Quartermaine's Terms

Williamstown Theatre Festival, Williamstown, MA
www.wtfestival.org
through August 23, 2009
by Meghan Lynn Allen

It's the 1960's in Cambridge, England and the opening school year bell is about to ring. "Quartermain's Terms" by Simon Gray is a play which focuses on the teachers, not the students, at this "school for foreigners," and specifically St. John Quartermaine - a drab, dull, lonely character who can barely muster the energy to rise from his chair each morning, never mind develop a curriculum for his students or car about their futures. Though he is the title character, he is a pathetic suggestion of a man who makes little to no choices throughout the play, which makes it difficult to care about him in any. Perhaps this is what Gray aims to satire in his piece, but it somehow misses the mark. In fact, it is difficult to care about any of the eccentric characters that the audience is presented with throughout this play.

Jefferson Mays plays Quartermaine assumingly quite to the tee - expressionless, hazy, vacant, and confused. Though Mays is obviously deeply talented, it is still impossible to care enough to be drawn into Quartermaine's world. Morgan Hallett portrays smart, young professor Anita Manchip. Hallett provides a bright, fun energy on stage through Manchip's two pregnancies and hinted at personal troubles with her husband, though the audience never learns enough about that relationship to appreciate its impact. Jeremy Beck play Derek Meadle, the brightest light on stage, in part because Gray writes him to be the fast-paced, funny, fool, who is in many ways the underdog and the hero of the piece. Beck adds life and energy to the stage every time he enters it and perfectly finds the balance between being the buffoon and growing into the leading man. Tony-nominated director Maria Aitken does her best to bring this tedious British piece to life, but is seems that Gray may not have provided enough on the page to work with.

"Quartermain's Terms" seems an odd, depressing choice to end Williamstown Theatre Festival's 55th season. Here's looking to next year.

Caroline In Jersey

Williamstown Theatre Festival, Williamstown, MA
www.wtfestival.org
through August 16, 2009
by Meghan Lynn Allen

"Caroline In Jersey" takes the audience down an unconventional path that winds through the stages of grief - seen through the eyes of four characters brought together by more than a few degrees of separation. Caroline (Lea Thompson) is the jilted actress/soon-to-be ex-wife who must frustratingly share the stage with her actor/soon-to-be ex-husband each night in the doomed musical "Petz," authored by their friend David. Matt McGrath plays David, the clichéd gay best friend who is there for Caroline as she verges on a nervous breakdown. McGrath has a dry, comedic delivery that is spot on. His character is predictable, yet sweet. Mimi (Brenda Wehle) is the bitter spinster who rents Caroline an apartment in Jersey, much to Caroline's appreciation and dismay. Mimi supplies Caroline, as well as the audience, with Jersey's local color, in addition to helping to unfold the history of a certain family mystery. Wehle brings believability to Caroline's fantastical world that is much needed. Finally, Will LeBow plays Will, a peculiar former tenant who hasn't quite left the premises. Will and Caroline find unexpected common ground as they sort out their pasts and their futures. Though mostly grumpy and tortured, LeBow lends a quality to Will that makes him endearing and entertaining to watch.

Lea Thompson puts her self out there for the audience to laugh in so many ways and it is so much fun. Whether donning a space dog suit, gulping down her concoction of Lucky Charms and tequila, barking to music, or drunk-dialing her ex-husband at 3a.m., Thompson successfully runs wild with Caroline's quirky, tormented existence. Thompson equally portrays Caroline's lows of fear, despair, and grief as she struggles through enormous personal crises.

Playwright Melinda Lopez presents a fantasy passing itself off in the environment of reality. It is difficult to determine just how much the audience is supposed to believe to be fantasy and just how much is supposed to be a leap of faith. Nonetheless, it is an entertaining piece that thinks outside the box and is worth glimpsing before it's gone.

True West

Williamstown Theatre Festival, Williamstown, MA
www.wtfestival.org
runs through July 26, 2009
by Jarice Hanson

When Sam Shepard's "True West" debuted in 1980, it signaled a shift from the playwright's earlier absurdist work toward a more realistic style. In the Williamstown Theatre Festival's production, the genius of Shepard proves to be timeless.

