield the song is rendered by two very excellent actresses, Angela Karol Grovey and Andrea Rivette. They play it the way it’s written and the laughs sometimes mask the start of the next laugh line, but the laughs are all there and so is the underlying heart of the piece.
It is that sort of work that makes this show a joy. Director Julianne Boyd has provided lots of moments when heart and humor vie for center stage. She has given some of the classic pieces a solid staging and others a more free-form, air-filled life. This is the medium in which Boyd first made her name in New York on the main-stem and here she shines forth in the excellent work that is her forte. With a cast of five she never settles for the easy, or balanced image until the final moments of the show. Instead she keeps us aware as her unbalanced pictures focus our attention on the twin images of talented performer and talented writer. She never intrudes on the pieces, but rather illuminates them through the song and dance possibilities that each song suggests.
Her talented crew includes dancer/singer Bianca Marroquin, whose slight accent obscures a few of Fred Ebb’s brighter lyrics, but whose talent is delectable enough for such flaws to be forgiven. She dances her way through Liza Minelli’s "Arthur in the Afternoon" from "The Act" and sizzles in "Chicago"’s "All That Jazz." She also has the depth to make "A Quiet Thing" from "Flora, the Red Menace" into a memorably sweet moment.
Kevin Duda is an excellent ensemble player who can step into the reluctant spotlight of "Mr. Cellophane" from "Chicago" and break hearts with the ironic comedy of the song. His dancing is fine as well as he proves in the second act duet with Marroquin.
Somewhat more stellar in his performance style is Kurt Robbins who makes "I Don’t Remember You" from "The Happy Time" into the instant hit it never was in its own time. In the second act he brings the title song of "...Spider Woman" to vibrant life and pours his heart into "The Rink"’s "We Can Make It."
Rivette has a lyric soprano voice and she uses it wonderfully in all of her songs from "Colored Lights" (The Rink) to "Cabaret." Grovey who sets the tone for the show with the title song (from the film "New York, New York") is exceptionally moving with "My Coloring Book" and "Maybe This Time", two ballads which span the "Cabaret" years from concept (MCB - cut) to film version (MTT).
The choreography by Joshua Bergasse is flawless, bringing to mind Bob Fosse when necessary but never copying or imitating anyone else. His work moves effortlessly into and out of Boyd’s staging of other moments and the two visual monitors seem to have collaborated here without ego, without difficulty. True or not, that is how it appears on stage.
Bright moments for ensemble abound in this show: "Coffee in a Cardboard Cup" has never been funnier, not even in the original presentation in "70, Girls, 70" and "Pain" has emerged from Chita Rivera’s night club act "The Dancer’s Life" as a comic wonder.
On a simple stage set designed by Ken Goldstein that you’ll think you’ve seen before - think "Mame" in concert last year - the cast and the musical ensemble, ably led by Brian Usifer, perform well. They are costumed by Elizabeth Flauto who made some interesting choices for her cast and lit by Stephen Arnold who sometimes created beauty and sometimes some minor chaos.
"The World Goes ‘Round" is a big old show with big old numbers and a bright and beautiful company. The songs of Kander and Ebb rival anything by Stephen Sondheim for their intricacies and intelligence but at the same time they can break your heart with their out-and-out emotional bases. This is a combination, in large amounts, that makes this show so worthwhile. This production provides the rest of what’s needed.

"The World Goes ‘Round" is at Barrington Stage on Union Street in Pittsfield through October 21. For full schedules, prices and ticket availability call 413-236-8888 or go to their website at www.barringtonstageco.org.

Posted by Rebecca Dravis at 10:39 AM | Permalink

On a shallow proscenium style stage at Shakespeare and Company in the expanded-seating hall of the Founders Theatre this company has opened its annual autumn show, which generally is a bit of a horror tale or mystery play. "The Secret of Sherlock Holmes," a British import from 1988-89 which starred TV’s Holmes Jeremy Brett and the TV Watson Edward Hardwicke as Holmes and Dr. Watson, has never received a professional production on this side of the Atlantic before.
There may well be a very good reason for that. The play is a contrivance that might work for some people but somehow, for me, just didn’t. Two good Shakespeare & Co. actors, Michael Hammond and Dave Demke, play Holmes and Watson, but the chemistry that might kick-start the play doesn’t bubble up in the petri dish.