"True West" is a fable of brothers who represent archetypes of the hero and shadow, as well as a metaphor for the greed, corruption, and violence of the west -- this time set in a small suburban house 40 miles from Los Angeles. Nate Corddry, in his eighth Williamstown season, plays Austin, a screenwriter who has successfully pitched a romantic film treatment to Hollywood, and has now holed up in his mother's home to write the script while she's vacationing in Alaska. When Paul Sparks as Lee, the ne'er-do-well brother shows up, he pitches a ridiculous western to Austin's obsequious agent (flamboyantly played by Stephen Kunken) and the tables begin to turn. Debra Jo Rupp's cameo as mom showcases her control and comic timing, and adds to the understanding of how two brothers could be so different, yet so similar.

The show really belongs to Corddry and Sparks, who take sibling rivalry and contemporary ideas of manhood to extremes. On opening night, a few lines were rocky, and Sparks' words were muffled in the early part of the play, but this is the type of show that will undoubtedly grow as these two actors find a brotherly bond necessary to heighten the tension of Shepard's verbal intensity. Some of the funniest moments belong to Sparks who drinks beer with a straw, and uses a golf club for great comic effect.

Director Daniel Goldstein has created a wonderful set that honors Shepard's realistic, absurdist, and experimental modes, and has found the intelligence in this powerful comment on contemporary life.

Knickerbocker

Williamstown Theatre Festival, Williamstown, MA
www.wtfestival.org
through July 19
by Bernadette Johnson

"The mind of man is a dark forest," playwright Jonathan Marc Sherman has one of his characters state, and Sherman sets about trying to enlighten that deep, dark recess in his newest comedy, "Knickerbocker," in its world premiere at the Williamstown Theatre Festival.

Sherman invites us to probe along with him as Jerry (Reg Rogers), an "expectant father," uses friends, an ex-girlfriend, his father, and, of course, his wife as sounding boards as he confronts the gnawing question "Are you ready?" and anticipates how his life will be changed by fatherhood.

The entire play takes place in a booth at Jerry's favorite restaurant, the Knickerbocker, and though the waitstaff comes and goes without ever bringing a single platter, Rogers is definitely dealing with a plateful. He is onstage throughout the one-act performance and required by slight shifts to add variety to the scene. He does a spectacular job of injecting wit and sarcasm, and from tousled hair to pained expressions, portrays his fear of "screwing up."

Scenic designer Alexander Dodge has created a brilliantly colorful grid of New York images, including a sliding partition, which helps denote passage of time, as Rogers' wife, Pauline (Susan Pourfar), appears more advanced in her pregnancy with each encounter, and Jerry consults Melvin (Brooks Ashmanskas), a friend who is himself a father, ex- girlfriend Tara (Annie Parisse), a stoner friend Chester (Peter Dinklage) and his father, Raymond (Bob Dishy).

Except for the comings and goings of the waitstaff and slight booth shifts, there is very little action and it's up to the characters to keep the audience tuned in, which they do admirably well. One standout is Dinklage who, true to character, is "high" and climbs all over the booth and over his friend, all the while trying to impress the female members of the waitstaff. His vacant expressions, exaggerated speech and dry wit are welcome diversions from the otherwise day-to-day conversational tone of the piece. We are eavesdropping at best, but it's a fascinating exchange, leaving us uncertain of Jerry's readiness -- flirtations with ex, Tara, border on inappropriate -- but ready to lay odds in his favor after a touching final benediction to his unborn son.

Not Waving

Williamstown Theatre Festival
through Aug. 17
By Bernadette Johnson

An afternoon at Williamstown Theatre Festival might be your safest bet these days for a storm-free day at the beach. But don’t be too sure. While there are only light, wispy clouds on the horizon, there are definitely storms brewing in Ellen Melaver’s “Not Waving.”