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Director Robert Walsh, in his program notes, cautions us reviewers and you audience members with "... and remember, certain secrets can’t be told ..." Out of respect for his wishes I won’t reveal what the play’s not-so-big secret happens to be even though this particular secret has been leaking out of many old-fashioned paper bags that have concealed it for a century.
Instead, I will mention what I think is the real secret of the play — and that is the mystery of male co-dependence. Paul, the playwright, has drawn much of the dialogue for this play directly from Conan Doyle’s own words in the many stories, novellas and novels about Holmes. He has used them, reconstructed them actually, in dialogue form, often juxtaposing early comments with late ones.
Near the middle of Act One Holmes utters a horrified sentiment concerning Watson and their friendship revealing what it really means to him. Emotional Holmes moments are hard to take. This one implies a need that goes well beyond his cocaine, morphine or even the eternal violin. Here is the true secret of the play. Even though no one ever touches on it again, in spite of a great need to do so, it is laid out on the table for all to see.
Instead the outcry of special need produces a lot of "sturm und drang," which has nowhere to go except to amuse its viewers. That’s us and that's us. The play amuses rather than engages us. The play is weak because it hasn’t the strength to go where its playwright was sending it in that Act One shout. Likewise, even though he has his Holmes play out that single moment for all it is worth, he never really give his Holmes a chance to physically express all that was voiced that once. There are plenty of places in Act Two where the two men have a chance to explore, somewhat, the emotions exhibited in that one moment. There would certainly be a more interesting play on stage in Lenox if that idea had been followed through to its obvious conclusion.
Michael Hammond has the perfect face for Holmes. Angular and distinct, more like Basil Rathbone than Jeremy Brett actually, he brings the look of the fine illustrations that are familiar to us. His voice is fine also, but his variations on the Holmes theme, his disguised self and his assumed self in Act Two (ooops, almost let that secret out of the bag) are not as well realized as his Holmes. Still he has the bearing to carry off the part if he'd had more specific direction or perhaps more time playing the role to an audience.
Dave Demke was rough on opening night, his lines still not secure and his accent uncertain. He has all the potential to carry off a beautifully rendered, highly emotional playing of a pseudo-intellectual colleague for Hammond’s self- centered detective. The role just wasn’t his yet, not entirely.
Paulo Seixas has created a fine set, moody, atmospheric and filled with all the elements both men need to define their spaces, home and medical office. Govane Lohbauer has created costumes that look good on the men but aren’t always the most easily manipulated. Matthew Miller proves to be a very good lighting designer here.
For all of director Walsh's concern about letting the "secret" out of the bag, he has not given us the pacing the show could use, or revealed the possibilities the script indicates. He has moved his actors through their individual sets and their interactions with care and diligence, but he has not allowed them to truly explore the relationship that the playwright would like to deal with, given a chance. With no script available it is impossible to know what may or may not be on the page, so all such reactions are speculative on my part. Nevertheless it seems so obvious that original intent has been scrambled by someone somewhere.
Is "The Secret of Sherlock Holmes" a secret worth pursuing? I think the real secret is, but the revelations in the second act may not be satisfying for you; they certainly weren’t for me. But perhaps that’s all in the timing, for after all that that is a large part of what makes relationships work.
Here, certainly, timing and pace could make a difference and that may come with playing before large live audiences. This certainly isn’t a simple play. It may just need time.
 
The Secret of Sherlock Holmes plays October 28. Tickets range from $20 to $57. Berkshire residents may receive a 50% discount. For information and tickets call the box office at 413-637-3353

Posted by Rebecca Dravis at 7:03 PM | Permalink