Melaver gives the audience permission to eavesdrop on three separate couples who stake out their claims for an afternoon on a stretch of beach near where a man has recently drowned. David Korins’ beach is definitely inviting with its dunes and driftwood, sea grasses and gently sloping sandy surfside expanse. An empty lifeguard stand adds an ominous note. There was no lifeguard on duty the day of the drowning.

The three couples as settle in: Matt and Lizzie (Nate Corddry and Maria Dizzia), a young married couple determined to relax (“We agreed on fun”); Patsy and Peter (Harriet Harris and Dashiell Eaves), a mother and her 32-year-old son seeking quality time together (at least she is); and Bo and Cara (Will Rogers and Sarah Steele), teenagers out for a fun day at the beach (Bo less enthusiastic than Cara, who has a subtler plan). The roles are well cast, each player contributing substantially to the unfolding drama.

It is as if the waves wash away all pretense, and layer by layer, we discover the issues that lie just beneath the surface. Secrets are revealed, emotions laid bare. Harris and Eaves play out the friction between mother and son, which is apparent and harmless enough from the outset then deepens. He eventually reveals that he finds her snobbish and she that she finds him forbidding and intimidating.

And from his “I’m bored” (minutes into their arrival) to his frantic attempt to build a gigantic skate park, Rogers captures the restlessness of one who isn’t quite thrilled with being at the beach.

There is very little interacting among the couples. Plot lines are not interwoven. These could easily be three separate vignettes if it were not for the underlying theme, three couples dealing with life situations, “the waves that knock you down.”

Broke-ology

Williamstown Theatre, Williamstown
Through July 20
By Shera Cohen

It’s not often that a play’s world premiere takes place in our region. It’s also not often that a playwright’s first piece of work is staged by such a well-known and respected venue as Williamstown Theatre Festival. Those two factors do not necessarily make for success. Yet, in the case of “Broke-ology,” the audience’s applause and standing ovation (including this reviewer) at the play’s end would lead many to believe that this play has a long life on the stage.

It’s a strange title, for sure. One character coined it and explains it as a college degree in “being broke (poor),” and this man would receive an A+. His younger brother, however, recently graduated from “real” college with a double major. The differences and conflict between these young men are immediately set. While in a happy marriage, their parents often see life from opposite points of view.

The setting is a poverty-stricken neighborhood, Kansas. But it could be Anywhere, USA. The times are 1982 and 2007. The family is African-American. Author Nathan Louis Jackson and Director Thomas Kail take these four characters and immediately make them real people. There are no good guys and bad guys; they are each human, opinionated, likable, and even lovable. The bottom line for the audience is that we care.

Every actor is exceptional, and while it is cliché, they seem born to portray their roles. Francois Battiste (the older brother) was outstanding. An actor with numerous Broadway and regional theatre credits, Battiste has also appeared in films. Like the long life of this play, here is a young actor to watch as he climbs the latter to his own success.

Some might think of the Nikos Stage at Williamstown as the smaller second cousin with plays that are less important or skillfully produced as those on the Mainstage. That would not be true. This is a wonderful venue, particularly for experimentation with new works before a live audience. Except for one detail at the play’s end (which will not be revealed) the story, dialogue, and execution were perfect. Take a chance on future Nikos productions.

She Loves Me

Williamstown Theatre, Williamstown
through July 12, 2008
By Jarice Hanson


In his first season as Williamstown’s new Artistic Director Nicholas Martin has brilliantly staged what some have called “the most perfect musical.” "She Loves Me" has a familiar “boy meets girl” plot, but with music (by Jerry Bock) and lyrics (by Sheldon Harnick) that are witty, joyous, and intelligent.

The book (by Joe Masteroff) sets the story in a Budapest perfumery in 1934 where clerks are kept in line by the store’s patrician owner, Mr. Maraczek (Dick Latessa). When lovely Amalia Balash (Kate Baldwin) is hired, she and senior clerk, Georg Nowack (Brooks Ashmanskas) are simultaneously attracted to each other, even though their personalities mix like oil and water. Little do they know that they have been corresponding in the persona of “Dear Friend.” If this sounds like the 1998 film, “You’ve Got Mail,” or the 1940 film, “The Shop Around the Corner,” you’re right.

Ashmanskas’ Georg is everyman—he’s not a drop-dead leading man (that’s left to Troy Britton Johnson as the cad, Steven Kodaly), but his charm and sincerity, along with exceptional comic timing, makes him a lovable teddy bear. Kate Baldwin is well matched as the sometimes ditzy Amalia, with a voice that ranges from music hall to operatic with such control, some audience members actually gasped with delight.

Under Nick Martin’s flawless direction, every cast member gets their moment to shine—including ensemble actors who have no lines. The generous spirit of director and cast makes the audience feel privileged to participate in this energetic romp. As a musical “She Loves Me” does what a musical should—it gives the audience joy, a little song for our hearts, and it puts a smile on faces. If a lover of musicals—don’t miss it.

The Atheist

Williamstown Theatre, Williamstown
through July 6

Campbell Scott excels on the Nikos Stage at Williamstown Theatre Festival. As he creates the character of Augustine Early, his solo performance has the audience disliking the man after only very few lines. Unfortunately, playwright Ronan Noone gives almost no opportunity ever to change our minds about this consistently self-interested misogynist.

Journalist Early wants the biggest fonts and the largest headlines and will do anything to achieve them – his machinations and his “Theory of Self” lead him to confuse atheism with amorality, hence the labored title of the play. A video camera at stage right records throughout the performance as Early rambles, narrates, explodes, acts out, and ‘reports’ his own story as the audience also sees intermittent glimpses of him on tape.

Early has taken meticulous interview notes as he claws his way to his 15-minutes of fame, and when he wants ‘the truth’ to be heard, and to convince that ‘Truth’ was his goal all along. His story proves otherwise. He contrives events and manipulates the people in his life. He withholds facts, discards people as abruptly as he tosses the notebooks onto the desktop in fits and rages, over as quickly as they emerge out of his superficial charm.

Here is a monster. Viewers begin to ask what can ultimately happen to this dementedly narcissistic individual, who may be disintegrating. Or perhaps we ask, “Do I know anyone even remotely like this person and how quickly can I distance myself?”

Noone’s play might be asking the question of integrity in the news business, but plot flaws about editorial procedure make that a bit silly. Perhaps the villain could have been more complex villain, but Scott never disappoints. The spare lighting and stage design support the play, and the rear-video and color projection enhanced it. The Nikos Stage is pleasantly intimate and perfectly suited for the production.

Beyond Therapy

Williamstown Theatre Festival, Williamstown
June 13, 2008 through June 22, 2008.
By Keith H. Purcell

If you are looking for an uproarious laugh out -loud evening at the theatre, then “Beyond Therapy” is for you. The play, which opened Williamstown Theater Festival’s season on the Nikos Stage, is sharply written by Christopher Durang and well directed by Alex Timbers.

The story revolves around a New York couple, Bruce and Prudence (Darren Goldstein and Katie Finneran), who meet when she responds to his personal ad. Their subsequent encounters provide rich fodder for each of their respective therapists, both of whom are wonderfully acted by Kate Burton and Darrell Hammond.

Burton’s performance as the therapist who constantly mixes up the simplest words (she refers to her secretary as a dirigible), is energetic and manic. Her scene with Bruce’s “roommate” Bob (Matt McGrath), including her choice of words to describe Bruce and Bob’s “relationship” combined with McGrath’s dead pan stares and responses, stole the show.

Darren Goldstein and Katie Finneran play their characters so well that the audience sympathizes with each of them. The audience comes to believe the characters' bizarre lives, and maybe even hope that this relationship may just work.

In addition to the consistency of each of the characters quirks, all of the actors add so many small nice touches which equal to a comedy of overall lunacy.

Although the show requires numerous set changes, the pace needed by this play is not affected due to the well-designed set, music and the speed and efficiency of the stage crew.

Be forewarned that the show’s language is definitely adult in nature, but it adds a rich coloring to the lives of the characters and the zaniness of the world created by Durang.